Seismic Panel Urges Mandatory Retrofit Plans

The state Seismic Safety Commission has recommended that state and local authorities be required to draft programs within five years to retrofit seismically unsafe buildings and that they significantly enforce the new requirements by 2020.

The commission recently released the first parts of its report to Gov. Pete Wilson on lessons to be learned from the Northridge earthquake, including a summary of 151 recommendations. It flatly said that damaging earthquakes will occur before implementation of its recommendations is complete.

“Earthquakes and damage are inevitable,” the 17-member commission said. “More earthquakes like Northridge, and possibly a major earthquake reminiscent of San Francisco in 1906, will strike before California significantly reduces its seismic risk.

“However, California can be better prepared and less vulnerable tomorrow than it is today,” it added. “Successfully implementing these recommendations will improve management of earthquake risk and turn the losses from the Northridge earthquake into California’s gain.”

The commission released 36 pages of its report, which is expected to be more than 200 pages long, plus background data.

Executive Director L. Thomas Tobin said the report is being released piecemeal because it is already five months late.

An aide to Wilson said Friday that the governor’s office “is waiting for the final report in its entirety before reacting to it.”

“There’s been a lot of controversy within the commission itself on what this should say,” the aide said.

The commission is an advisory group with no enforcement powers. Some of the recommendations were couched in tentative terms, suggesting that one action or another only be considered.

However, Tobin said that the commission, when it meets next week in San Francisco, will probably endorse 13 specific legislative bills designed to implement its recommendations.

Some of the key recommendations are:

* That the California Building Standards Commission be made responsible for the adequacy of the seismic safety codes and standards for all buildings, focusing authority where no clear lines now exist.

* That the governor convene a California Earthquake Risk Colloquium of public officials, representatives of interest groups and the public to recommend acceptable levels of earthquake risks for buildings.

* That the Legislature reassess the state’s 1986 law on unreinforced masonry in light of “the failure of a significant number of local governments to comply with the intent of the law, (leaving) approximately half of the state’s (unreinforced masonry) buildings . . . unstrengthened.”

* That the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development develop emergency regulations giving itself the authority to close down acute care facilities after disasters if it finds they have sustained severe damage. Seismic Safety Commission officials said during a meeting in December that the health agency was unable to close at least one hospital after the Northridge quake despite finding such damage.

* That legislation be enacted authorizing stop-work orders by authorities when violations are observed on public school construction projects, and that private schools built before 1986 be evaluated by a structural engineer and that life-threatening earthquake risks be mitigated.

* That the state’s toll bridge retrofit program be accelerated.

* That the possibility of installing earthquake-activated shut-off valves for utilities be reviewed by a task force that would be named by the Public Utilities Commission, and that steps to reduce natural gas risks be adopted by June 30, 1996.

* That the quarter-century-old Alquist Priolo Act, limiting construction near active fault lines, be broadened, possibly to limit construction over larger areas.

* That the governor support legislation to place a bond issue on the 1996 state ballot to fund the retrofitting of seismically vulnerable state-owned buildings and local governments’ essential service buildings.

* That the California Building Standards Commission amend the state building code to assign more responsibility to building designers for the seismic safety of buildings.

However, it also urged that legislation be enacted to protect designers from claims or lawsuits, except when the designer was present during acts of faulty construction.

Tobin said the commission recommended broad changes in local seismic safety regulations over the next 25 years because it was not feasible to establish a statewide building law that would address the specific needs of each community.

“Clearly, the risk is more in the buildings that predate existing codes than anywhere else,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is clarify the local governments’ responsibilities in this area, even if it takes time,” he said.

More on Earthquakes

* Reprints of “Liquid Earth,” a map outlining areas of greater Los Angeles subject to potential liquefaction, is available from Times on Demand. To order, call 808-8463, press *8630 and select option 3. Item No. 5521. $3 plus 50 cents. Mail only.