Some Utah homes face the risk of landslides and earthquakes | opinion

When it comes to earthquake preparedness, many people (myself included) have focused on the need to support the approximately 140,000 older homes and structures along the Wasatch Front that are made of unreinforced building materials. When the ground is shaken, it tends to collapse, injuring anyone below it. In the 5.7-magnitude earthquake that struck the Salt Lake Valley in 2020, bricks falling from these buildings posed the greatest danger.

But now, apparently, landslides must be a major concern as well. The majestic mountains of Utah have a way of throwing themselves off from time to time, like angry sleeping giants.

Actually, this is not flash news. You don’t have to dig so hard through the archives to find all kinds of examples of collapsed hills all over the state, and they take homes with them. The two homes in Draper that slipped into a ravine last month are just the latest examples.

Many people and committees were willing to point out the problem. Even lawmakers have done little to deal with it. They should do more.

How many homes might slide if a large earthquake strikes, with a magnitude of 7.0 or higher?

Nobody knows the answer to that, but history gives us plenty of clues about the risks.

In 1992, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck the city of St. George. Oddly enough, the force of that earthquake pushed itself away from St. George and into the hurricane. It ended up causing a powerful landslide in Springdale, about 27 miles away, destroying three homes.

A report at the time stated that this was the farthest distance on record for a “coherent landslide of this type” from such an earthquake.

Ben Erickson, chief geologist with the Utah Geological Survey, told me that this slope was “a great old block of rock that was about to become out of balance.” Hills undergo different levels of stress depending on the slope angle and the type of soil they contain. In Utah, ancient volcanic ash has turned into mud in many areas, and water has caused this mud to swell.

Why should we be worried along the Wasatch front? Lots of reasons.

A 2022 report by the Utah Seismic Safety Commission gave a great deal of attention on those unreinforced structures, but it also sounded warnings about four major channels along the Wasatch Front that provide water to more than two million people. Three of these intersect the Wasatch fault zone and the fourth is in a landslide-prone area.

One of them, the Salt Lake Aqueduct, is a 42-mile concrete tube that runs from the base of Deer Creek Dam through Utah County to the mouth of Parleys Canyon in Salt Lake County.

The report stated that “the pipeline, which serves about 450,000 people, was built in the 1940s and consists of several parts subject to earthquake damage where it crosses the Wasatch Fault.” “A recent risk assessment identified a high risk of joint failure during an earthquake due to ground deformation and ground shaking.”

If they fail, landslides are sure to follow. The risk assessment found that the sectors above Pleasant Grove, Cedar Hills, Draper and Cottonwood Heights were the most important, the report said.

In the last legislative session, state lawmakers allocated $50 million to repair and cement these pipes. The water districts said they could come up with everything needed to do the job except for $175 million, Ari Bruning, CEO of Envision Utah, told me, meaning the state’s appropriation provides less than a third of that.

State legislators have not done enough to address this problem, nor to prevent developers from wanting to push farther and farther down the hillsides. Courts may have to determine who is responsible for the Draper landslides. But plenty of hillside homes have suffered landslides over the years, without an earthquake, including the one that destroyed a home in North Salt Lake in 2014.

In the mid-1990s, developers proposed a subdivision on a flat lot 100 feet high and 450 feet from the nearest road in Olympus Cove, accessible only by tram or cable car. Fortunately, Salt Lake County said no. But many of the hills’ other, less daring projects have since won yes from various local governments.

For all the surpluses in recent years, legislators have done little to support these unsupported built homes, although they have spent money to support old schools.

They only reached part of the channels. They did not touch the hill developments.

The 2022 Earthquake Report said, “Without preemptive measures, a projected 7.0-magnitude earthquake on the Salt Lake City portion of the Wasatch fault (“The Big One”) would be among the deadliest disasters in US history. It would leave hundreds of thousands of Utahs homeless.” and vital lifeline services for several months.”

Let’s hope we don’t end up lamenting what we could have done to avoid so much misery.

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