SANTA ANA : Students Propose Quake Safety Ideas

Students at an intermediate school have proposed some interesting solutions to reduce the risk of damage during earthquakes.

They include building homes atop giant springs, shaping houses like pyramids and making buildings of rubber.

Students from Carr Intermediate School offered their ideas as part of a earthquake safety contest sponsored by the city’s Planning and Building Agency, said building inspector Doug Fredericksen, who helped coordinate the contest.

About 150 students participated and created drawings and scale models out of wood and paper for their task.

On Friday at the school, 28 received awards for their designs during a brief ceremony in the campus auditorium.

“I feel kind of smart,” said Lucy Mattizima, 13, after winning one of the first-place awards.

She showed off her design, which called for a home to be constructed with a steel-reinforced frame, a cushioned foundation and a special closet stocked with emergency supplies.

In an earthquake, “it will bounce a bit, but it won’t fall,” she said.

The house also would include fire detectors, an idea she got after a recent quake knocked over a candle in her home and started a small fire, she said.

Lilia Rodriguez, 14, made an elaborate scale model out of paper, Popsicle sticks and metal springs to show her idea for a home built on top of special shock absorbers.

The contest taught her a lot about earthquake preparedness and might inspire the students to design real quake-resistant homes in the future, Lilia said.

“What I liked best about the contest was I got to build a house,” she said. “I never built a house before. I feel really proud of it.”