Few Heed Quake Safety Law

A state law that requires California’s 25,550 unreinforced masonry buildings to display placards warning that a major earthquake could damage them is being largely ignored, according to state records.

The masonry buildings have long been considered by seismologists to be the most sensitive to earthquake damage, a point bolstered by December’s 6.5-magnitude temblor in Paso Robles in which two people died when an unreinforced structure collapsed on them.

That building didn’t carry a warning placard, and a survey completed last year by the state Seismic Safety Commission found that only 312 structures statewide carried the notice.

Unreinforced masonry buildings -- made with bricks, cinder blocks or adobe -- were mostly built in the early part of the 20th century. They are less resistant to shaking than other types of construction, because they have little shear or lateral strength, making them brittle.

The placard law, approved in 1991, designated no lead agency as responsible for enforcement and set no penalty for the law’s violation. Critics say the law is also confusing, because it doesn’t spell out what type of retrofitting is necessary before a placard can be removed.

But since the December quake, there has been a new push to strengthen the rules. Legislation pending in Sacramento would set penalties for property owners who don’t display the placards and would assign responsibility for enforcement. A hearing has been tentatively set for April 13 in an Assembly committee.

The families of the two Paso Robles victims, Marilyn Frost-Zafuto and Jennifer Myrick, are pushing for changes. Family members testified last month at a hearing in Paso Robles of the Seismic Safety Commission, which has long monitored the problem.

Frost-Zafuto’s 19-year-old daughter, Allison, a student at Southern Methodist University, issued a plea for action.

“No one can really explain an earthquake, other than that it is an act of nature, plates shifting unpredictably; or even an act of God,” she told the commission. “Either way, earthquakes are a natural disaster. But the death of two people is tragically, in part, an act of man.”

She criticized public officials for not requiring that unreinforced brick buildings be immediately retrofitted to make them stand up better to large earthquakes. But at least enforcing the placard law, she said, would offer people a warning.

“I know that my mom and Jennifer Myrick could never have imagined that working in a clothing store in downtown Paso Robles would lead to their deaths,” she said. “I believe that, had they known of the possible dangers that the Acorn Building posed during an earthquake, they may have thought twice about working there.”

Mark Mastagni, whose family owned the building where Marilyn Frost-Kafuto died, did not return calls seeking comment. But he was quoted in the San Luis Obispo County Tribune as saying that he didn’t know the placard law existed.

The law requires that all unreinforced buildings carry a 5-by-7-inch placard informing onlookers: “This is an unreinforced masonry building” and that it “may be unsafe in the event of a major earthquake.”

There are two bills in the works to toughen the retrofitting law.

Assemblyman Simon Salinas (D-Salinas) said that he was still developing specifics of his bill, but that it would include penalties for noncompliance and clearer standards for the level of retrofitting needed to remove the placard.

“We have to make this law both meaningful and practical,” he said.

Salinas said he would seek to work out a compromise with Assemblyman James Yee (D-San Francisco), who is also formulating legislation.

New unreinforced masonry construction was banned in many parts of California after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, which sent scores of such buildings crashing down and killed 120 people. Retrofitting is not mandated by the state, although it is strongly suggested in a 1986 law that communities adopt strict deadlines.

Some parts of the state have been more successful than others in retrofitting unreinforced masonry building to make them safer. Los Angeles County, which has the largest number of the structures, has retrofitted to some degree or demolished 85% of such buildings. San Francisco County reports retrofitting at 59%, while Alameda County reports 37%.

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Quake readiness

Los Angeles County has largely followed a 1986 state law that suggests communities adopt strict deadlines on retrofitting or demolishing unreinforced masonry buildings.

*--* Unreinforced Percent Selected masonry retrofitted/ counties buildings demolished Los Angeles 14,225 85% Santa Barbara 380 81% Santa Clara 384 73% Orange 727 61% San Francisco 2,014 59% Alameda 2,601 37% Monterey 209 36% Ventura 445 31% San Diego 205 15% Riverside 563 14% San Bernardino 769 14% Kern 506 10% Imperial 152 9%

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Source: California Seismic Safety Commission