In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 25, No. 1, May 1985, pp. 63-73 GEOGRAPHY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION: HOUSING MARKET RESPONSE TO EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS DISCLOSURE* Risa Palm INTRODUCTION. Applied geographic research has frequently dealt with consumer protection issues. Examples include research on land use planning in general as well as more specific and sometimes more controversial studies of the siting of hazardous activities. (J) Other studies have focussed on problems of providing housing or services to dependent populations such as the physically and mentally handicapped and the elderly. (2) What this work demonstrates is that geographers may have the opportunity to assess the impacts and success oflegislation or policy changes that attempt to protect otherwise helpless or unwary members of society from deprivations in service provision or from living in hazardous environmental conditions. The research described here is related to this tradition of applied geography focussing on issues of consumer protection. For the past eight years, I have been working on problems of informing otherwise unwary residents about earthquake hazards. I would like to not only report on some of the findings of this set of research projects, but also share a few thoughts on what geographers can contribute to evaluating legislation and pressing for more protection for residents of unsafe environments . THE PROBLEM OF EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS IN THE UNITED STATES. In the United States as a whole, thirty-nine states with a combined population of more than 70 million are estimated to be at risk from earthquake hazards. (3) One major earthquake could cause up to $50 billion in losses, as well as deaths, injuries, and disruptions of community life. Earthquake hazards are by no means limited to California and Alaska. Other regions which have experienced major dam- * Address presented at the Honors luncheon of the annual meeting of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers, Birmingham, Alabama, November 20, 1984. Dr. Palm is Acting Associate Vice Chancellor for Instruction and Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO 80309. 64Southeastern Geographer aging earthquakes include Charleston, South Carolina and the New Madrid area of the central United States. However, because of frequency of events and concentration ofpopulation, the highest estimated average liability losses are in California, accounting for about two-thirds of the U.S. annualized losses. (4) Three earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or greater have occurred in California since 1857. The last was the 1906 earthquake along the San Andreas fault. This means that despite the fact that many people claim to have "experienced an earthquake", there are few Americans who have actually witnessed a "great" earthquake. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has published conclusions about major damaging earthquakes likely to occur in California. A magnitude 8.3 event has a moderate probability of occurrence in the next twenty years in northern California, causing $38 billion in property losses and 3,000— 11,000 deaths depending on the time of day. (S) The same magnitude earthquake (8.3) has a high likelihood of occurrence in southern California in the next 20 years, with a $17 billion loss and 3,000-14,000 deaths depending on the time of day. (6) Of course, smaller EQs are even more likely with some accompanied by major damage. It is important to note that earthquake hazards differ in several important respects from other environmental hazards. There is nothing that can be done to control the occurrence of the event given present technology: earthquakes cannot be moved in space (like a waste disposal state), diverted in force or location (such as the damming or channeling of a stream to control flooding), or changed in magnitude (such as emissions control devices to reduce certain forms of air pollution). Earthquakes are therefore virtually uncontrollable in force and location. Furthermore , earthquakes cannot usually be predicted with any degree of specificity in time and place. In short, there is virtually no control over the time, place, or magnitude of the event. However, micro-zonation mapping has proceeded to the point where areas of varying susceptibility to severe damage have been identified . For example, micro-zonation maps of the San Francisco Bay region and the Los Angeles area have been published in government documents...

pdf