News, Views and Analysis from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments
Climate change. Sea-level rise. Resilience.
The terms are ubiquitous in the public realm, planning circles and among policymakers around the Bay Area. The topics are among the most vexing of our time. Read More
Earthquakes are hitting all over the state of late and the Association of Bay Area Governments wants you to prepare. Read More
Sea-level rise could be worse than originally projected, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read More
The latest special issue of ESTUARY News magazine is now available and takes a deep dive into the Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge, which in May 2017 selected nine high-powered teams from across the globe to come up with innovative design ideas that address sea level rise and resilience to climate change around the region.
Last month, after a year-long process, Resilient by Design shared the final design concepts developed by local residents, community organizations, public officials and local, national, and international experts. These concepts were “meant to inspire, catalyze action, and push us along the path to a more resilient future.”
The June 2018 Issue of ESTUARY News explores each of the individual Bay Area Challenge design concepts in more detail and puts the whole Challenge in wider context, including where we might go from here. Keep reading to find out more! Read More
We recently highlighted the nine final proposals for adapting to sea level rise in vulnerable locations around the Bay that came out of the year-long Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge. Now, you have a chance to take in these innovative projects first-hand at Keeping Sea Level Rise at Bay: Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge | San Francisco Design Showcase.
The design showcase will be on display for public viewing from May 22 to June 1 at the Bay Area Metro Center lobby, 375 Beale Street in San Francisco, and open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
In addition, Resilient by Design, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the East Cut Community Benefit District invite members of the public join them for a reception and talk this Wednesday, May 23, to learn more about the just-unveiled innovative designs for mitigating sea level rise at the Bay’s edge:
Reception and Talk: Wednesday, May 23, 2018, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Location: Bay Area Metro Center, 375 Beale Street, San Francisco, CA
More information and tickets are available on the Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge website. Read More
The evidence is everywhere: sea levels are on the rise and countries around the world must adapt before disaster strikes. The San Francisco Bay Area is at the forefront of this nascent adaptation effort with the Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge, which in May 2017 selected nine high-powered teams from across the globe to come up with innovative design ideas that address sea level rise and resilience to climate change around the region.
Now, a year later, Resilient by Design is excited to share the final design concepts developed by local residents, community organizations, public officials and local, national, and international experts. These concepts are “meant to inspire, catalyze action, and push us along the path to a more resilient future.”
Keep reading on to view a clickable map as well as video summaries of each project. Read More
[This post is adapted from a news release on ABAG’s website.]
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and its many partners, including the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), have unveiled a new scenario and public outreach campaign to showcase what could happen during a major earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area along the Hayward Fault and help the public prepare for and recover from an earthquake. The HayWired Earthquake Scenario is intended to build awareness of earthquake risk and help Bay Area residents understand what they can do to mitigate risks and bounce back once the shaking stops. The public-engagement campaign – Outsmart Disaster – offers many resources, including a new fact sheet, on-line at https://outsmartdisaster.com/. Read More
* First in an occasional series of dispatches from MTC and ABAG staff about their experiences out in the field.
On September 19, 2017, Mexico City experienced a damaging magnitude 7.1 earthquake, resulting in the deaths of 228 people and the collapse of 44 buildings. The 2017 earthquake occurred on the 35th anniversary of another deadly earthquake in the city that killed nearly 10,000 people.
Due to geological, building construction and social factors, Mexico City is highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Much of the city sits on an ancient lake bed that has been drained over the last several centuries to accommodate the city’s expansion. This geology leads to significant subsidence and loose soils, which worsens ground shaking and can cause liquefaction in earthquake events.
In addition, although Mexico’s current building codes are similar to those in the Bay Area, many existing buildings date back decades or centuries, before these codes were in place. Nearly 60 percent of residential buildings are self-built without permits or inspections, meaning they don’t comply with any codes at all. Many of these residents are also highly vulnerable due to their social status – they often lack savings, insurance, secure jobs or even legal rights to their own homes.
The earthquake was a reminder to those of us in the Bay Area about the ever-present hazards of living in our own region. Read More
What if a major earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area? Would you and your family be prepared?
Next month, the HayWired Scenario – a major California regional and statewide earthquake preparedness initiative – will be released to the public, providing a scientific, realistic and quantitative depiction of what would happen if there was a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on the Hayward Fault with an epicenter in Oakland. The initiative wants to shift behavior surrounding earthquakes by improving communications and the use of earthquake hazard, early warning and aftershock forecast information, as well as inform building codes, build community capacity and foster business continuity planning.
Developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, the scenario's public release will kick off on April 18, 2018, with a press event at U.C. Berkeley’s California Memorial Stadium, University Club, with the annual Lawson Lecture, including a panel from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. so you can ask the HayWired team questions. The release of the HayWired Scenario also marks the beginning of the HayWired Public Engagement Campaign, known as Outsmart Disaster. Read More
This past fall, the four 2017 North Bay Wildfires damaged or destroyed an estimated 8,900 structures, taking out a major chunk of Santa Rosa’s (and the wider region’s) housing stock. It served as an uneasy reminder of the potential dangers the Bay Area and its residents face from other ever-present natural hazards, such as earthquakes. For example: How many buildings could be damaged? How many households displaced? How many residents in need of shelter?
A new page from ABAG’s Resilience Program, Expected Housing Losses in an Earthquake, provides the latest and greatest research findings about the region’s seismic risk – including the fact that up to 70,000 residential buildings could be made uninhabitable. In the below video, Dana Brechwald, Resilience Planner, discusses the research and details the residential building damage estimates and displacement risks for 16 different earthquake scenarios. Read More