S. El Monte Residents Are Fatalistic About Their Shaky Ground

The way most residents figure it, you do what you can and try not to worry about what you can’t.

Wedged between the San Gabriel River and the Rio Hondo, the tiny San Gabriel Valley industrial city is built on sandy, alluvial ground--”old riverbed,” as Assistant City Manager Steve Henley decribes it.

State experts say a major earthquake--the Big One--could liquefy the city’s base, churning up the ground and the subterranean water table like a Manhattan in a cocktail shaker.

“Most engineers we’ve talked to say there’s not much we can do about it,” says Henley, the city’s emergency services coordinator. “The ground shakes, and the water and sand mix. The only thing we could do is excavate the sand, putting in a sturdier base, or get rid of the water. Neither are practical.”

Knowledgeable residents in this city of 19,800 tend to shrug off the extra dangers.

“I’m concerned about it, but where can you go?” says Bill Keef, a 40-year resident. “I’m an aerospace engineer, and Southern California is where the money is. Oh, I could go out to the desert in Arizona or New Mexico, but what’s there to do out there?”

Seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles, South El Monte has more than 1,300 businesses, one for every 15 residents. Companies such as chicken wholesalers Zacky Foods and Foster Farms and sportswear manufacturer Joni Blair have established home bases there because of the city’s central location and its fiscal policies, with no property taxes, utility taxes or business license fees.

In recent years, the city has also become a Latino enclave. Three-quarters of the population is Spanish-surnamed, according to city officials. Many are particularly worried about earthquake dangers.

“Because of a lot of bad experiences by family members in Mexico City (during an 8.1-magnitude quake in 1985), they’re more sensitive than a lot of other people,” says Patrick Sayne, superintendent of the city’s Valle Lindo School District.

Still, residents have some reason for consolation. Although parts of the city are barely a mile from the epicenter of the Oct. 1, 1987, Whittier Narrows 5.9-magnitude earthquake, damage was negligible.

Damage in the city was so slight--about $50,000 worth--that the city had to return a $150,000 state disaster assistance loan that was rushed through after the quake. “Nobody ever qualified for the money,” Henley said.

Some officials say South El Monte escaped large-scale damage because it is a newer city than Whittier. “They have an older, more established type of town,” says Mayor Albert Perez. “We only have a few homes built in the 1940s.”

Also, South El Monte has few buildings taller than one story. As Keef puts it, even if the ground suddenly turns swampy, “how far are you going to fall?”

Nevertheless, the city has made elaborate preparations for disaster. City Hall basement can be converted quickly into an emergency operations center, with a diesel-powered electrical generator, telephones, cots, blankets, enough food for 40 people for three weeks and a 16,000-gallon water tank.

Schools keep similar supplies on hand. The two schools of the Valle Lindo district, for example, could feed and board their 1,100 students for a week, Supt. Sayne says. The schools, where student regularly undergo emergency drills, are linked by shortwave radio with county disaster centers.

“We may be a little ahead of other districts,” says Sayne.

The Red Cross, the Los Angeles County Office of Education and City Hall have been spreading earthquake preparedness information for years, says Perez. “Our newsletter is mailed to all of our residents,” he says, displaying the April issue containing a lengthy article on preparing for a major earthquake.

The word has gotten out. “I have canned food and bottled water, just in case,” says Ignacia Escobedo. “What more can you do?”