Earthquakes happen without warning. They can happen anywhere in the world and cause catastrophic damage to anything that is in their path. It is important to take precautions when living near an earthquake zone, but what about your business? If you want your company to remain prosperous after an earthquake, there are things you need to do now before it’s too late! In this blog post, we will be discussing how to make your business earthquake-ready so that you don’t have any surprises when disaster strikes.
Find out what the earthquake risk for your location is.
The first thing you should do is find out what kind of earthquake risk your company has. There are a few ways to go about this:
- a) Find the USGS website for your area and look under “earthquakes” or “hazard maps.” This will show you where potential earthquakes may take place shortly. It will also show you potential hazards that can occur during an earthquake, such as landslides or tsunamis.
- b) Talk to other businesses in your area and see if they have any information about earthquakes that might be helpful for you.
- c) If neither of these options is available to you, try contacting the local government official responsible for emergencies. They may be able to help you figure out the earthquake risk in your area and what precautions need to take place before an actual disaster occurs.
Once you know where potential earthquakes could strike, it is time to assess how dangerous each of these locations is for your company’s building. Some areas might have a high frequency but low magnitude of earthquakes, while other areas are the exact opposite. You will also want to consider if there is a major fault line close by that could cause serious damage during an earthquake of any magnitude.
Check to see if your building or business has been seismically retrofitted.
If you have a building that is older than ten years, it might not be earthquake-ready. Older buildings are usually more likely to collapse in an earthquake because they were built when there wasn’t as much research and knowledge about earthquakes available. If your business doesn’t fall into the ‘older building’ category, you should still double-check the structure of your building and see if it has been seismically retrofitted.
A seismic retrofit is a way to make old buildings earthquake-ready by reinforcing the structure to withstand an earthquake without collapsing or getting any major damage. You might be surprised how many businesses don’t have this feature, but you should ask around to other local businesses.
Add an accessory dwelling unit (adu)
What is an ADU? An ADU is a separate dwelling unit that can be added to your property. It can not only help protect you from earthquakes, but it will also add value and convenience to your business! Some examples of accessory dwelling units are:
- a) A guest house or extra living quarters for employees who live far away.
- b) An office for employees who need to be on the property frequently.
- c) An apartment for rent that can help produce income from a secondary source if you are looking for another way to make money with your business!
Earthquakes happen without warning, so it is important to take precautions before disaster strikes. If you want your company or building to remain safe during an earthquake, you will need to take these necessary precautions.
These are just a few things that can help you make sure your business is ready for earthquakes. You can do many more things, such as having an emergency plan in place ahead of time. Don’t wait until the last minute to make sure your business is safe from earthquakes! The worst thing that could happen is if a natural disaster strikes and your building isn’t ready for it because you didn’t take the necessary precautions before it happened.
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