THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKES that rocked Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 have caused the deaths of over 23,000 people and the destruction of more than 5,600 buildings and left the region a disaster area, but a company based out of Vallejo may have saved more lives from being lost.

Earthquake Protection Systems Supervisor, Miguel Lopez, tests an isolator. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay City News)
BUY PHOTO

Earthquake Protection Systems (EPS), housed in a 12-acre factory on Mare Island, builds gigantic “friction pendulum bearings” called seismic isolators, which essentially place huge structures like buildings, bridges and refineries on shifting plates that absorb the shock of large quakes.

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Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.