Does Shrewsbury, MO need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Shrewsbury in Seismic Design Category D: High seismic hazard - this is the category most of coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and other active fault regions fall into. Code mandates significant seismic detailing and restricts irregular structural configurations. This is the category the Brace + Bolt scope (cripple-wall bracing, foundation bolting) is built for. That puts Shrewsbury in the 84th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 84% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Shrewsbury compares

USGS's underlying values for Shrewsbury: 0.251g peak ground acceleration, 0.441g at short period, 0.159g at 1 second. Within Missouri alone, Shrewsbury ranks 19 of 135 cities by seismic hazard - the 87th percentile in-state. Shrewsbury has a population of about 6,263.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

A full earthquake retrofit typically runs $5,000-$10,000 nationally (around $7,000 typical), driven mainly by house size and foundation type, not by Missouri specifically. California's Earthquake Brace + Bolt grant, which covers a large share of this cost, is a California-only program and does not apply in Missouri.

Earthquake insurance for a Shrewsbury home

A Shrewsbury homeowner cannot buy a standalone earthquake policy in most cases - it is added to an existing homeowners policy as an endorsement, so the place to start is a regular home-insurance quote.

Where Shrewsbury's figures come from

Shrewsbury's Category D and every number above trace to USGS's own ASCE 7-16 Design Maps service - see the methodology guide. See the category explainer for what Category D does and doesn't tell you about Shrewsbury.