California Governor Jerry Brown Calls For Stronger Earthquake Safety Measures
Governor Jerry Brown is making a move to push counties across California to ID buildings in their district that may be at higher risk for earthquakes.
While structural engineers and foundation experts can quickly assess a building’s earthquake readiness with in a matter of minutes, the same cannot be said for the public.
Typically, if a building has parking spots under the apartments, brick walls that do not appear reinforced or first floors that are held up by weak-looking poles, these structures should be inspected by a foundation repair company like Julian Construction.
Gov. Jerry Brown is trying to speed up the process of identifying these vulnerable buildings across California – to prepare Californians for the next big quake. To do this, California Legislature has sent a bill asking Brown to require all cities to create lists of structures in their area that could be at a higher risk for damage or collapses in the event of an earthquake.
Larger cities in California, like Los Angeles, have already started to identify vulnerable buildings in the area and have generated lists of structures that need retrofit.
Though the bill would help raise awareness about which structures would be considered unsafe in an earthquake, it does not offer any funding options for generating these widespread lists.
“California contains thousands of buildings that are known to present an unacceptably high earthquake risk of death, injury and damage,” the proposed legislation states (via Los Angeles Times). “Protecting our state’s economy, affordable housing stock and social fabric from the long-lasting turmoil of earthquakes is of utmost importance.”
This law would only be able to pass if officials can find funding for these inspections. Nevertheless, Californians seem on board with the measure, especially when it comes to identifying vulnerable structures that they live and work in.
Luckily for Angelinos, Los Angeles has already compiled a list of 13,500 vulnerable wood-frame structures and 1,500 weak concrete buildings and has begun implementing laws to get these structures retrofitted or red-tagged. San Francisco remains leading the pack on city retrofits, with 45% of their vulnerable inventory already retrofitted, while L.A. is at 5%.
Passing a bill like this is an excellent first step in making real progress regarding California and earthquake safety.
If you’re a Los Angeles homeowner or apartment building owner you don’t have to wait for this bill to pass. Contact Julian Construction today to set up your free home foundation inspection!
Now more than ever it’s important to be proactive about earthquake preparation and safety. Julian De La Torre is an expert in Los Angeles foundation inspection, foundation repair and foundation replacement.
Julian’s company, Julian Construction, has inspected over 30,000 structures, working with engineering firms and local departments of building & safety. The company has done more foundation repair and earthquake retrofitting in Los Angeles than any other company in the area over the last five years.
