Special Report: California earthquake safety

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Friday that the city has begun more extensive scrutiny of new developments proposed near earthquake faults on the Westside, in the South Bay and in Northeast L.A.

Opponents of the Millennium Hollywood project said Tuesday that they disagreed with the city’s approval of the developer’s seismic studies, which found that no active earthquake fault runs under the property.

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has signed off on geology reports that found that no active earthquake fault runs under the site of the Millennium Hollywood development, even though the state geologist last year concluded there was one.

The budget signed by Gov.

A proposed state tax credit to ease the burden of seismically retrofitting vulnerable buildings failed to make it out of a key committee in Sacramento this week, calling its prospects into question.

The snickering could be heard as soon as the first teaser for the movie “San Andreas” was posted online.

In 2008, a 7.9 earthquake left a path of destruction in the Chinese province of Sichuan, leveling whole communities and leaving as many as 88,000 dead.

People living in California and the West Coast still face the highest earthquake risk.

It was an active seismic day in California, with small earthquakes rattling residents across Northern California and the Inland Empire on Wednesday morning.

A judge on Thursday halted a developer’s plan to build two massive skyscrapers in the heart of Hollywood, ruling that the city of Los Angeles failed to fully assess how the $1-billion project would affect surrounding neighborhoods.

Both Nepal and California sit at the intersections of huge pieces of the Earth’s crust.

For decades, researchers have debated whether Santa Catalina is sinking or rising.

Even in an area that was becoming accustomed to earthquakes, a 5.6 temblor near Prague, Okla., in 2011 stood out.

Nearly half of all Americans -- 150 million people -- are threatened by possibly damaging shaking from earthquakes, scientists said Wednesday at a meeting of the Seismological Society of America.

New research released Wednesday suggests that the shaking from “the Big One,” the long-predicted major earthquake on the San Andreas fault, could trigger additional large temblors on nearby faults, intensifying the overall seismic impact.

The earthquake fault cuts through the heart of Ventura’s quaint downtown, past the ornate hilltop City Hall and historic Spanish-era mission before heading into the Pacific Ocean.

Flanked by property owner and tenants’ rights advocates, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti urged state lawmakers Wednesday to support a bill that would give owners a 30% tax break off the cost of seismically retrofitting vulnerable buildings.

More than 30 members of the U.S.

Emergency officials will soon be able to make improved tsunami evacuation orders as California writes detailed scenario plans, state authorities said Friday.

Last year’s Napa earthquake, the largest to hit Northern California in a quarter-century, offers some lessons about how homes fare amid major shaking and what residents can do to make them more secure.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has set a deadline for his plan to require retrofitting of thousands of earthquake-vulnerable buildings, saying he’d like to have the new laws in place by the end of the year.

The next magnitude 8.0 or greater earthquake to hit California could come a little sooner than expected.

Estimates of the chance of a magnitude 8.0 or greater earthquake hitting California in the next three decades have been raised from about 4.7% to 7%, the U.S.

Over the last few years, much of the focus on earthquake safety has been on concrete buildings and wooden apartments with weak first stories, which can collapse in a major earthquake.

President Obama has proposed spending $5 million in the upcoming federal budget on the West Coast’s earthquake early warning network, which would be a significant boost to the fledgling system if Congress approves the funding.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s ambitious plan to require thousands of earthquake-vulnerable buildings to be retrofitted was welcomed Wednesday by the City Council, which began the process of drafting an ordinance.

Over the last two decades, Los Angeles City Hall showed little interest in proposals that would force property owners to strengthen the thousands of buildings in the city vulnerable to collapse in a major earthquake.

The mayor’s proposals for mandatory retrofits target two of the riskiest types of structures built in Los Angeles before 1980: brittle concrete buildings and multi-story wooden buildings supported by weak columns on the ground floor.

When a magnitude-6.0 earthquake hit California’s wine country this summer, scientists rushed to California Highway Patrol helicopters to survey the scene.

An earthquake early-warning system could be available to the public in as little as two years once enough funding is secured, a top federal scientist said this week.

Think the Napa fault stopped moving after producing a 6.0 earthquake in August? Think again.

Think the Napa fault stopped moving after producing a 6.0 earthquake in August? Think again.

Los Angeles gets 88% of its water from three major aqueducts, flowing from the Colorado River, Owens Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

California has received congressional funding to begin rolling out an earthquake early-warning system next year, capping nearly a decade of planning, setbacks and technological breakthroughs, officials said Sunday.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday proposed the most ambitious seismic safety regulations in California history — rules that would require owners to retrofit thousands of buildings most at risk of collapse during a major earthquake.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday proposed the most ambitious seismic safety regulations in California history that would require owners to retrofit thousands of building most at risk of collapse during a major earthquake.

Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday is scheduled to unveil his long-awaited proposal to better protect buildings and other infrastructure in Los Angeles against a major earthquake.

Officials are planning the first major rollout of California’s earthquake early warning system next year, providing access to some schools, fire stations and more private companies.

New earthquake restrictions on development are now in effect across a large swath of the northern San Gabriel Valley after the state released final maps for a section of the Sierra Madre fault zone.

California’s state geologist has concluded that an active earthquake fault is underneath a massive proposed skyscraper project in Hollywood, setting the stage for a huge battle at City Hall over growth and seismic safety.

California’s state geologist has concluded that an active earthquake fault is underneath a massive proposed skyscraper project in Hollywood, setting the stage for a huge battle at City Hall over growth and seismic safety.

More than a year ago, council members Bernard C.

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has signed off on geology reports that found that no active earthquake fault runs under the site of a proposed 16-story development just east of the Millennium Hollywood project.

After months of studies, Los Angeles’ building department will recommend requiring owners to retrofit thousands of wood apartment buildings vulnerable to collapse during a major earthquake.

Over the last 20 years, the plateau atop Signal Hill has been transformed from a gritty industrial zone into an upscale neighborhood of homes, parks and hiking trails.

More than 600 small earthquakes have rattled the Mammoth Lakes region in less than 36 hours as ripple effects continued across one of the most seismically active volcanic regions in California, according to the U.S.

San Francisco will become the first city in California to close a major loophole in laws that are supposed to keep schoolchildren safe during earthquakes with a vote Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

Cities across California are struggling with how to convince property owners to retrofit buildings at risk of collapse during a major earthquake.

A 65-year-old Napa grandmother has died after she was struck in the head by a television during last month’s magnitude 6.0 earthquake, which produced the worst shaking to be recorded in region’s modern history.

Earthquakes have shifted the ground beneath Libby Rose’s historic Craftsman house several times in the last half-century, but still her home is standing.

The ground-shaking during the magnitude 6.0 Napa earthquake was the highest level recorded in modern times for downtown Napa, according to the U.S.

When the 6.0 earthquake struck Napa County last month, a computer at a university lab here raced to warn agencies across the Bay Area.

Three decades after some California cities began requiring old brick buildings to be seismically retrofitted, thousands across the state still have not been strengthened and are in danger of collapse during a major earthquake.

The intensity of shaking felt during Sunday’s magnitude-6.0 earthquake centered in Napa appears to have rivaled the motion felt at the epicenter of the Northridge magnitude-6.6 earthquake in 1994.

City officials in Napa had long worried that the grand building on the corner of Second and Brown streets — with its brick walls and giant red-tiled cupolas — could be devastated by a major earthquake.

A state official Thursday agreed with developers who contend an active earthquake fault does not exist underneath several prominent Hollywood projects, including the site of the proposed Millennium Hollywood skyscrapers.

A consultant hired by the developers of several large Hollywood projects said his studies found no evidence of an active earthquake fault underneath the properties and is asking the state to reflect that in its official regulatory maps.

With Gov.

When Los Angeles officials begin an ambitious effort to comb the city and check which buildings might be at risk in a major earthquake, they will also examine how efficiently the structures use water and electricity, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti signed off on the city’s most aggressive action on earthquake safety in nearly three decades, instructing building officials this week to comb the city and identify thousands of apartment buildings vulnerable to collapse in a major temblor.

No, it’s not your imagination: The Los Angeles area is feeling more earthquakes this year.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday took the most aggressive action on earthquake safety in nearly three decades, instructing building officials to find apartment buildings vulnerable to collapse in a major temblor.

Santa Monica on Tuesday took a significant step in boosting seismic safety by agreeing to hire a top earthquake engineering firm to help the city identify older buildings potentially at risk of collapse in a major temblor.

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety ordered more seismic testing to determine whether an earthquake fault runs under the site of a proposed 16-story Hollywood development just east of the controversial Millennium Hollywood project.

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety ordered more seismic testing to determine whether an earthquake fault runs under the site of a proposed 16-story Hollywood development just east of the controversial Millennium Hollywood project.

For years, scientists have wondered about the forces that keep pushing up California’s mighty Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges, causing an increase in the number of earthquakes in one part of Central California.

Geology and engineering experts hired by the developer of a proposed 16-story Hollywood development say there is no active earthquake fault line on the property.

Nearly a century ago, as Hollywood rose from lemon groves, St.

It was three days before Christmas when a magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked the Central Coast in 2003.

Mexico City had 71 seconds of warning before shaking from a 7.2 earthquake about 200 miles away rumbled into the capital, thanks to central Mexico’s 21-year-old early quake warning system, officials said Friday.

