Chimney Failure Most Common Damage In An Earthquake

"With very low ground-shaking level we start to see chimney failure," said structural engineer Janiele Maffei, chief mitigation officer for the California Earthquake Authority. Officials are still tallying the chimney loss in the Napa quake, but damage from past shakers shows many residents have no idea a ton of bricks is literally hanging above their heads. -- The 2001 Nisqually 6.8 quake near Seattle shook down 1,700 chimneys and some of those had already survived the 6.5 Puget Sound quake in 1965, which destroyed 5,000 chimneys. FEMA, for example, offers assistance to homeowners to help cover chimney damage. After the Nisqually quake, half of the $6 million provided in the temporary disaster housing program was distributed to residents for chimney repair. Earthquake insurance through the California Earthquake Authority also provides some chimney coverage, with a limit of $5,000, said CEO Glenn Pomeroy. Yet the Earthquake Authority offers homeowners money to reinforce their foundation or soft-story structures and strap the water heater, but chimneys aren't included. Napa resident Brooke Bledsoe was looking forward to the winter, with a big pile of wood stacked on her front porch to burn in her fireplace on frigid nights. Another option is to remove the masonry and use a metal flue surrounded by a wood box, which can be covered in a brick veneer above the roofline. 25 calls for repairsIn a three-hour window, a few days after the earthquake, the office staff had fielded 25 calls from locals needing chimney repair.