Does Surfside, FL need an earthquake retrofit?

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Surfside is Category A. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. Nationally, Surfside ranks above 0% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 0th percentile.

Where Surfside sits in Florida

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.019g, short-period spectral response 0.04g, 1-second spectral response 0.02g. Among 228 Florida cities in this dataset, Surfside ranks 218 for seismic hazard, the 4th percentile within the state. About 5,719 people live in Surfside, Florida.

Retrofit economics for Surfside

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

More on how this number was built

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