NY/NJ Earthquake Raises Q's, NYC DOB Wants More Muscle

"Engineering experts say New York City’s glass towers and luxury steel skyscrapers, which can be over 1,000 feet tall, are actually at much lower risk of sustaining damage or collapsing during an earthquake than the city’s older buildings," reported WNYC's Gothamist. "The city’s building codes were amended in 1995 to ensure that new construction or any significant upgrades are designed to make buildings earthquake-resistant and minimize the probability of collapse, which is the biggest cause of death during temblors."

Meanwhile, "the head of New York City’s buildings department wants to grant inspectors the power to make arrests and even carry guns following complaints from agency staffers who say they’ve been attacked on the job," according to an email obtained by Gothamist.