School Quake Repairs Long Overdue : Arrival of needed funds and staff preparedness training are steps in the right direction

The most enduring photographic images of the Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake seemed to involve everything but school buildings. The pictures we recall best were both dramatic and frightening: broken freeways and bridges, the wrecked Kaiser Permanente building, haunting images of the Northridge Meadows apartments, the Cal State Northridge University parking garage as the world’s largest accordion.

But little chilled the blood of parents more than the unprecedented damage to school buildings and classrooms, especially to those “suspended” ceilings that weren’t suspended anymore. Just how many injuries would have occurred had the quake hit during school hours?

And worse, if a Kobe, Japan-style quake had hit here, a number of schools would have been totally unprepared. Kobe isolated some neighborhoods for days, and many of our schools lacked even the most rudimentary of emergency stocks and provisions.

So, it is with some good cheer that we acknowledge and applaud the news last week that Los Angeles school officials expect to have in their possession, by the end of the month, all the federal, state and local funding needed to make all necessary repairs. That is especially good news since recovery funding for individual schools resulted in a relatively slow track in comparison to the rebuilding of freeways, bridges and hospitals.

It is also important to note that the training of school employees for emergency preparedness is nearing completion. Also, all schools will have cargo containers to hold enough supplies and water for three days.

Now that sufficient funding seems assured, however, it’s time to redouble efforts to get the repair work done. As of Wednesday, two years will have passed since the last major Los Angeles earthquake. By the time the third anniversary rolls around, much of this work should be done.