WESTLAKE VILLAGE : Earthquake Causes Only Minor Damage
Westlake Village, which straddles the border between Los Angeles and Ventura counties, fared better during the Jan. 17 earthquake than its neighbors on either side.
“We felt it every bit as hard as people in Thousand Oaks, Calabasas and other places,” said City Manager Ray Taylor. “But, for some reason, we were spared any real damage.”
About a dozen residents requested safety inspections for their homes after the quake, Taylor said, but no serious structural damage was found. Part of a cinder-block wall in the city’s Canyon Oaks neighborhood crumbled, he said.
Westlake Village residents lost electrical power for about eight hours, Taylor said. Water service was not interrupted.
Several audiocassettes at the library were shaken off the shelves, but were not damaged. The books stayed put. At City Hall, a picture fell from the wall, but did not break.
Neighboring towns were less fortunate. Several miles to the west, in Calabasas, nearly 40 homes were declared uninhabitable. Several miles to the east, in Thousand Oaks, the public library suffered $2 million in damage.
“I’m delighted, but I’m almost embarrassed,” Taylor said. “We didn’t get our share of damage.”
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