Don’t Forget About Sherman Oaks : Community’s Losses, and Reasons Behind Them, Must Become Lessons Learned

Many San Fernando Valley residents and workers are fed up with quake sightseers and gawkers. Not Sandy Turner, marketing director at the still-closed Sherman Oaks Fashion Square mall. “I try to get as many people as possible to drive around here,” Turner says, “I don’t think that people realize how severe the damage was in Sherman Oaks.”

When the quake’s images are recalled, folks obviously think of Northridge, and of Reseda, the two communities closest to the epicenter. They even think of Santa Monica. Using the I-to-XII Mercalli scale that records seismic shaking, however, one finds that Sherman Oaks registered a IX, just as high as epicentral Northridge and Reseda, and comparable to San Francisco in 1906 (VII and greater) and New Madrid, Missouri in 1811-12 (VII and greater).

Sherman Oaks was devastated, according to homeowner association president Richard Close. Jeff Brain, past president of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce, has looked at monetary damage tallies that dwarf the combined amounts of Studio City, Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills. Fifth District City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky says that the monetary damage in Sherman Oaks is greater than in Northridge.

We note this as a reminder to all of those involved in the Gargantuan earthquake relief process: When you think of communities in need, mention Sherman Oaks in the same breath as the more well-known sites of devastation in Southern California.

Those involved in the rebuilding effort might also beware of a reason for the severity of the quake toll. One part of the Valley subject to liquefaction, and more severe damage, because of soil conditions starts at Balboa Boulevard and runs, largely unbroken, east along Ventura Boulevard all the way to Laurel Canyon Boulevard. The area’s preference for soft-story construction, in which a building’s first floor serves as its parking garage, should also be reconsidered in light of the earthquake. Sherman Oaks’ losses, and the reasons behind them, must now become part of the lessons learned from that temblor named for Northridge.