Temblor Spurs Reviews of Orange County’s Planning

Top Orange County officials vowed Tuesday night to immediately begin reviewing the county’s earthquake preparedness plan, acknowledging that the county is not ready for a disaster such as the one that hit the San Francisco Bay Area.

“If that quake had struck Orange County, we’d have similar problems,” said Christine Boyd, manager of the county’s disaster planning agency. “We’ve taken some steps to get ready, but we’ve got a ways to go. This serves as a good lesson, and hopefully it will push to get us going.”

County Administrative Officer Larry A. Parrish said he told key members of his staff by telephone late Tuesday to review the county’s preparedness plans. But Parrish would not predict whether the 6.9-magnitude quake in the Bay Area will mean more local money for countywide emergency preparedness. He would say only that the disaster may have a “very sobering effect on our financial priorities.”

In 1985, a sweeping plan designed specifically to help the county prepare for such a calamity was created. Known as the Southern California Emergency Preparedness Project, the plan covers everything from educating the public on how to prepare for a major quake to deployment of equipment, medical supplies and volunteers during such a catastrophe. But so far, the county has spent less than $300,000 on the plan, which Parrish said would cost about $12 million to implement fully.

“At this point,” Parrish said, “it’s not within our capacity. . . . The temptation there is to say whatever it takes, we’ll spend it. But perspective is critical. I just think we need a little time to assess what’s worked and what hasn’t.”

Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley, while supporting Parrish’s review of the county’s response plans, said that paying for such preparations is difficult in light of the county’s fiscal condition and pressing needs.

“The amounts of money you’re talking about make it very difficult to finance,” Riley said. “You got jails. You’ve also got the homeless. You’ve got innumerable projects that are crying out (for county money). These have greater appeal to all of us.

“I guess most of us think it can’t happen to us. You just hope it doesn’t happen here,” he added.

But Boyd, manager of the county’s Emergency Management Division, said the Bay Area quake serves as a graphic lesson that she hopes will stir commitment to local preparedness efforts.

“I hope that if anything constructive can come out of this tragedy, it’s that people must prepare,” Boyd said. “The San Andreas Fault is not exclusive to the Bay Area. It can happen here, and we’ve got to redouble our efforts to get ready.”

The San Andreas passes about 30 miles northeast of the Los Angeles Basin. But many earthquake experts say Orange County residents face an even greater threat from the Newport-Inglewood Fault, which travels along the county coast from Newport Beach to Beverly Hills.

A cadre of county emergency officials, from utility managers to physicians, were preparing Tuesday night to lend assistance to the quake-relief effort in Northern California.

The National Guard’s 40th Division, based in Los Alamitos, has been placed on alert, but no troops or equipment have yet been dispatched to aid in quake relief, a National Guard spokeswoman said.

Boyd’s agency sent one of its senior coordinators to the Bay Area to observe recovery operations. County fire officials were on alert, prepared to send medical and fire equipment as well as volunteers to quake-stricken areas.

The local Red Cross chapter opened its emergency disaster center in Santa Ana to answer calls from county residents concerned about friends and relatives in the Bay Area. Red Cross Director George Brown said about a dozen volunteers answered calls from anxious county residents, many of them wondering how to safeguard their homes in event of a similar quake. The Red Cross information line is (714) 835-5381.

“It always happens, but it takes pictures of a major disaster on TV to get them concerned about their preparedness,” Brown said. “In a way, maybe that’s good, but I just hope people get the message.”

County residents were also urged Tuesday night not to phone the Bay Area. Pacific Bell spokeswoman Linda Bonnekson said the few phone lines still working in the Bay Area are overloaded with calls, complicating and slowing relief efforts.

Because phone service is so critical, Bonnekson said that Pacific Bell conducts quarterly drills with dozens of employees at its large Tustin operational center. The facility employs more than 1,000 workers, including several shifts of operators.

“With roads knocked out, the phone becomes a key tool in coping with an emergency of this type,” Bonnekson said. “We try to train our people how to deal with the disaster and keep working at the same time.”

For Robert Bade, a county emergency medical physician, the Bay Area quake underscored the need to develop a network of private doctors ready to roll should a quake strike. Bade has been pushing for six years to establish a team of “quake-ready” doctors, a program that has received nearly $25,000 in seed money from county officials.

Coincidentally, Bade spoke Tuesday to two civic groups in Tustin and Dana Point on this very subject.

“It used to the kind of topic that would put a luncheon group to sleep,” Bade said. “Now, after seeing those remarkable and sad pictures on TV, maybe people will start to take this seriously. I think they are.”