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Japan quake jolts retrofitting demand in South land
Companies report a surge in calls from homeowners after the earthquake and tsunami. The work can be expensive, and prices can vary widely.
Like many construction businesses, Jonathan Weinstein’s company suffered during the economic downturn. Then, on Friday, the phones hardly stopped ringing.
Weinstein Retrofitting Systems Inc., based in Van Nuys, specializes in earthquake retrofitting for homes.
“Whenever there’s a big disaster anywhere in the world, it puts safety in the front and center of people’s minds,” said Weinstein, vice president of the family-owned company. The firm has had a threefold increase in phone calls since the disastrous earthquake hit Japan, he said. Some callers were merely anxious, others frantic.
“People feel compelled to do something,” Weinstein said.
Thousands of Soft-Story Structures Still Need Retrofitting
It’s been 17 years since the Northridge earthquake, but thousands of soft-story structures in Los Angeles remain unfit to handle a similar tremor.
In December, officials finished work on the first-ever Southern California Catastrophic Earthquake Plan. The plan has been in the works since the deadly Northridge quake in 1994.
The plan suggests that apartment buildings that are classified as “soft structure” are retrofitted to presumably withstand a strong earthquake.
Yahoo! News – Chile earthquake: How California would fare
“Los Angeles, California is well prepared to deal with an earthquake on par with the Chile earthquake on Saturday, but residents can do more to help themselves, disaster preparedness experts say.
Because it lies on the San Andreas fault, the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and the North American plates, California’s vulnerability to earthquakes has been well-documented since the late 1800s. Because building codes call for steel reinforcements, some tall buildings are even built on rolling foundations.
What Paulison and other veteran observers are not comfortable with, however, is the question of personal responsibility: the issue of whether residents have taken the time to sufficiently map out where they would go, how they would get there and that they have enough food and water to live comfortably without public assistance for three to four days”….
Pasadena Weekly – Earthquakes pick their own seasons to destroy lives and homes
“Weinstein Earthquake Retrofitting (retrofittingcalifornia.com) describes a safe house as “one that can with-stand a sideways pull and is a house built on firm foundations. They’ve been retrofitting homes for more than three decades; they’ve bolstered more than 5,000 residences since the Northridge earthquake in 1994. The retrofitting process, in accordance with the LA Department of Building and Safety and FEMA, is one that “ties a home together.
Los Angeles Times – The Big One is inevitable. Catastrophe is not
“With a faraway shudder of the Earth, Californians last week went from contemplating the fates of two multimillionaire late-night comics to confronting horror in a painfully poor country. Half a hemisphere away, homes shattered, entombing young and old. Roads clogged with debris and bodies. The injured begged for help, unheeded. Elsewhere in the world, the portrait was enough to wrench the heart. In California, it was that and more: a chilling look into the future.For those whose livelihoods involve a constant gaze in that direction, there was a fleeting hope that the Haiti disaster would change California’s reality: Despite decades of ever more urgent warnings, not enough here are really ready for the big earthquake to come. The long-predicted Big One, exponentially more powerful than that to which Port-au-Prince has succumbed”…
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
A national, nonprofit, technical society of engineers, geoscientists, architects, planners, public officials, and social scientists. Members include researchers, practicing professionals, educators, government officials, and building code regulators. The objectives of the Institute are the advancement of the science and practice of earthquake engineering and the solution of national earthquake engineering problems to protect people and property from the effects of earthquakes.
Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country
Los Angeles and southern California earthquake preparedness information. A compilation of internet information sources related to earthquake hazard.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEMA was established in 1979, and is an independent agency of the federal government, reporting to the President.
California Earthquake Authority
The site of California Department of Insurance provides information on earthquake coverage
California Seismic Safety Commission
Established in 1975, the Seismic Safety Commission advises the Governor. Legislature, and state and local governments on ways to reduce earthquake risk.
Essentials for your survival.
Essentials for your survival.
Basement Waterproofing in California
Basement Systems dealers in California offer Basement Waterproofing Systems providing expert service in entire state of CA.
There’s a hole in this possible earthquake pattern
The Mogi doughnut hypothesis, developed by a Japanese seismologist, holds that earthquakes occur in a circular pattern over decades, building up to one very large temblor in the doughnut hole.
Earthquake professionals, business and community leaders, emergency managers, and others have joined together to organize Dare to Prepare, an earthquake readiness campaign to raise earthquake awareness and encourage earthquake readiness in Southern California. The campaign is supported with funding from federal, state, and local partners.
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