PAGE ONE (SACRAMENTO) -- Report Warns of Faults In State Quake Codes / Swift action urged on retrofitting
1995-07-13 04:00:00 PDT Sacramento -- California will lose more lives and billions more dollars from earthquake damage unless Governor Wilson and state lawmakers act now to toughen building codes, the Seismic Safety Commission says in a new report.
Although California's seismic safety standards are considered among the best in the world, the Northridge quake, the Loma Prieta quake and other temblors taught researchers that the risks to life and property remain substantial.
In findings delivered yesterday to Wilson's representative in Burbank, the commission issued 168 recommendations on reducing earthquake risks, especially in urban areas with older buildings. But the commission warned that its suggestions will have little value unless they "are consistently applied with a new sense of urgency."
"Although California's seismic safety practices for building and land use are among the best in the world, there remain weaknesses that result in unacceptable risks to life and the economy," the commission wrote. "In light of these vulnerabilities, the commission believes that California cannot continue with business as usual, particularly when there is clear knowledge of the high likelihood that major earthquakes will strike our urban areas."
The 17-member commission -- appointed by Wilson and the Legislature -- urged state lawmakers to help enact legislation and direct state agencies to make seismic safety a top priority.
"We are really disappointed that seismic safety is not getting the priority that it deserves," said commission member Lloyd Cuff, a utilities representative in San Francisco. "We have had a number of warnings starting with the 1971 Sylmar quake and the Loma Prieta quake (in 1989). These are just reminders of what's going to happen when we have an even more damaging earthquake. But no one seems to care."
Cuff, who could not attend the meeting because of jury duty, said in an interview that the commission intends to press the importance of seismic safety to the governor, lawmakers, state agencies, businesses and residents.
"We're serious about this report," said Cuff, who helped write the 195-page document. "We believe it is the responsibility of the commission to hold those agencies to those deadlines. And we will have hearings to make sure that happens."
"While the guidelines currently in place are strong, we must take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that they are the strongest possible," Wilson said in a prepared response to the report. "Californians deserve no less.
"Therefore, I will be asking my cabinet secretaries and department heads to review the nearly 200 recommendations outlined in your report, and respond to me within 30 days on how to best implement them."
Wilson had ordered the commission to conduct the study just a month after a 6.7 quake struck Northridge in 1994, killing 59 people and causing $20 billion in damage -- the most expensive earthquake in the nation's history, according to the report.
The loss of lives was minimized, the report said, by the timing of the quake: It struck at 4:31 a.m., when most people were at home instead of on bridges and in concrete parking structures where much of the damage occurred.
The report includes 39 background papers dealing with subjects such as building codes, land use practices, and seismic-safety design. There are also 27 detailed case studies of buildings damaged in the Northridge quake.
That quake served as an important lesson for researchers because it "exposed a large urban building stock to intense shaking for the first time since the advent of modern building codes."
As a result, the commission found that although much had been done since the 1971 Sylmar quake, much more is necessary.
The authors call for strengthened building codes, with new limits on building in earthquake fault zones and more aggressive enforcement of the codes. They also propose improved building-safety training for architects and engineers.
Furthermore, they recommend an expansive new retrofitting program, with building safety improvements in the state's public universities and new measures to protect old homes.
The report also offers suggestions to homeowners, such as anchoring houses, a single action that Cuff estimated would "save hundreds of thousands of dollars." Gas-powered water heaters also should be braced, Cuff said.
Meanwhile, the state Legislature debated several bills this week relating to earthquake safety for homeowners. Two bills would repeal or modify current laws requiring company offering homeowners insurance to offer earthquake insurance. Consumer groups say the bills, if passed, could make it even harder to get earthquake insurance.
QUAKE RECCOMENDATIONSThe state Seismic Safety Commission made 168 recommendations for improving the safety of California buildings during earthquakes. Among them:
-- Enact laws requiring state and local building code enforcement agencies to identify hazardous buildings and adopt mandatory programs that would significantly reduce unacceptable hazards in buildings by 2020. -- Strengthen laws to limit building in fault zones by widening the restricted quarter-mile zones and expanding the list of active faults. -- Retrofit all vulnerable buildings in the University of California and the California State University systems, where seismic safety standards are weaker than for other public schools, by 2005. -- Improve the way licensing boards test engineers, architects and geologists on seismic principles and aggressively enforce licensing board rules regarding professional competence in seismic safety matters. -- Work with banks and insurance companies to create incentives that would encourage seismic retrofitting, possibly by offering lower loan rates on homes that have been retrofitted.