Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Household seismic safety


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   no consensus. Spartaz Humbug! 19:52, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Household seismic safety

 * ( [ delete] ) – (View AfD) (View log)

Article consists of a guide to preparing one's home for an earthquake. Wikipedia is not a howto guide. Cynical (talk) 17:33, 3 August 2009 (UTC)  Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, – Juliancolton  &#124; Talk 18:25, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Delete. Agree with nom: non-encyclopedic, . - ¢Spender1983 (talk) 01:55, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Cleanup and keep - this is in dire need of clean-up, particularly because it is written as a "how-to guide" - reflected both in style ("we should be prepared for earthquakes from home itself") and content (for instance, a focus on what needs to be done to protect homedwellers rather than the consequences of failing to perform those tasks). However, those are not deletion-worthy problems. What's more interesting is the topic - Risks of nonstructural earthquake damage might be an alternative title, and more inclusive of non-residential premises with essentially identical issues. I didn't really think much about this area myself until I was caught in a seismic event. It is certainly true that non-structural damage caused by earthquakes can be substantial; this article's obsession with making sure household objects are well-secured is not misplaced! This would be an appropriate article to include any statistics on the scale of such damage (from destruction of property to loss of life or limb). We have articles like Seismic retrofit and Earthquake engineering that focus on protection from structural damage in earthquakes, but non-structural damage is also a safety issue. There is government advice on the non-structural aspect of household seismic safety ( is linked from our article, for instance, although it is rather patchy and the underlying FEMA source would be better) and although it shouldn't be regurgitated in a "how-to" format, it should be reported neutrally in the same manner as "duck and cover" and related nuclear protection advice would be reported in our articles on Civil Defense. TheGrappler (talk) 03:12, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment. That subject is probably worth an article. Here is a good source to show that there is published material on that subject (that is not written in a how-to format). However, I think you could just as easily start that article from scratch as start from the how-to material in Household seismic safety. - ¢Spender1983 (talk) 04:03, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I take the point that a substantial-to-complete rewrite is required, I'm just not sure that's a good reason to delete the article in this case. It isn't actively harmful in its current state, just badly written - the content itself is actually better than it sounds (the way it's written make it sound like an exemplar from WP:NOT but the facts expressed are actually good information), and it is (loosely) sourced to the link given. Of course, converting the "how to" language into "FEMA suggests that good practice is to" is largely pointless since it would be better to incorporate higher quality sources like the one given (for which, thanks).TheGrappler (talk) 21:30, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Please remember that WP:NOT (and WP:NOTHOWTO) is a WP:Policy. The article, as written, goes against policy. Unless the article is brought up to standards before the AfD process closes, it is likely that the closing admin will delete for this reason. If someone wants to save the text and rewrite the article, userfication is an option. - ¢Spender1983 (talk) 23:10, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
 * WP:NOTHOWTO is indeed policy. This article should not read in the way it does. But I feel that deleting it immediately on this ground alone would be missing a distinction. It is not inherently a how-to guide, it is merely written in the style of one. All of the content merely documents the official non-structural earthquake safety advice for householders in the Bay Area. The fact that residents are advised, for instance, to secure bookshelves and mirrors is sourced and worthy of inclusion - just in need of a stylistic rewrite. Compare this to an article describing how to adjust the carburetor of a Ford F-series. Rewriting that in a descriptive style (reporting what various manuals say, rather written as a list of instructions) would not bring it within WP:NOTHOWTO. TheGrappler (talk) 19:38, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Cleanup, keep. As per TheGrappler. Would need an entire rewrite though. Greenleaf (talk) 13:53, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so consensus may be reached.


 * Keep An important topic to have. It should be presented as a list, not a how too guide, listing the steps the government site says to do to keep yourself safe.   D r e a m Focus  22:00, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Transwiki to wikiHow. It is a worthy how-to.  Leave a soft redirect, to build a scholarly treatment of the subject, complementary to the how-to article.  --SmokeyJoe (talk) 11:34, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.