Does Lebanon, TN need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Lebanon 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, Lebanon ranks above 71% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 71th percentile.

Lebanon by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.116g, short-period spectral response 0.24g, 1-second spectral response 0.124g. Among 104 Tennessee cities in this dataset, Lebanon ranks 100 for seismic hazard, the 4th percentile within the state. About 51,501 people live in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Retrofit economics for Lebanon

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

More on how this number was built

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