ABAG Shaken Awake Report - Why YOU Need to Know

	ABAG Shaken Awake! Report WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW

	from the 1996 report (NOT updated with 2003 data)

The numbers are overwhelming: almost 88,000 housing units made uninhabitable, forcing over 211,000 people from their homes and resulting in over 63,000 people requiring publicly-provided shelter for an earthquake on the northern Hayward fault. In another earthquake, this time on the peninsula segment of the San Andreas fault, located in San Mateo County, almost 46,000 housing units are made uninhabitable, forcing almost 109,000 people from their homes and resulting in almost 29,000 people requiring public shelter. What is our responsibility as local governments and mass shelter providers? Why do we need to understand how these numbers affect individual cities?

Bay Area totals can be overwhelming. They can also lead to a sense of denial ("Those 211,000 people must be in Oakland or San Francisco; they're not in my city.") With over 6 million people in our region, less than 4% of the total population is out of their homes even in the Northern Hayward scenario. Yet every city in the region is affected by one or more of these events. We all need to know the size of our problem and the reasons for its size, for only by knowing how many and why can we:

work to reduce these numbers;

respond effectively when these earthquakes occur; and

plan now to speed up the recovery process.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHECKLIST
Local governments have the power to have a huge impact on the size of this problem by designing and implementing effective mitigation, response and recovery programs now. Examples of city programs are included in a subsequent section. An effective local government program should include the following.
Mitigation

1. Owners of wood-frame homes should be encouraged to ensure that these structures are adequately bolted to their foundations and have adequate bracing.

Building departments can have guidelines and sample plans. They can offer incentives to homeowners to encourage this work.

Emergency services personnel, through their neighborhood preparedness programs, can target areas with the largest problems, due to concentrations of these older homes and areas exposed to the highest ground shaking intensities.

Housing and historic preservation agencies can educate owners of historic homes on retrofit options. The next earthquake should not destroy our architectural heritage.

Public affairs departments can include articles on the need to retrofit homes, as well as basic information on how to go about retrofitting these homes, in local government newsletters.

2. Encourage the addition of earthquake bracing to mobile homes.

Cities can write to the State Department of Housing and Community Development to encourage the creation of public information packets dealing with the costs and benefits of earthquake bracing.

Emergency services personnel can speak at mobile home parks on the need to add earthquake bracing to these homes.

Public affairs departments can include articles on the need to add earthquake bracing to mobile homes in local government newsletters.

3. Encourage owners of multi-family housing to retrofit their buildings to resist earthquake forces.

Building departments should inform owners of unreinforced masonry buildings that they should consider retrofitting these buildings to the highest standard that the owners can afford. Most local codes, including the Uniform Code for Building Conservation (UCBC), are life safety standards, not standards designed to allow these buildings to be functional or habitable following a strong earthquake.

Building officials can participate in the development of guidelines for the retrofit of other multi-family housing. Unfortunately, retrofitting these structures is neither simple nor inexpensive.

Emergency services personnel, through their neighborhood preparedness programs, can target the occupants of these buildings with special preparedness materials.

Housing and redevelopment agencies can designate areas of older multi-family housing as part of redevelopment areas to help owners obtain financing for retrofit before the earthquake.

Public information departments can speak to groups of businesses and owners about the need to retrofit multi-family buildings.

Response

Building departments should have an idea of the number of inspections that they will be performing following an earthquake.

Building inspectors should make a particular effort to talk with occupants of green-tagged structures to reassure them of the habitability of these lightly damaged buildings.

Emergency services personnel should be aware of the areas in their cities that are subject to the strongest shaking. Some of these areas may also experience ground failure, gas leaks and water pipeline breaks, and are at a higher risk of fire.

Local disaster plans should recognize that first responders may need to pay particular attention to multi-story buildings with weak("soft") first floors (usually due to the presence of parking), for these structures are particularly prone to partial collapse.

Public affairs departments should prepare materials to educate residents on the safety of green-tagged buildings. Damage to tile and wallboard does not necessarily mean that the building is unsafe to live in.

Recovery
Non-government organizations, such as the American Red Cross, provide emergency public shelter for several weeks following the disaster. When these shelters close, the local governments are responsible for long-term sheltering and housing recovery.

Building departments should have established criteria, perhaps similar to those now being developed by the City of Los Angeles, for the repair of earthquake damaged housing now, before the earthquake.

Building departments should be prepared for a wave of questions and permits for the retrofit of undamaged housing.

Housing and redevelopment agencies should be familiar with public financing options available for the repair of low-income and senior multi-family housing to minimize the number of units permanently lost and the housing stock recovery time. "Ghost towns" need to be minimized.

