Getting Ready to Roll When a Quake Strikes

Building inspectors and civil engineers from across Orange County are forming a regional strike team that will spring into action after a major earthquake to determine whether hospitals, office towers, malls and other buildings are structurally safe and inhabitable.

The effort was inspired by the Northridge earthquake in 1994, when inspections of damaged buildings were slowed by a lack of coordination and planning.

“The Northridge quake really woke us up to the fact that we really didn’t have anything in place,” said Ronald G. Novello, Orange County’s building and development services director, who is organizing the strike team.

“Earthquakes happen infrequently enough that we don’t know what to do,” Novello said, noting that the county’s last major earthquake occurred in 1933. “It’s been so long that most of us weren’t even born then. There’s no institutional memory.”

The team will consist of county and city inspectors as well as some private engineers and building professionals willing to volunteer. In the coming months, members will receive training on how to deal with emergencies and will participate in mock drills.

“I cannot overestimate the importance of having this kind of mutual aid for building inspectors,” said Sandra Sutphen, a professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton and disaster preparedness expert. “People’s whole lives are connected to their homes. Businesses can’t operate if they can’t use their buildings,” she said. “Certifying [buildings] as safe to inhabit is so important to the recovery process.”

The 6.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Northridge in January 1994 killed 72 people, caused $25 billion in damage and destroyed hundreds of homes, apartments, office buildings and retail centers.

Building officials said the post-quake inspection process could have been speedier with better planning.

“They did the best they could,” Sutphen said. “But they didn’t always know how to get ahold of people . . . and weren’t sure whether volunteers were qualified” to help with inspections.

The Northridge quake caused only minor damage in Orange County. But experts agree that the county’s soft soil and matrix of active fault lines someday could spell disaster.

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To be better prepared, Novello and a group of building officials from Irvine, Buena Park, Cypress and elsewhere have developed an emergency response pact similar to the mutual-aid programs used by police and fire departments.

The officials have signed up inspectors, engineers, drivers and clerks who will spread out across the county and relay damage reports to the county’s emergency management center.

Based on the inspectors’ information, county officials will know whether building experts from other parts of the state need to be flown in.

The inspectors’ first priority will be to check hospitals and critical government buildings. From there, they will examine offices, shopping centers, apartments and homes in the hardest-hit areas. They will tag buildings as “safe” “cautionary” or “unsafe” and help determine which owners are eligible for federal disaster funds.

“We won’t be in there retrieving bodies. That’s what the police and fire people will be doing,” Novello said. “But we will be right behind them assessing the damage.”

Structural engineers also will be available to help emergency crews determine the best way to rescue people trapped in rubble.

A coordinated approach makes sense, officials said, because of the county’s dense population and because some cities have far fewer building inspectors than others.

“Our cities are just across the street from one another,” said Bob Storchheim, Irvine’s longtime building and safety manager. “When an earthquake hits, it will not just affect one city. We need the resources to help each other.”

The so-called Long Beach earthquake of 1933 erupted along the 40-mile Newport-Inglewood fault, which runs from Newport Beach to Seal Beach and into Los Angeles County.

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It ravaged Long Beach, destroying hundreds of buildings, killing more than 100 people and causing the earth to sink in a geological phenomenon known as liquefaction.

Orange County was sparsely populated at the time but still suffered greatly. Dozens of commercial buildings in Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Fullerton and Anaheim were flattened, while many turn-of-the-century government buildings and schools were damaged and had to be destroyed.

Experts now predict that a 7.0 quake occurring along the Newport-Inglewood fault in the afternoon could kill 3,000 to 5,000 people across Southern California.

John H. Foster, a geological sciences professor Cal State Fullerton, said Orange County actually could suffer more damage than other areas because of its unstable soil.

“The effect of the shaking is great because of the softer soil,” he said. “It’s like tapping a pan of jello.”

Along the coast, water-saturated soil and homes built on fill make liquefaction a possibility.

The county has relatively few old unreinforced brick buildings, which are especially susceptible to quake damage. But more modern structures such as tilt-up warehouses could present problems.

Warehouses built before 1973 don’t have anchors between the walls and the roof. But Irvine and several other cities have been urging property owners to retrofit the buildings with new connecting anchors that make them more secure.

While earthquakes will be the main focus of the strike team, organizers said the inspectors also could provide assistance after a flood, tornado or explosion.

“This goes beyond earthquakes,” Novello said. “We will be able to respond to other problems as well.”