Centers Offer Tips to Limit Quake Damage

Free workshops on practical ways to reduce damage to homes from future earthquakes will be held at Earthquake Service Centers throughout the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys beginning today.

Four workshops, including one in Spanish, will be held at each of the 10 centers operated jointly throughout the Los Angeles Basin by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

“The workshops will demonstrate practical and effective ways that people can strengthen their homes against the next earthquake,” Jack Eldridge, deputy federal coordinating officer for mitigation, said in a written statement. “We want to help people take action now to reduce or prevent future losses.”

The sessions will be divided into three areas: renters, non-structural mitigation such as securing water heaters and overhead fixtures, and structural mitigation such as methods to strengthen walls and foundations.

Only the non-structural sessions will be held in Spanish.

The sessions will be held Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m.

Additional information is available by calling the Disaster Hotline, (800) 525-0321.

The workshop schedule for area centers is as follows:

Valencia, 28460 Avenue Stanford: Tuesday, structural; Saturday, non-structural; Aug. 9, renters, and Aug. 13, non-structural in Spanish.

Chatsworth/Northridge: 20525 Nordhoff St.: Aug. 2, renters; Aug. 6, non-structural in Spanish; Aug. 16, non-structural, and Aug. 20, structural.

Sherman Oaks: 14144 Ventura Blvd.: Aug. 2, structural; Aug. 6, non-structural; Aug. 16, renters, and Aug. 20, non-structural in Spanish.

Simi Valley: 59 Tierra Rejada Road: Aug. 2, non-structural; Aug. 6, structural; Aug. 23, non-structural in Spanish, and Aug. 27, renters.

Van Nuys: 6939 Van Nuys Blvd.: Aug. 2, non-structural in Spanish; Aug. 6, renters; Aug. 16, structural, and Aug. 20, non-structural.

Sylmar: 13750 Foothill Blvd.: Aug. 9, non-structural in Spanish; Aug. 20, renters; Aug. 23, structural, and Aug. 27, non-structural.