Beverly Hills : Quake Survey Launched
The city is launching a survey to identify buildings that might be hazardous in case of a major earthquake.
State law requires that such a survey identify all unreinforced brick buildings built before 1934, but Beverly Hills will expand it to determine possible hazards in any buildings with a capacity of 100 or more people that date back to that era.
The survey will also try to determine hazards in buildings with a capacity of 300 or more that were built before 1976, when the city adopted its current building code.
“Although unreinforced masonry buildings are considered the most hazardous, other types of buildings constructed before additional seismic design standards were adopted in 1976 have also proven to be potentially hazardous,” said Ron Clark, the city’s building and safety director.
Owners will be notified if their buildings are found to be possible earthquake hazards, but Beverly Hills does not yet have an ordinance similar to Los Angeles legislation that requires such structures to be reinforced.
“That is in the future. This the first step to developing an ordinance like that,” Clark said.
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