Camden's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Camden is Category C. Moderate seismic hazard. Code adds irregular-building restrictions and requires bracing of some nonstructural components (e.g. tall shelving, water heaters) in addition to structural detailing. That puts Camden in the 68th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 68% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Camden by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.087g, short-period spectral response 0.177g, 1-second spectral response 0.094g. Among 68 Arkansas cities in this dataset, Camden ranks 44 for seismic hazard, the 36th percentile within the state. About 10,116 people live in Camden, Arkansas.

What a retrofit costs in Camden

Outside California, no state-level retrofit grant equivalent to Brace + Bolt could be found for Arkansas. A typical retrofit still runs $5,000-$10,000 nationally, about $7,000 for a common single-family job.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

Outside California, earthquake coverage is typically sold as an endorsement added to a standard homeowners policy, not a separate product - worth asking about directly when getting a home-insurance quote for a Camden address.

More on how this number was built

The methodology guide covers exactly how USGS's public design-maps API produced Camden's numbers. The guide to what a Seismic Design Category actually means covers why a category is never a substitute for an engineer's assessment of one specific house.