Over 10 million Californians to join Great Shakeout earthquake drill

More than 10 million Californians are expected to participate in the Great Shakeout on Thursday morning, the biggest turnout yet for the international earthquake drill started in 2008.

The annual drill involves more than just students being reminded to stop, drop and hold on under a desk; emergency operation centers in cities across the state will be activated as they would when the Big One hits, and emergency responders will conduct simulated searches and rescues.

In Los Angeles County, an estimated 3.6 million people are expected to join the drill. Worldwide, more than 25 million could participate, according to event organizers.

The largest drill in Southern California will be at Biola University in La Mirada and will involve the L.A. County Fire Department, the university and the city of La Mirada.

The drill comes amid lawmakers’ heightened awareness that the risks are widespread for Californians should a large earthquake strike.

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety official told the Los Angeles Times that the city was seeking mandatory retrofitting of “soft story” buildings, which are vulnerable to collapse in an earthquake.

The retrofitting would be mandated for apartments with weak first floors, such as those built on top of carports and supported by slender columns.

Many soft-story buildings collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge earthquakes. Sixteen people died when the Northridge Meadows apartment complex pancaked.

The city has spent months surveying the city for such buildings and expects to be done in January. Officials estimate that 5,800 buildings need strengthening and 11,600 more require further study.

Finding all the soft-story buildings hasn’t been easy. No city data existed to easily identify which structures are wood-frame and soft-story, building officials said. The survey focuses on structures built before 1978 with at least two stories and at least five units.

Of the city’s roughly 1.1 million structures, staffers were able to winnow the number down to 29,226 apartment buildings constructed before 1978. Officials have completed a preliminary assessment using Google Earth and mapping programs to narrow down which apartment buildings need further on-site inspection, Chan said.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.