In California, areas with fault zones face limits on development. Publication Da
ID: 346758 • Letter: I
Question
In California, areas with fault zones face limits on development.
Publication Date
02/06/2018
Source:
Washington Post, The (DC)
LOS ANGELES--New data from state geologists show that an earthquake fault runs below Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills's shopping district, heightening the known seismic risk in an area famous for Cartier, Gucci, Prada and other luxury brands.
The California Geological Survey's final map has the Santa Monica fault zone cutting through what is called the Golden Triangle, running between Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards.
The new map is a change from a draft version released last year that showed the fault zone ending on the western edge of Beverly Hills. Based on more information, the state now says the fault zone extends through Beverly Hills's central district.
The Santa Monica is one of several faults running through highly populated areas of Southern California to generate interest and concern from seismic experts and government officials.
It's capable of producing a major, 7-magnitude earthquake. Experts believe the most recent earthquake on the Santa Monica fault occurred 1,000 to 3,000 years ago.
Over the past few years, the state has stepped up drawing official fault zones across California, a required first step before seismic safety laws can be applied to areas.
Areas with fault zones face limits on development. Owners of properties in these zones are obligated to hire geologists to ensure that new buildings and major renovation projects aren't located directly on an active fault line.
Containing some of the priciest retail real estate in the nation, the Beverly Hills shopping district is already built out with shops and midrise office buildings. It's unclear whether any major developments that haven't been approved by local governments are on the drawing board in the fault zone.
"We're all afraid of earthquakes," said Norbert Wabnig, who runs the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. "To know that there's [a fault line] close to us, that's even scarier."
During both the 1971 Sylmar and 2014 Napa earthquakes, houses built atop a fault suffered major damage as their foundations were torn apart, while buildings just a few hundred feet away were far less affected, said Tim Dawson, senior engineering geologist with the California Geological Survey.
Larger buildings straddling a fault could be more vulnerable and completely collapse, Dawson said.
"We don't want to put essential facilities on top of active faults, such as fire stations, hospitals, schools," he said.
Earthquake faults can change land in ways that made them appealing generations ago for developers who were unaware of the seismic risk.
It was past earthquakes that made Santa Monica Boulevard a perfect spot for a major roadway and the Red Car trolley line: a flat area just below a hillside, Dawson said.
Prehistoric earthquakes threw up the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard, Dawson said, forming the dramatic hillside perch that the Mormon temple now calls home and moving it west toward the ocean. The area to the south of the boulevard is getting relatively lower and has also been shifting to the east.
California law does not require existing buildings in the zones to be altered. But it prohibits new development on top of fault lines.
State scientists have various degrees of certainty about the fault's location. Some drawn paths are considered accurate based on detailed investigations on specific plots of land. Other sections of the fault are considered approximately located.
Yet other parts of the fault's path are inferred, as when geologists connect the dots between two points along the fault and "we see a fault at Point A, and there's good evidence there's a fault at Point B," Dawson said. "Faults are typically continuous features they don't typically stop."
State officials said the part of the Santa Monica fault they now believe runs through the Beverly Hills shopping district is considered inferred, based on a geology investigation done in preparation for subway construction and on data collected from east of the civic center.
Beverly Hills spokeswoman Therese Kosterman said the city is aware of the new Santa Monica fault map issued by the state. "The current map has significant revisions from the earlier draft map that the city had commented on and so we are currently in the process of evaluating the changes," Kosterman said in an email.
More study in coming years and decades will help improve the fault maps. One research technique that state geologists hope to pursue is to send waves of energy underground. If a fault is there, the energy will move in a specific way.
The threat of destruction on top of faults is such a risk that some agencies have taken steps to vacate or demolish buildings directly on top of them. San Bernardino Valley College demolished seven buildings along the San Jacinto fault in the 2000s; in 1991, Los Angeles Southwest College tore down two that sat on top of the Newport-Inglewood fault.
In the San Francisco Bay area, officials in Hayward ordered its historic city hall vacated after the Hayward fault was found to be slowly tearing it apart. Fremont demolished its city hall after geologists said it was on top of the same fault.
In areas where construction has occurred after fault map studies were published, developers have avoided building on top of faults, placing structures away from fault lines while still building in the fault zone.
