RE: L.A. EQ: Typical Reaction

One thing that struck this morning as I was watching CNBC news was the claim that because of the retrofits and the new construction in recent years only 10% of the buildings in the LA area are subpar in regard to meeting current earthquake requirements. Meaning that 90% of the existing stock of buildings meets new code provisions! This may be true for small city of Chino Hills where the epicenter was, but definitely a misstatement for the LA region as a whole.

 

Ben Yousefi, SE, CBO

Chief Building Official

City of Mountain View, CA

(650) 526-7007

ben.yousefi@mountainview.gov

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From: Bill Allen [mailto:T.W.Allen@cox.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 7:08 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: L.A. EQ: Typical Reaction

 

Both the CNN website and the L.A. Times website credit the post-Northridge building codes for the lack of structural damage due to the 5.4 earthquake yesterday. Gee, I wonder who developed the criteria for the new building code. I wonder who gave hours of their valuable personal time pro bono to get this criteria implemented into a building code. Finally, I wonder who implements the new criteria into construction projects, often facing criticism from clients and owners because they are seemingly wasting money.

 

It must be the architect or the contractor, right?

 

T. William (Bill) Allen, S.E.

ALLEN DESIGNS

Consulting Structural Engineers
 V (949) 248-8588 • F(949) 209-2509