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Crosscurrents

Skyscrapers cast shadow of seismic doubt in San Francisco

Image cropped and reused from Wikiemedia Commons
The Millennium Tower (301 Mission Street) under construction, showing the crane footing, concrete core and construction equipment. The Transbay Terminal is visible to the left.

Over the past few decades, the San Francisco skyline has undergone a transformation. It's building up.

San Francisco now has over 100 buildings taller than 240 feet, and more are on the way. But many are being built on sandy, unstable ground, known for their high risk of behaving like quicksandduring an earthquake.

And, the building codes for these high rises aren’t as strict as the building codes for hospitals, or schools.

This is what New York Times San Francisco Bureau Chief Thomas Fuller describes as “San Francisco’s big seismic gamble.”

To learn more, KALW’s environment reporter Angela Johnston spoke with Fuller.

"We live and work in these buildings, but the engineers are very aware that in the case of a major earthquake, those are among the most vulnerable."

Crosscurrents
Angela Johnston is the Senior Producer of Uncuffed and an editor in the KALW newsroom. She holds a Master’s degree in journalism and graduated from KALW’s Audio Academy program. She’s worked for KALW in numerous roles - from the deputy news director, to the health and environment reporter, and she's covered everything from lead poisoning to climate change. Her work has aired on KALW, KQED, Reveal, and The Pulse. She also freelances as a producer and editor for Cosmic Standard and AFAR Media. Outside of work, she loves to swim in the bay, surf small waves on her longboard, read, backpack, cook, and garden.