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<br />June 22,2007 <br /> <br />Henry Renteria <br />Director <br />California Governor's Office of Emergency Services <br />3650 Schriever Ave. <br />Mather, CA 95655 <br /> <br />RE: Letter of Support for ABAG Proposal for HMGP DR 1628/1646 Grant Funding- <br />San Francisco Bay Area Soft-Story Mitigation Project Plan <br /> <br />Dear Mr. Renteria: <br /> <br />We are concerned about the vulnerability of housing to earthquake damage in the Bay Area. We <br />do not want this region to become the next New Orleans. Weare particularly concerned about <br />the Hayward fault. Scientists have determined that this fault ruptures an average of once every <br />140 years. The last of these great earthquakes was 139 years ago. We are at risk. <br /> <br />Researchers have shown that over 50% of all damage in natural disasters occurs either to or <br />inside housing. Damaged housing takes years - if not decades - to rebuild - as shown by the <br />Kobe earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. For example, 25% of Kobe's housing has still not been <br />rebuilt - and that earthquake was 12 years ago. <br /> <br />ABAG has submitted a proposal to your office for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program <br />(HMGP) funding to do a pilot-project focusing on soft-story multi-family residential buildings. <br />This effort will include an inventory ofthese buildings in some of the most vulnerable <br />neighborhoods along the Hayward fault, as well as development of mitigation strategies for the <br />communities in the Bay Area. An inventory is essential as a first step in designing potential <br />strategies for mandatory retrofit. While Fremont and Berkeley have completed inventories, the <br />other communities along the Hayward fault have not. Based on the data from these particular <br />inventories, Fremont recently adopted an ordinance requiring mandatory retrofit of soft-story <br />apartments, while the Berkeley ordinance mandates that all soft-story residential multifamily <br />buildings have an engineering evaluation. With inventories for more communities in place, <br />mitigation strategies can more effectively and efficiently be developed and implemented. <br /> <br />We urge you to forward this proposal to FEMA with a priority ranking high enough to ensure <br />immediate funding. Thank you. <br /> <br />Sincerely, <br /> <br />Elected officials and others representing communities along the Haywardfault <br />(see attached) <br /> <br />cc: Rebecca Wagoner, State Hazard Mitigation Officer and Chief, Hazard Mitigation Branch <br />Marcia Rentschler, Hazard Mitigation Program Officer <br />