Disaster Highlights 2007 0709 v2

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I Public Awareness of Retrofitting Single-Family Homes Why should local governments promote educating ABAG has information. the public? Not all homes are in need of retrofits. ABAG has The best building codes in the world do nothing for developed a quiz for owners and residents of buildings built before that code was enacted. Fixing single-family homes to help them determine if their problems in older buildings - retrofitting - is typically the buildings are significantly at risk. The quiz, on the responsibility of the building's owner. Local governments ABAG web site at httIJ://auake.abaa.ca.aov/fixit , should, however, promote retrofitting through targeted asks simple questions to gauge if a building is education of building owners and tenants. The cost to healthy enough to stand up to a quake. This web retrofit most homes is a small percentage of the value of site also has links to engineers to help design an the home. appropriate way to improve the strength of these buildings. It also contains links to contractors who have taken FEMA-designed retrofit training courses from ABAG and others. This training is being updated and revised in 2006. Local governments can include this link on their web site and add information on retrofitting in their newsletters. Encouraging residents to retrofit their homes is an essential part of any effective local government's earthquake mitigation program. The money spent now in retrofitting homes will be worth every penny when, after the earthquake, people are sleeping in their own beds, not in a shelter. .,;-; - , ".~};')o ./f;{~~<k'i'. ...~:t:. #.J..../. ,.... . J~~;>.'.J.I'v-~, '-." '" To PublicAwareness ] This site also provides information for owners of multi-family building, mobile homes, and renters. Be aware of past problems of inadequate hazard disclosure and work with real estate agents to improve enforcement of real estate disclosure requirements for hazards, for example, by making those agents and the disclosure firms aware of the hazard maps incorporated in this plan and available on the ABAG web site at http://quake.abaQ.ca.Qov/mitiqation, as well as locally developed maps. Create incentives for owners of historic or architecturally significant buildings to undertake mitigation to levels that will minimize the likelihood that these buildings will need to be demolished after a disaster, particularly if those alterations conform to the federal Secretary of the Interior's Guidelines for Rehabilitation and the California Historical Building Code. Conduct demonstration projects on common existing housing types demonstrating structural and nonstructural mitigation techniques as community models for earthquake mitigation. Provide retrofit classes or workshops for homeowners. Establish tool-lending libraries with common tools needed for retrofitting for use by homeowners with appropriate training. Provide financial incentives to owners of homes needing retrofitting. (Typical retrofits cost a few thousand dollars.) Make use of other materials on the ABAG website at http://quake.abaQ.ca.Qov/fixit and other websites to increase residential mitigation activities related to earthquakes (ABAG lans to im rove the ualit of these materials over time . LHMP Mitigation Strategy HSNG-a-1 LHMP Mitigation Strategy HSNG-a-2 LHMP Mitigation Strategy HSNG-b-6 LHMP Mitigation Strategy HSNG-b-7 LHMP Mitigation Strategy HSNG-b-8 LHMP Mitigation Strategy HSNG-b-9 LHMP Mitigation Strategy HSNG-k-13 CREDITS - This pamphlet was prepared by J. Perkins, Earthquake and Hazards Program Manager, and J. Strunin, Regional Planner, Association of Bay Area Govemments (ABAG), using funding, in part, from FEMA for the development of the Bay Area Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. The information has been reviewed by the ABAG Earthquake and Hazards Outreach Review Committee. Figures courtesy of USGS, the City of San Leandro, and the Aurora Regional Fire Museum. April 11, 2006