In-depth reporting on building safety, forensic investigation, and the decisions that shape the built environment. Evidence-based reporting from investigators, adjusters, and engineers working in the field.
A longitudinal look at the soft-story retrofit ordinances that followed the 1994 earthquake, and which engineering assumptions held up under subsequent tremors.
How investigators reconstruct the failure sequence when short wood-frame walls beneath raised foundations give way during lateral shaking.
Insurers and adjusters rarely agree on what depreciation should apply to a storm-damaged roof. Here is how the math actually works — and where it breaks down.
Roughly 13,500 buildings remain on the city inventory. A patchwork of compliance timelines means the riskiest structures may be the last to be retrofit.
Attorneys who have handled seismic claims for two decades share what separates a credible expert from a liability to the case.
A field guide to the visual signatures that distinguish settlement, shrinkage, and active seismic movement in residential concrete.
A longitudinal look at the soft-story retrofit ordinances that followed the 1994 earthquake, and which engineering assumptions held up under subsequent tremors.