True, though it appears to be the same liquefaction risk that above homes are subject to. [1] Geological surveys would be more important and I suspect compensatory insurance would be harder to acquire. That said if the automation brought the cost of these units down far enough then perhaps only liability insurance would be required as the unit could potentially be recycled if it were designed with that in mind. One could rent an excavator at $150 to $400/hr depending on size required to remove the top soil. If the rooms were modular then the excavator could lift or maybe even drag out the damaged room to be swapped out. If not modular then a crane would be required.
There are bomb shelter companies designing underground facilities that can withstand earth movement and allow the occupants to escape harm. I won't link to those companies as I feel they are over-priced and this could be done much more efficiently with advancements in automation and recycled materials. For small facilities like homes I believe this is a mostly solved problem.
A harder problem in my opinion would be a commercial mine due to the size/scale. Steel I-Beams and steel plates throughout a lengthy/deep mine would be very expensive as opposed to the wire mesh and 8' anchor bolts and shotcrete used today. A modular home would be far less likely to cross liquefaction and plate fault boundaries.
There are bomb shelter companies designing underground facilities that can withstand earth movement and allow the occupants to escape harm. I won't link to those companies as I feel they are over-priced and this could be done much more efficiently with advancements in automation and recycled materials. For small facilities like homes I believe this is a mostly solved problem.
A harder problem in my opinion would be a commercial mine due to the size/scale. Steel I-Beams and steel plates throughout a lengthy/deep mine would be very expensive as opposed to the wire mesh and 8' anchor bolts and shotcrete used today. A modular home would be far less likely to cross liquefaction and plate fault boundaries.
[1] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S246796741...