Garcetti proposes seismic ratings of office buildings and apartments and posting the information publicly. He also wants a mandatory retrofit program.

The cluster of earthquakes that began Friday night in La Habra appear to have struck on a fault underneath the Puente Hills thrust fault, scientists said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON -- A group of lawmakers is hoping the recent string of Southern California temblors will jolt Congress into funding an earthquake warning system.

Improved building standards in Chile as well as the distance from the epicenter are credited. The death toll stands at six.

Friday night’s quake was strong enough to show the power of Twitter and Facebook in quickly sharing information about the damage, but not forceful enough to disrupt the Web or electrical service.

Experts say a major quake on the Puente Hills fault could do more damage to the heart of L.A. than the dreaded Big One on the San Andreas.

There were a few foreshocks and have been hundreds of aftershocks from Friday night’s magnitude 5.1 earthquake in La Habra.

A prototype earthquake early-warning system worked again Friday night, giving seismologists in Pasadena about a four-second heads-up before shaking was felt from the magnitude 5.1 quake that struck near La Habra.

The quakes appear to have been on the Puente Hills fault, which runs from the San Gabriel Valley to downtown L.A. and caused the 1987 Whittier Narrows quake.

California officials on Friday announced that they were beginning to draw tsunami flood maps in Huntington Beach, Crescent City and other communities that local cities could use to regulate development in areas along the coast at risk during a large tsunami.

To implement a statewide earthquake early warning system, public and private sectors must come to an agreement on key details.

Although the 6:25 a.m. quake beneath the Santa Monica Mountains caused no damage, it showed there is still much to be learned and served as a warning for residents to be prepared.

Blvd6200 builder wants the state to revise a proposed seismic map to relocate or remove a fault line depicted beneath the project.

Risk of a monster quake and tsunami off California’s North Coast is greater than researchers once thought.

The developer of a planned apartment complex near Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street has hired geologists to dig underground to search whether an earthquake fault intersects the property.

L.A. building owners can pass on only 50% of the costs of seismic upgrades, but Councilman Bernard C. Parks wants to increase that to 100%.

The legislation by state Sen. Ted Lieu aims to close a loophole that allows building on or near earthquake faults that haven’t been zoned by the state.

The Los Angeles Unified School District still has hundreds of school buildings in need of detailed seismic evaluations and strengthening to withstand a major earthquake, according to district data.

City will become first in the state to identify potentially dangerous concrete buildings and require retrofitting.

San Francisco officials proposed Tuesday that all private schools in the city be checked to see whether they would be vulnerable to collapse in an earthquake.

University of California list of L.A.’s older concrete buildings is a starting point on a long and costly road.

The University of California has released to Los Angeles city officials a list of about 1,500 old concrete buildings that are potentially at risk of collapse during an earthquake.

UC scientists will give city officials a list of concrete buildings built before 1980 that need to be examined for the possibility of collapse in an earthquake.

Cellphone and Wi-Fi communications have proliferated since the 1994 disaster and raise new seismic safety concerns.

The city will partner with the U.S. Geological Survey and undertake an effort to strengthen vulnerable buildings.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday announced an aggressive new plan to tackle earthquake safety, including how to better protect vulnerable buildings.

Brown is seeking enough money to increase the number of scientists to draw quake zones from one to four. Budget cuts had reduced the mapping effort.

Gov.

Newly released data tracing the location of the active Hollywood fault will lead to additional curbs on development in the rapidly growing area.

New state geological maps released Wednesday show several major developments planned in Hollywood are much closer to an active earthquake fault than Los Angeles city officials have said.

A top Santa Monica building official reversed himself Friday, saying the city now believes some underground seismic trenching was performed on the site of a Whole Foods Market before it was built.

Fault line maps are crucial to enforcing building regulations and understanding risks of new development, seismic experts say.

A state lawmaker Monday called on his colleagues to boost funding immediately to map known active earthquake faults, a safety measure that would keep new construction from being built atop or too close to dangerous faults.

A Los Angeles City Council committee agreed Tuesday to push forward a proposal to identify all the apartment buildings in the city that have a certain type of wood frame that is vulnerable to collapse in a major earthquake.

Of the 29,000 apartment buildings identified as constructed before 1978, more than 11,000 would have to be examined on site, Los Angeles officials say.

City officials overlooked a report’s finding of uneven groundwater levels, often indicative of a fault, beneath a massive Hollywood project

In a meeting Tuesday with the city’s top building official, scientists who have a list of concrete buildings in Los Angeles that could be at risk of collapsing in a major earthquake agreed to work with city officials on how they might use the research data, once formally published.

Scientists who have a list of concrete buildings in Los Angeles that could be at risk of collapsing in a major earthquake will meet with L.A. officials Tuesday to discuss their research.

