Earthquake Plan Calls For Mandatory Retrofitting On Thousands Of LA Structures
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Mandatory earthquake retrofitting should be required on thousands of buildings in Los Angeles to reduce potential damage from a devastating quake, experts told city lawmakers Wednesday.
The message was part of a presentation made by U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones to City Council on details about Mayor Eric Garcetti's earthquake resiliency plan.
Garcetti unveiled a plan in December to retrofit thousands of buildings that are most at-risk in a major earthquake.
Under the 123-page Resilience by Design plan (PDF), two types of vulnerable buildings citywide would be required to be retrofitted within as little as five years for "soft-first-story" buildings – which are commonly wood frame apartment complexes and other structures – built prior to 1980.
Retrofits would also be required within 25 years at "non-ductile reinforced concrete" buildings such as apartment complexes, schools, hospitals, office buildings, and warehouses that were built before 1980.
Many of the city's 1,400 non-ductile reinforced concrete buildings could be at risk for collapse in future earthquakes, according to the 123-page report.
It was unclear how much the retrofitting would cost.
"The council needs to consider . . . how they want to approach that and who should be picking up the costs. But it's pretty clear that the cost of not doing it is so large," Dr. Jones said.
The plan also calls for significant investments in fortifying L.A.'s water supply, including developing an alternative water system for firefighting, protecting our aqueducts that cross the San Andreas Fault, increasing local water sources, and developing a network of resilient pipes.
Garcetti and Dr. Jones were also scheduled to hold a community meeting to share the plans to improve the city's infrastructure Saturday at 11 a.m. at the LAPD Freig Smith Devonshire PALS Youth Center in Northridge.
Jones does not believe San Fernando Valley buildings are necessarily more vulnerable than buildings in other areas of greater Los Angeles, even though there is liquefaction, or the compromising of soil's strength after an earthquake, in the valley.
She says that since buildings there have withstood the shaking from two major-sized earthquakes, she is more concerned over buildings south of the Santa Monica mountains, because those buildings have not yet endured that type of violent shaking.
Today, meanwhile, was just step one for the city council. The matter now goes to committees before any decision can be made.
Beyond the concern of lives or damage to buildings, another big concern is the continued economic viability of Los Angeles after another major earthquake. Experts fear a repeat of the Hurricane Katrine issue of residents leaving and never returning, due in large part to so many apartment buildings being damaged, leaving no place for much of the city's work force to live.
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