The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded $500,000 for a subsidized seismic retrofit pilot.
[IT] will only put a small dent in the approximately 100,000 Portland single-family homes that are potentially vulnerable to a major earthquake, according to city figures, but it’s a start.
The 150 homeowners were randomly chosen from about 4,000 who expressed interest, said Dan Douthit, a spokesperson for the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management. The average cost of a retrofit is between $3,000 and $8,000, he said, with some projects costing “a lot more than that” due to deferred maintenance.
“They’re geographically dispersed around Portland,” Douthit said of the homeowners selected. “And half of them are homes that are under the median home value.”
(READ MORE: Oregon Live)
