Earthquake Hazards in Los Altos Mostly In the Private Realm

Los Altos is participating for the first time in a county-wide disaster preparedness plan, called the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. The intent is to help agencies identify how to prevent safety hazards before and after major disasters.

There's a reason for doing it now: Grant money. The plan was created in response to the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. Under the act, any municipality with a plan approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency can be eligible for grant monies to fix hazards both before and after a disaster, said the county's consultant, Corinne Bartshire. 

Los Altos officials are looking for public feedback on their plan through the end of May. Comments should be sent to Bartshire.

Los Altos Hills and Milpitas are the only two Santa Clara County cities that did not participate in creation of the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The benefit to being a part of the plan, Hofmann said, is to be able to apply for federal and state grant monies to spend on the top-identified priorities. Any city or county with a plan approved by FEMA and the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) can apply for funds when they become available.

There are also federal grant monies that become immediately available after disasters to reduce hazards for the next potential crisis, Bartshire said.

In Los Altos, police Sgt. Matt Hartley, who is on the city’s committee, said most money given before disasters comes with a requirement of matching funds from the city. With little money available to match, Los Altos is more interested in being eligible for funds after  a disaster might strike.

Smaller cities may not want to pursue the annual grants because of requirements like matching funds, but there are grants that sometimes come up annually on a competitive basis to prepare for disasters, Bartshire said. Santa Clara is one of  the  larger cities that has been successful in getting pre-disaster grant monies, for example.

Other benefits include a better-prepared and resilient community, and eligibility for waiver of a 6.25 percent local match for public assistance after a disaster, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments, which oversees the hazard mitigation plan for the entire region.

With today’s tight budgets, there aren’t a lot of grant monies to go around, said Kirsten Hofmann, director of the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Services. But, as they do become available, Hofmann said, the county plans to focus on the top five priorities over the next five years.

Retrofitting—or in some cases replacing—unreinforced masonry or soft-story buildings is No. 1 on the list. The county’s report points to the collapse of apartment buildings in the 1994 Northridge earthquake as evidence of how dangerous multistory buildings over ground-level parking or retail stores can be.

Damage in that earthquake led the state to amend its building code to prevent future collapses, according to the report. Buildings are required to be retrofitted by 2016.

In Los Altos, there are no city-owned buildings in need of reinforcement, according to the city's report, but there are several areas where private buildings are in need of retrofitting.

“Los Altos is in a unique position, because they have done a lot of resiliancy projects to reduce risk on their own dime,” using capital improvement funds, Bartshire said.

Another priority in the county report, information-sharing between agencies, revealed that there is no system for agencies and companies that build and maintain infrastructure to report to the county or other governmental agencies when there is major failure.

The most glaring example listed was the Pacific Gas & Electric's San Bruno natural gas explosion in September 2010. The current way to handle major infrastructure failures is to react to them after the fact, the report says, and glean lessons from the experience. Officials said they wanted to be proactive, by sharing information among agencies in advance of any major events. 

Most of these priorities sound big and bureaucratic, but there is something everyone can do: Personally prepare.

“It’s really important to draw everyone’s attention to personal preparedness,” Hofmann said. A major disaster, like a massive earthquake, could cause failures of infrastructure and communications. Being ready to take care of oneself and family for up to three days on one's own, she said, “is huge.”

Hofmann encouraged citizens to visit the county’s website to learn more about how to be prepared.