Building it Right the First Time: Improving the Seismic Performance of New Buildings
Improving the seismic performance of new buildings (that is, projects not yet built) is an important part of improved earthquake resilience for San Francisco, and is the subject of this paper. While older buildings are more likely to be damaged than new structures, the cost to retrofit older buildings is relatively high. In contrast, improving the seismic safety of new structures costs relatively little and thus has a relatively good benefit-cost ratio. Equally important, improving the safety of new structures helps arrest the growth of earthquake threats in San Francisco. We should be building new buildings that will not need costly repairs or subsequent seismic improvements.