Yup, and one of the major concerns in the East Bay are so called "soft story" buildings: homes and apartment buildings with ground floors largely open to create

Yup, and one of the major concerns in the East Bay are so called "soft story" buildings: homes and apartment buildings with ground floors largely open to create garage and retail space and therefore lacking adequate shear structure to resist earthquake forces. It's a well documented problem, with huge loss of life and housing stock predicted in the event of a large earthquake on the Hayward fault. Not sure exactly what measures other cities are taking to improve the situation, but you can learn more on the City of Berkeley site: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=622 http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=622 There's a list where you can look up whether your building is structurally vulnerable or has been retrofit.