Earthquakes as Greatest Natural Threat— Is your apartment building ready for The Big One?
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range County’s website offers this advice to residents on preparing for emergencies: Although there are no guarantees of safety during an earthquake, identifying potential hazards ahead of time and advanced planning can save lives and significantly reduce injuries and property damage. It’s sage advice. So, what is the county doing to identify risks and to plan ahead to save lives, and reduce injuries and property damage? Since 2010, the county has partnered with Orange County Fire Authority to produce a multi-jurisdiction hazard mitigation plan promoting sound public policy to protect residents, critical facilities, infrastructure, key resources, private property, and the environment from natural hazards such as fire, flood, and earthquakes. Cities, first responder agencies, school districts, and special districts participated in the creation of this regional Emergency Operations Plan. The county’s ReadyOC.com website also offers preparedness tools, tips, and information regarding disaster risks in our region. Visitors to the site can get details on preparing emergency kits at home and sign up for the regional AlertOC emergency notification system.
A shared or individual responsibility?
Public involvement in developing the emergency plan included survey results, which ranked earthquakes as the natural disaster posing the greatest threat to their neighborhood. Total
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Apartment News
results from the survey included: • Orange County respondents ranked earthquake as the natural disaster posing the greatest threat to their neighborhood, with fire and climate change a distant second and third. • Nearly 45% ranked earthquake as the greatest natural threat. • Almost all respondents (or their families) had experienced a disaster, with 73% impacted by earthquake and 70% impacted by epidemic. • Less than 30% of respondents ranked themselves as prepared for disaster. • 86% were signed up for AlertOC or another emergency mass notification system. Unlike flood or fire, which are contained and somewhat predictable in their nature, earthquakes strike without warning and their impacts are widespread. Large faults that could affect Orange County include the San Andreas Fault, the Newport-Inglewood Fault, the Whittier Fault, the Elsinore Fault, and the San Jacinto Fault. Smaller faults include the Norwalk Fault, and the El Modena and Peralta Hills Faults. In addition, newly studied thrust faults, such as the San Joaquin Hills Fault and the Puente Hills Fault could also have a significant impact on the County. While proximity to a fault produces a higher risk of damage in earthquake, the impacts of seismic shaking can be
www.aaoc.com
July 2022
BY ALI SAHABI
widespread — posing a threat of regional concern. We should all heed the county’s advice: identify potential hazards and plan ahead. There are three steps apartment owners and operators can take to fortify their buildings and protect their income and investments. These strategies should be followed by any operation, large or small. • Know your apartment’s vulnerabilities: Soft-story buildings with tuck under parking are extremely vulnerable to earthquake damage. Loss of rental income, costly building repairs, and demolition are all serious risks. Add to that potential liability costs for negligence in operating an unsafe structure, or for environmental cleanup necessitated by the release of asbestos or lead, and you face economic losses that could easily force you into bankruptcy. • Create a plan for earthquake resilience: Evaluate the safety of your buildings to make sure that structural and non-structural issues are secure. • Consider the benefits of a seismic retrofit. Researchers at Caltech indicate every dollar spent in retrofitting soft-story structures can save property owners up to seven dollars, and that study didn’t factor in loss to contents, alternate living Earthquakes — continued on page 34