Single family housing will recover in six months to two years due to the wider insurance coverage and the easier availability of "standard" financing. Emergency shelters are available for several weeks. Recovery can easily take ten years.

MASS CARE PROVIDER CHECKLIST

Response

Non-government organizations, such as the American Red Cross, share the responsibility for providing these shelters in the period following an earthquake. Mass care providers can use the projections of the sheltering model to determine the number, location, and capacity of shelters that will be required to meet the anticipated peak demand. This shelter plan will provide the basis for staffing and training programs to ensure that the shelters can be opened and operated. The projections may serve as the basis for inter-organizational planning and assignment of responsibilities. The numbers provided in this document can assist in pre-planning for that emergency response activity in terms of :

logistics

supplies

In addition, the number of displaced persons can be used as a basis for planning for demand for food and shelter.

Mitigation
There is also a huge potential for reducing the demand for public shelter through public education and planning. Shelter residents are most likely to come from multi-family housing units and have low incomes. Shelter providers should collaborate with the agencies which provide services to these populations now, before an earthquake.

Encourage the development and distribution of earthquake information in the languages of the community.

Develop materials now, before the earthquake, on personal preparedness to limit the need for public shelter after the earthquake.

Recovery
Emergency shelter providers need to establish contacts with local government housing departments now to better coordinate and plan for the smooth transition from emergency shelters to medium and long-term sheltering.

ABAG, the Association of Bay Area Governments, is the regional planning and services agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

This page was last updated 9/29/03 by jbp.

	Building departments can have guidelines and sample plans. They can offer incentives to homeowners to encourage this work.
	Emergency services personnel, through their neighborhood preparedness programs, can target areas with the largest problems, due to concentrations of these older homes and areas exposed to the highest ground shaking intensities.
	Housing and historic preservation agencies can educate owners of historic homes on retrofit options. The next earthquake should not destroy our architectural heritage.
	Public affairs departments can include articles on the need to retrofit homes, as well as basic information on how to go about retrofitting these homes, in local government newsletters.

	Cities can write to the State Department of Housing and Community Development to encourage the creation of public information packets dealing with the costs and benefits of earthquake bracing.
	Emergency services personnel can speak at mobile home parks on the need to add earthquake bracing to these homes.
	Public affairs departments can include articles on the need to add earthquake bracing to mobile homes in local government newsletters.

	Building departments should inform owners of unreinforced masonry buildings that they should consider retrofitting these buildings to the highest standard that the owners can afford. Most local codes, including the Uniform Code for Building Conservation (UCBC), are life safety standards, not standards designed to allow these buildings to be functional or habitable following a strong earthquake.
	Building officials can participate in the development of guidelines for the retrofit of other multi-family housing. Unfortunately, retrofitting these structures is neither simple nor inexpensive.
	Emergency services personnel, through their neighborhood preparedness programs, can target the occupants of these buildings with special preparedness materials.
	Housing and redevelopment agencies can designate areas of older multi-family housing as part of redevelopment areas to help owners obtain financing for retrofit before the earthquake.
	Public information departments can speak to groups of businesses and owners about the need to retrofit multi-family buildings.

	Building departments should have an idea of the number of inspections that they will be performing following an earthquake.
	Building inspectors should make a particular effort to talk with occupants of green-tagged structures to reassure them of the habitability of these lightly damaged buildings.
	Emergency services personnel should be aware of the areas in their cities that are subject to the strongest shaking. Some of these areas may also experience ground failure, gas leaks and water pipeline breaks, and are at a higher risk of fire.
	Local disaster plans should recognize that first responders may need to pay particular attention to multi-story buildings with weak("soft") first floors (usually due to the presence of parking), for these structures are particularly prone to partial collapse.
	Public affairs departments should prepare materials to educate residents on the safety of green-tagged buildings. Damage to tile and wallboard does not necessarily mean that the building is unsafe to live in.

	Building departments should have established criteria, perhaps similar to those now being developed by the City of Los Angeles, for the repair of earthquake damaged housing now, before the earthquake.
	Building departments should be prepared for a wave of questions and permits for the retrofit of undamaged housing.
	Housing and redevelopment agencies should be familiar with public financing options available for the repair of low-income and senior multi-family housing to minimize the number of units permanently lost and the housing stock recovery time. "Ghost towns" need to be minimized.
	Single family housing will recover in six months to two years due to the wider insurance coverage and the easier availability of "standard" financing. Emergency shelters are available for several weeks. Recovery can easily take ten years.

	logistics
	supplies
	In addition, the number of displaced persons can be used as a basis for planning for demand for food and shelter.

	Encourage the development and distribution of earthquake information in the languages of the community.
	Develop materials now, before the earthquake, on personal preparedness to limit the need for public shelter after the earthquake.