Emergency Management - Landslides & Earthquakes
Our emergency preparedness effort has two goals:
- Protect lives during earthquakes, landslides, and other emergencies
- Restore essential services after earthquakes, landslides, and other emergencies
We count on you to be prepared. We also work with regional, state, and federal emergency partners to help you prepare for an emergency and to respond after an emergency.
How Are We Involved?
We ensure building safety by:
- Making sure your building meets our codes and regulations when you get a permit
- Inspecting your work during construction
- Developing a program for retrofitting unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings
- Promoting home retrofits of wood frame structures
We help restore essential services by:
- Quickly evaluating your structure after an earthquake, landslide,or other emergency that causes structural damage
- Quickly issuing emergency repair permits
- Conducting emergency inspections following a disaster
Landslides
Protect Your Home
If you think your property might be at risk from a landslide, check out our GIS Map to see if you are in a landslide-prone area and then contact a geotechnical engineering professional for an evaluation.
How You Can Prevent Landslides
- Landslide Presentation
- Landslide Dos and Don'ts
- Seattle Landslide Prone-Area Map
- Tip 324, Reducing Landslide and Stormwater Erosion Damage: What You Can Do
Who to Contact
If a landslide damages your property and you are concerned for your safety, leave the premises and call 9-1-1. If your home was damaged by an landslide, you should apply for an emergency repair permit.
- Landslides on private property: Code Compliance, (206) 615-0808
- Work in a landslide prone area (including landslide-related repairs): Applicant Services Center
- Connect to a storm drain or wastewater pipe: Site Development Team, (206) 684-8860
- Storm drain or wastewater facility drainage complaints and maintenance requests: Seattle Public Utilities 24/7 Field Operations, (206) 386-1800
- Landslide blocking a street: Seattle Department of Transportation 24/7 Street Maintenance, (206) 386-1218
- Parks: Eduardo Aban, (206) 733-9104
Additional Resources
- SDCI's Seattle Landslide Study (full, printable version)
- SDCI's Seattle Landslide Study Map Folio (printable version)
- USGS Graph on Precipitation Threshold for Anticipating Landslides in Seattle
- City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management Landslide Information
- City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management Hazard Explorer
- FEMA on Landslides
- American Red Cross on Landslide Preparedness
Earthquakes
If your home was damaged by an earthquake, you should apply for an emergency repair permit. You can help protect your home from earthquake damage by getting a Home Retrofit Permit.
If you need to stabilize or conduct an emergency repair to an historical building, you need a permit from us and a certificate of approval from the Department of Neighborhoods.
Additional Resources