Does Cave Springs, AR need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Cave Springs in Seismic Design 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 Cave Springs in the 67th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 67% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Cave Springs by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.073g, short-period spectral response 0.154g, 1-second spectral response 0.089g. Among 68 Arkansas cities in this dataset, Cave Springs ranks 60 for seismic hazard, the 12th percentile within the state. About 6,304 people live in Cave Springs, Arkansas.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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.

What this means for insurance

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 Cave Springs address.

More on how this number was built

The methodology guide covers exactly how USGS's public design-maps API produced Cave Springs'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.