The map below shows an inventory of potentially hazardous soft story buildings in the city of Berkeley as of March 21, 2011.
The city identifies soft story buildings generally as wood frame buildings that have five or more units with a ground-level story containing large openings — store fronts, garages or other tuck-under parking — that would likely collapse in the event of a strong earthquake.
The green markers indicate that the building has been retrofitted and the blue markers indicate the building has not yet been retrofitted.
Source: City of Berkeley Soft Story Program
For more earthquake news, see our topic page aggregating The Daily Californian’s coverage of earthquakes as well as earthquake safety and preparedness in Berkeley.
Stephanie Baer is the city news editor.
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The DailyCal may have gotten the data from the City of Berkeley. The city keeps an inventory of buildings classified as soft-story. You can view the pdf file here: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=622
FYI if a certain building does not have more than 5 dwelling units it is not listed under the soft-story inventory list, even though it may collapse in an earthquake. The list is also constantly being updated/reviewed as some property owners undergo retrofit, apply for permits, etc.
There is no way this is comprehensive. I definitely live in a soft story building and it’s not marked as blue or green. I wonder where the original data is?
Is this a totally comprehensive map? I have a soft story warning sign on my North Berkeley building but it is not one of the residences marked on the map. I have been very concerned about the building with the recent earthquakes.
I’ve been wondering how to know if a building has been retrofitted and how to tell what the risks are. Very important when renting (and buying, I’m sure). Thanks, DailyCal! This is extremely useful. I am curious to see similar maps for Oakland and San Francisco. Do you know how to find them?