Fires and Quakes Threaten Orange County Individuals, communities and businesses face risks
BY ALI SAHABI
A
s fire season heats up in California—and open spaces dry into withered reminders of the constant threat wildfire poses to our communities—Orange County residents are rallying together to fight back through prevention. People who live in our canyons and open space communities depend on one another for their safety. They advocate firmly for compliance with building codes requiring fire-proofing features such as tempered glass, screened vents and non-flammable materials. They keep a watchful eye on overgrowth, admonishing neighbors who have let brush and other combustible materials get out of hand, and they work together—recognizing that their community’s vulnerabilities are their own.
Responsibility for self and others
One home’s weakness to fire impacts the property next door and can threaten an entire neighborhood. This chain of interconnectedness demonstrates how one person’s action or lack of action can ignite a literal firestorm throughout a community. The same can be said for earthquake safety.
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Apartment News
When one building collapses, the deaths, injuries and destruction affect not only those immediate families but the communities they are a part of as workers, students, customers, worshippers, and friends. Impacts grow exponentially when multiple structures fail in major quakes. The results cause not only painful emotional loss, but a heavy economic burden as well with critically needed housing lost, families dislocated and businesses closed or disrupted. In addition, costly rebuilding of housing and businesses, plus cleanup of environmental contamination from lead and asbestos, will wreak havoc with the best laid financial plans. Anticipating this, Arizona in 2018 conducted a full-scale earthquake drill planning for 400,000 Southern California evacuees to go there seeking shelter following the devastation of a massive earthquake. They believe our region is not prepared for a major seismic event, but they intend to be.
Risks are high in Orange County
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has adopted Geographic Information System technology to esti-
www.aaoc.com
June 2022
mate physical, economic, and social impacts of disasters such as earthquakes. This nationally applied standard, called HAZUS, has put Los Angeles/Orange County at the top of this list for annualized earthquake damage from an earthquake: • Los Angeles/Orange County • San Francisco • Inland Empire • San Jose • Seattle Active earthquake faults in Orange County run along the coast and mountain ranges, hitting places such as Huntington Beach and Yorba Linda. Hillside communities of Laguna Beach, San Clemente and Santiago Canyon are also prone to landslides that can be triggered in a major earthquake, potentially undermining the foundation of a home, or causing one to slide into another. Liquefaction areas can be found throughout Orange County, most notably wherever water flows either above Fires and Quakes — continued on page 38
