Martinez on Shaky Ground When it Comes to Quakes
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 8, 2004
Albert Turnbaugh, an attorney in Martinez, works out of a second-floor office in a recently renovated building with views of historic downtown.
In 2001, he and his business partner completed a major retrofit project to help their attractive, 90-year-old building survive the body blows of a serious earthquake. The tab, he said, was in the "hundreds of thousands."
"This is a very significant issue in terms of public safety," he said, glancing out the window. "There are inhabitants in every one of those buildings."
Martinez, one of the oldest cities in California, features dozens of unreinforced masonry buildings downtown, which often are the first to buckle in large earthquakes.
The city has identified 58 of these vulnerable structures, some of which date to the turn of the 20th century. In fact, Paso Robles had the same number of unreinforced masonry buildings when the magnitude-6.5 temblor struck the central coast area Dec. 22, causing an estimated $100 million in damages.
Two women died in the quake after being crushed by a cascade of bricks that fell from an unreinforced 111-year-old building.
"Someday we will have the big one," Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder said. "If we don't take the steps to retrofit these buildings, we will have a pile of bricks on Main Street."
In the aftermath of the devastation in Paso Robles, the state Seismic Safety Commission called for a legislative review of a 1986 law that required hundreds of cities to upgrade or demolish their at-risk buildings.
Thousands of unreinforced masonry buildings remain statewide, including in cities across Contra Costa and Alameda counties, despite a ban on such construction following the Long Beach earthquake in 1933.
Cities and counties need to improve their "loss reduction" programs in dealing with about 12,000 unstable buildings in California, commissioners said.
"Unfortunately, we are, in essence, competing against time," said Fred Turner, a staff structural engineer with the Seismic Safety Commission, which advises lawmakers.
In 1986, the state passed a law requiring more than 360 cities in the most seismically active areas to inventory their unreinforced masonry buildings and to create programs to secure them.
So far, slightly more than half of the 25,500 buildings affected by the law have been upgraded.
The law also called for local governments to adopt "mandatory strengthening" programs to mitigate the risks posed by these buildings, but allowed for flexibility because of the estimated $4 billion cost to retrofit all of them.
Commissioners tout the progress of many cities, but also say most loss reduction programs are not effective.
In Martinez, the city notifies property owners that their buildings are at-risk and should be retrofitted. Compliance is voluntary. "They have what we consider a relatively ineffective loss reduction program," Turner said.
Dave Scola, the city's chief building inspector, said he did not know precisely how many of the 58 unreinforced masonry buildings had been seismically improved.
Some of those buildings are occupied by small-business owners and county workers. City officials now want to review their program, and Scola said he will prepare a report for the council later this month.
Other cities, including Emeryville, Livermore, Pleasanton and Berkeley, have mandatory policies to handle their shaky structures.
Livermore, which is revitalizing its old downtown, passed an ordinance in 1998 to reduce its inventory of potentially hazardous buildings. At the time, an independent structural engineer had identified 47 such structures. To date, 36 of them have been retrofitted and five are currently vacant, said Andy Vanderheiden, the city's building inspector manager.
In Berkeley, the city had counted 587 unreinforced masonry buildings, and enacted a mandatory retrofit program more than a decade ago to tackle the problem.
Fewer than 100 buildings remain on the list in Berkeley, which recently has started issuing citations to property owners who fail to comply.
"Up until 2001, it was essentially a mandatory program without any enforcement," said Dan Lambert, who coordinates the city retrofit program.
A recent earthquake has a way of reminding people about the possibilities of pancaking floors and piles of rubble.
Danna Bell, a co-owner of Leah's Closet Boutique in Martinez, works on the ground floor of an unreinforced masonry building on Main Street.
"After that last earthquake," she said, "my husband said to just run outside. Otherwise, what do you do? This building is old."
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 8, 2004
Albert Turnbaugh, an attorney in Martinez, works out of a second-floor office in a recently renovated building with views of historic downtown.
In 2001, he and his business partner completed a major retrofit project to help their attractive, 90-year-old building survive the body blows of a serious earthquake. The tab, he said, was in the "hundreds of thousands."
"This is a very significant issue in terms of public safety," he said, glancing out the window. "There are inhabitants in every one of those buildings."
Martinez, one of the oldest cities in California, features dozens of unreinforced masonry buildings downtown, which often are the first to buckle in large earthquakes.
The city has identified 58 of these vulnerable structures, some of which date to the turn of the 20th century. In fact, Paso Robles had the same number of unreinforced masonry buildings when the magnitude-6.5 temblor struck the central coast area Dec. 22, causing an estimated $100 million in damages.
Two women died in the quake after being crushed by a cascade of bricks that fell from an unreinforced 111-year-old building.
"Someday we will have the big one," Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder said. "If we don't take the steps to retrofit these buildings, we will have a pile of bricks on Main Street."
In the aftermath of the devastation in Paso Robles, the state Seismic Safety Commission called for a legislative review of a 1986 law that required hundreds of cities to upgrade or demolish their at-risk buildings.
Thousands of unreinforced masonry buildings remain statewide, including in cities across Contra Costa and Alameda counties, despite a ban on such construction following the Long Beach earthquake in 1933.
Cities and counties need to improve their "loss reduction" programs in dealing with about 12,000 unstable buildings in California, commissioners said.
"Unfortunately, we are, in essence, competing against time," said Fred Turner, a staff structural engineer with the Seismic Safety Commission, which advises lawmakers.
In 1986, the state passed a law requiring more than 360 cities in the most seismically active areas to inventory their unreinforced masonry buildings and to create programs to secure them.
So far, slightly more than half of the 25,500 buildings affected by the law have been upgraded.
The law also called for local governments to adopt "mandatory strengthening" programs to mitigate the risks posed by these buildings, but allowed for flexibility because of the estimated $4 billion cost to retrofit all of them.
Commissioners tout the progress of many cities, but also say most loss reduction programs are not effective.
In Martinez, the city notifies property owners that their buildings are at-risk and should be retrofitted. Compliance is voluntary. "They have what we consider a relatively ineffective loss reduction program," Turner said.
Dave Scola, the city's chief building inspector, said he did not know precisely how many of the 58 unreinforced masonry buildings had been seismically improved.
Some of those buildings are occupied by small-business owners and county workers. City officials now want to review their program, and Scola said he will prepare a report for the council later this month.
Other cities, including Emeryville, Livermore, Pleasanton and Berkeley, have mandatory policies to handle their shaky structures.
Livermore, which is revitalizing its old downtown, passed an ordinance in 1998 to reduce its inventory of potentially hazardous buildings. At the time, an independent structural engineer had identified 47 such structures. To date, 36 of them have been retrofitted and five are currently vacant, said Andy Vanderheiden, the city's building inspector manager.
In Berkeley, the city had counted 587 unreinforced masonry buildings, and enacted a mandatory retrofit program more than a decade ago to tackle the problem.
Fewer than 100 buildings remain on the list in Berkeley, which recently has started issuing citations to property owners who fail to comply.
"Up until 2001, it was essentially a mandatory program without any enforcement," said Dan Lambert, who coordinates the city retrofit program.
A recent earthquake has a way of reminding people about the possibilities of pancaking floors and piles of rubble.
Danna Bell, a co-owner of Leah's Closet Boutique in Martinez, works on the ground floor of an unreinforced masonry building on Main Street.
"After that last earthquake," she said, "my husband said to just run outside. Otherwise, what do you do? This building is old."
posted by Corey at 1:38 PM
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