That's really fascinating. I wonder how much a typical home can torque before it becomes unsafe and how would you go about fixing it? I can't imagine it's an easy repair. Can the house be lifted (as if it was going to be moved) and the foundation re-done or does it pretty much need to be demolished?
Jacking and lifting of houses are typically done when it's a relatively "static" issue that was improperly addressed when first built. For example, certain soils (mainly clays, very fine grained soils) compress and undergo consolidation (i.e. compress downwards) as a function of weight and time. Consolidation, when expected, can be mitigated and/or accelerated to "get it all out" so that there is no differential settlement in the future. For example, this here [1], looks to me like a case of differential settlement that resulted from improper excavation and back filling during original construction. In the case of fault-lines and stochastic motions? It's a lot harder to say what can or should be done in a general sense. Luckily the frames of most houses are made of wood, which has more forgiving properties (failing more with more ductility) than masonry. Unfortunately, the exterior shell of some houses are brick, which won't be so forgiving as the wood that it surrounds.
It's not just the houses - think about the water, sewer, and gas lines buried under the roads. Overhead electric service at least has some slack in the wires, so it'll be OK for a while...
If the house is a frame house on pilings, it's pretty easy to fix that way; if it's a monolithic slab, block home, you're screwed. So it depends heavily on the foundation and construction style.
And I imagine if, at this point, you're not constructing houses with this activity in mind, there's no one to blame but yourself. Sure, it sucks for older houses, but if newer houses are being built more commonly now as the article says, the problem should go away over time.
