| The South Napa Earthquake of August 24, 2014 provided a valuable opportunity for engineers and the public alike to re-learn valuable lessons from past earthquakes and see firsthand what they should expect from time to time when they live in earthquake country, whether it is in California or in other areas of the country with lower, but still significant seismic risk. We will review the performance of buildings to see what worked and didn’t work, including many older masonry, historic buildings, both retrofitted and non-retrofitted, than can be found in the downtowns of most communities nationwide. We will also review seismic hazards from non-structural elements and materials that aren’t addressed by building codes but represent significant hazards to building occupants. |