Does Danville, KY need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Danville 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. Nationally, Danville ranks above 68% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 68th percentile.

Danville by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.08g, short-period spectral response 0.167g, 1-second spectral response 0.087g. Among 79 Kentucky cities in this dataset, Danville ranks 45 for seismic hazard, the 44th percentile within the state. About 17,562 people live in Danville, Kentucky.

Retrofit economics for Danville

Outside California, no state-level retrofit grant equivalent to Brace + Bolt could be found for Kentucky. 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 Danville address.

More on how this number was built

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