Santa Monica and Long Beach adopted strong regulations on retrofitting vulnerable buildings after the 1994 Northridge quake, but their resolve waned in passing years.

The Los Angeles City Council Friday unanimously confirmed Mayor Eric Garcetti’s decision to keep Raymond Chan as temporary head of the city’s Department of Building and Safety for six more months.

LaBonge and Englander want their colleagues to back a statewide ballot measure that would help fund local seismic safety efforts.

Two L.A.

Two L.A.

Los Angeles’ top building official said he has been cleared of wrongdoing related to an ethics complaint filed by an opponent of a controversial Hollywood skyscraper project.

A professor says UC Berkeley is looking at the ‘legal and ethical constraints’ of releasing preliminary research data on the concrete structures.

The city of Los Angeles sent a request Thursday formally asking a UC Berkeley engineering professor for a list of concrete buildings that could be at risk of collapsing in a major earthquake.

Two state lawmakers Monday said California should pour more money into rapidly mapping known active earthquake faults, a safety measure that would keep new construction from being built atop dangerous faults “The more we know,” said state Sen.

After the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, California began an ambitious effort to map hundreds of faults. But since 1991, only 23 have been drawn.

L.A. is seeking data on about 1,500 concrete buildings at risk of collapse in a quake, but UC researchers say the data are incomplete and might expose them to building owners’ lawsuits.

A team of scientists has declined to give the city a list of older concrete buildings that may collapse during a major earthquake, the mayor’s office said.

He announces the concept of a ‘chief resilience officer’ as he’s thinking about ‘concrete steps’ to enhance the city’s seismic safety.

While some council members call for swift action to identify buildings at risk of collapse in an earthquake, Mayor Eric Garcetti moves cautiously.

Many Los Angeles residents live and work in old concrete buildings that could crumble in the next earthquake. But lenient seismic rules mean they’re not being retrofitted.

Council members make motions asking the Building and Safety Department and the Board of Public Works to begin review of pre-1976 concrete buildings.

L.A.’s Tom LaBonge says he’ll ask colleagues to consider risks posed by more than 1,000 structures built before 1976 that could pose dangers.

After the deadly collapse of two concrete office buildings in the 2011 Christchurch quake, officials launched a sweeping seismic review and are drafting aggressive regulations.

Los Angeles city building officials have concluded that inspectors would most likely have to visit all of the city’s 29,000 older apartment buildings to determine which ones have a certain type of wood frame that is particularly vulnerable to collapse during a major earthquake.

L.A. could learn from San Francisco’s strategy to win regulations on wooden apartment buildings like the Northridge Meadows complex, which collapsed in the Northridge quake.

An opponent of the controversial Millennium Hollywood skyscraper project has filed an ethics complaint against the city’s top building official, accusing him of a conflict of interest.

Los Angeles approved a residential tower without a fault review. But an MTA study suggests the site might lie over an active fault.

City Council committee aims to identify wood-framed ‘soft-story’ structures. Such buildings failed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

A theoretical 9.1 quake off Alaska could flood Long Beach and parts of O.C., and force 750,000 to evacuate.

Opponents of the Millennium Hollywood skyscraper project filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the developer and the city, seeking to overturn the city’s approval of 39- and 35-story towers.

Councilman wants city to draw up a list of L.A.’s ‘soft-story’ buildings — many of them apartments — that are prone to severe damage in earthquakes.

Community activists, not city planners, take the lead in bringing Hollywood fault concerns to light.

L.A. could have required a seismic evaluation of the site near the Hollywood fault but did not do so. The $200-million Blvd6200 project, next to the Pantages Theatre, will include 500 apartments.

A sprawling $200-million commercial and residential development under construction next to the Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard was approved by Los Angeles city officials without a seismic evaluation, even though it sits next to an active earthquake fault capable of producing a devastating temblor, according to records and interviews.

A lawyer for opponents of a controversial Hollywood skyscraper project criticized the developer and city officials for not disclosing important facts about an earthquake fault that may be directly underneath the site.

Millennium Partners says it will dig a trench on the property to help determine whether an earthquake fault runs through it.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday that he would rely on scientists to determine whether the city should issue permits to build two Hollywood skyscrapers on what could be an active earthquake fault running directly beneath the Vine Street property.

Because fault is so close to planned project, more seismic testing is urged for Millennium Hollywood project, which would create two of Hollywood’s tallest towers.

Owners would be required to reinforce wood-frame soft-story buildings with parking garages or storefronts on the ground floor built before 1978.

A proposed $80-million system similar to one in Japan would use sensors in the ground to alert residents before a temblor strikes and would be the first such network in the U.S.