Quake Expert Likens S.F., Mexico City
San Francisco could experience the same pattern of widespread destruction as Mexico City in the event of a major earthquake because both cities rest on similarly soft and vulnerable soil, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey warned Thursday.
Dallas Peck, in congressional testimony, said parts of San Francisco are built on soft soil similar to many parts of Mexico City. Buildings in the Mexican capital erected on such soil were found to have sustained worse damage on Sept. 19 than buildings on firmer ground, he said.
“Earthquake ground motion is amplified by soft sediment,” Peck said.
Peck did not specify what areas of San Francisco are built on the soft soil.
However, he pointed out that damage in the huge 1906 San Francisco earthquake, estimated at 8.3 on the Richter scale, was more severe for buildings built on saturated bay mud and landfill.
He testified before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on science, technology and space.
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