The Los Angeles City Council unanimously adopted tough new regulations that will require the owners of thousands of buildings to implement mandatory structural upgrades to protect the city for future earthquakes.
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City leaders will now have to agree on how the estimated $5,000-per-unit retrofitting costs would be split between tenants and landlords. Concrete buildings and wooden apartment complexes with weak lower stories are primary targets of the rules; over 65 people died in such structures in the city’s last two earthquakes.
The mandate would apply to soft-story buildings that received construction permits or are believed to have been built before 1978, and to concrete buildings with permits dating back to before January 13, 1977.
Under the ordinance, owners of wood-frame housing would have seven years to complete the required retrofits after an order from the city’s Department of Building and Safety.
U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones, who worked with Mayor Eric Garcetti and the city previous year to create an natural disaster resiliency plan, said she was “honored” that city leaders listened to her advice.
“I think we’re doing better than San Francisco”, Councilmember Gil Cedillo.
Studies estimate that a massive natural disaster in the Los Angeles area could kill 3,000 to 18,000 people and cause up to $250 billion in damage. Owners of concrete buildings will have a longer timeline of 25 years. His plan released in December focuses on rapidly identifying and retrofitting at-risk residential and commercial buildings, fortifying major water systems that would be severed by a huge quake and keeping telecommunications systems operating.
Los Angeles’ quake retrofitting mandate is part of a push by Garcetti to address the city’s vulnerabilities during a major natural disaster.
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This report includes material from the Associated Press.
