Earthquakes in the news | Area we prepared?
- Michelle Durey
- 58 minutes ago
- 4 min read
What Does Earthquake Resiliency Really Mean?
As Colombia continues to search for survivors and communities begin picking up the pieces following the devastating magnitude 7.4 earthquake on August 10, 2026, another community thousands of miles away is still recovering from its own major earthquake.
In Glan, Sarangani, in the southern Philippines, residents continue putting their community back together following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck in June of this year.
These earthquakes happened in different countries and under different circumstances, but they remind us of something important here in California.
The effects of a major earthquake do not end when the ground stops shaking.
We hear the word resiliency quite a bit when discussing earthquake preparedness in California. But what does it actually mean?
Resiliency is our ability to bounce back after a major seismic event. It is not simply whether a building remains standing. Can residents return to their homes? Can businesses reopen? Do we have water, power and gas? Are roads and bridges passable? Can fire trucks and ambulances get where they need to go?
Putting These Earthquakes Into Perspective
For Southern Californians, one of our best points of comparison is the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Northridge was a magnitude 6.7 earthquake. The recent Colombia earthquake was magnitude 7.4, while the earthquake that struck Sarangani was magnitude 7.8. Because earthquake magnitude is measured logarithmically, those differences are much greater than they appear.
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake releases approximately 11 times the energy of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake. A magnitude 7.8 releases approximately 45 times the energy of Northridge. That puts the enormous size of these recent earthquakes into perspective.
Northridge 32 Years Later
It has now been more than 32 years since the Northridge Earthquake struck Southern California at approximately 4:30 a.m. on January 17, 1994. The early hour is believed to have limited the loss of life. Freeway structures collapsed, buildings failed and parking structures were heavily damaged. Had those same failures occurred during a busy morning commute, the consequences could have been considerably worse.
But Northridge also taught us that the earthquake itself is only part of the disaster.
Buildings were severely damaged. Freeway overpasses collapsed and major transportation routes were disrupted. Water and gas lines ruptured. Fires broke out. More than 20,000 people were displaced from their homes. Through all of that, emergency responders still had to get where they were needed.
That is where resiliency becomes so important.
What Happens After the Shaking Stops?
A damaged road or collapsed freeway does not just inconvenience commuters after an earthquake. It can affect how quickly fire trucks, ambulances, utility crews and other emergency services can reach damaged communities.
This is one area of resiliency that I believe deserves more attention today. We spend a great deal of time discussing the seismic safety of our buildings, but our ability to recover also depends on the condition and reliability of the infrastructure connecting them.
As we look at the condition of many of our roads and transportation systems today, it is reasonable to ask:
How well will our infrastructure perform after the next major earthquake?
A roadway that is already deteriorating may face an entirely different challenge when subjected to significant ground movement, damaged bridges, utility failures, debris and thousands of emergency vehicles and residents trying to navigate the same transportation network.
Earthquake resiliency requires us to look beyond individual buildings and consider whether the systems connecting our communities will continue to function when we need them most.
Fire Is Part of Earthquake Preparedness Too
Another important lesson from Northridge was the danger created by ruptured natural gas lines and subsequent fires.
This is where relatively small preparedness measures can make a meaningful difference.
Earthquake sensitive automatic gas shutoff valves are designed to shut off the gas supply to a building when significant seismic shaking occurs. This can reduce the possibility that a damaged gas line will continue supplying natural gas following an earthquake.
California recognizes earthquake sensitive automatic gas shutoff valves as seismic safety devices, and certified residential valves are designed to activate when shaking exceeds an established threshold.
It is a good example of earthquake resiliency that has nothing to do with strengthening a foundation or adding a moment frame. Sometimes resiliency is simply stopping one problem from becoming a much bigger problem.
Building a More Resilient California
California cannot prevent the next major earthquake, and we cannot know exactly when it will occur. What we can do is reduce the vulnerabilities that turn an earthquake into a prolonged disaster.
Soft story retrofits, seismic strengthening, earthquake gas shutoff valves, improvements to bridges and roadways, protection of water and utility systems, early warning technology and individual preparedness are all pieces of the same larger objective.
The goal is not simply for a building to remain standing long enough for people to get out.
The goal is for our homes, apartment buildings, businesses, roads, utilities and emergency services to continue functioning or to be restored as quickly as possible.
The recent earthquake in Colombia reminds us how quickly lives and communities can change. The continued recovery in Sarangani reminds us that rebuilding does not happen nearly as quickly.
More than three decades after Northridge, the question for California is not whether another major earthquake will occur. It is whether we are doing enough today to prepare our buildings, infrastructure and communities for what comes afterward.
Because ultimately, earthquake resiliency asks a very simple question:
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