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<br />ABAG Earthquake and Hazards Program <br /> <br />Local Hazard Mitigation Plan - Mitigation Policy Review <br /> <br />Soft-Story Residential Buildings in Earthquakes - <br /> <br />Risk Management and Public Policy Opportunities <br /> <br />What are soft-story buildings and what <br />happens to them in earthquakes? <br />Many apartments and condos can collapse in <br />earthquakes because they have parking, "tuck- <br />under" parking, or open commercial space on the <br />first floor, making this story "weak" or "soft" and <br />likely to lean or even fall over in earthquakes. <br /> <br /> <br />Soft-story apartment collapsed <br />due to the Northridge earthquake <br /> <br /> <br />Diagram of collapsed building <br /> <br />Soft-Story apartment and condo buildings <br />were responsible for about two-thirds of the <br />46,000 uninhabitable housing units in the <br />Northridge earthquake. This type of building <br />frequently houses those who have the fewest <br />resources after quakes and thus are most <br />likely to need shelter for the longest <br />periods of time. <br /> <br />The importance of adopting model codes - <br /> <br />If an owner voluntarily decides to upgrade the earthquake resistance of a soft-story <br />building, it is extremely important that the work be carefully designed to actually do <br />some good. Thus, these retrofits should be designed by an engineer who has <br />experience in these types of retrofits, a requirement typically implemented by a <br />city or county building department. In addition, they should comply with <br />appropriate building codes or guidelines adopted by the city or county. <br /> <br />Virtually all of the local government annexes to the ABAG multi-jurisdictional Local <br />Hazard Mitigation Plan list policies dealing with engineering requirements and <br />applicable codes as existing policies. Local governments, however, need to <br />ensure that they have an ordinance adopting the latest model code for <br />retrofits. They should also consider requiring that any retrofits, whether voluntary <br />or mandatory, comply with this code as a minimum to protect owners from <br />ineffective retrofits. <br /> <br />A related program would be for local building departments to provide technical <br />assistance to owners in how to manage a retrofit in a cost-effective manner. While <br />several cities and counties provide this assistance, many view it as only a moderate <br />riorit due to lack of funds and hi her riorities for s endin funds when available. <br /> <br />Multi-Jurisdictional <br />Local Hazard Mitigation <br />Plan (LHMP) Policy <br />Number HSNG-c-1 <br />HSNG-c-2 <br /> <br />LHMP Policy Number <br />HSNG-c-9 <br /> <br />November 14,2005 <br /> <br />___-~-I <br />