2018, The Washington Post
Read the following article: In California, areas with fault zones face limits on development.
Based on your reading, select examples of two (2) different loss control techniques (i.e., avoidance, loss prevention, etc.) illustrated in the article. For each of your two examples:
Indicate the example of a loss control technique (i.e., what specifically is being done to control losses)
Identify the loss control technique being used (i.e., which of the 6 techniques we covered in class)
Describe the loss control technique. And, in each of your descriptions, be sure to indicate which of the three objectives of risk control techniques (i.e., reduce frequency, reduce severity, or make losses more predictable) the technique meets.
In California, areas with fault zones face limits on development.
Publication Date
02/06/2018
Source:
Washington Post, The (DC)
LOS ANGELES--New data from state geologists show that an earthquake fault runs below Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills's shopping district, heightening the known seismic risk in an area famous for Cartier, Gucci, Prada and other luxury brands.
The California Geological Survey's final map has the Santa Monica fault zone cutting through what is called the Golden Triangle, running between Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards.
The new map is a change from a draft version released last year that showed the fault zone ending on the western edge of Beverly Hills. Based on more information, the state now says the fault zone extends through Beverly Hills's central district.
The Santa Monica is one of several faults running through highly populated areas of Southern California to generate interest and concern from seismic experts and government officials.
It's capable of producing a major, 7-magnitude earthquake. Experts believe the most recent earthquake on the Santa Monica fault occurred 1,000 to 3,000 years ago.
Over the past few years, the state has stepped up drawing official fault zones across California, a required first step before seismic safety laws can be applied to areas.
Areas with fault zones face limits on development. Owners of properties in these zones are obligated to hire geologists to ensure that new buildings and major renovation projects aren't located directly on an active fault line.
Containing some of the priciest retail real estate in the nation, the Beverly Hills shopping district is already built out with shops and midrise office buildings. It's unclear whether any major developments that haven't been approved by local governments are on the drawing board in the fault zone.
"We're all afraid of earthquakes," said Norbert Wabnig, who runs the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. "To know that there's [a fault line] close to us, that's even scarier."
During both the 1971 Sylmar and 2014 Napa earthquakes, houses built atop a fault suffered major damage as their foundations were torn apart, while buildings just a few hundred feet away were far less affected, said Tim Dawson, senior engineering geologist with the California Geological Survey.
Larger buildings straddling a fault could be more vulnerable and completely collapse, Dawson said.
"We don't want to put essential facilities on top of active faults, such as fire stations, hospitals, schools," he said.
Earthquake faults can change land in ways that made them appealing generations ago for developers who were unaware of the seismic risk.
It was past earthquakes that made Santa Monica Boulevard a perfect spot for a major roadway and the Red Car trolley line: a flat area just below a hillside, Dawson said.
Prehistoric earthquakes threw up the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard, Dawson said, forming the dramatic hillside perch that the Mormon temple now calls home and moving it west toward the ocean. The area to the south of the boulevard is getting relatively lower and has also been shifting to the east.
California law does not require existing buildings in the zones to be altered. But it prohibits new development on top of fault lines.
State scientists have various degrees of certainty about the fault's location. Some drawn paths are considered accurate based on detailed investigations on specific plots of land. Other sections of the fault are considered approximately located.
Yet other parts of the fault's path are inferred, as when geologists connect the dots between two points along the fault and "we see a fault at Point A, and there's good evidence there's a fault at Point B," Dawson said. "Faults are typically continuous features they don't typically stop."
State officials said the part of the Santa Monica fault they now believe runs through the Beverly Hills shopping district is considered inferred, based on a geology investigation done in preparation for subway construction and on data collected from east of the civic center.
Beverly Hills spokeswoman Therese Kosterman said the city is aware of the new Santa Monica fault map issued by the state. "The current map has significant revisions from the earlier draft map that the city had commented on and so we are currently in the process of evaluating the changes," Kosterman said in an email.
More study in coming years and decades will help improve the fault maps. One research technique that state geologists hope to pursue is to send waves of energy underground. If a fault is there, the energy will move in a specific way.
The threat of destruction on top of faults is such a risk that some agencies have taken steps to vacate or demolish buildings directly on top of them. San Bernardino Valley College demolished seven buildings along the San Jacinto fault in the 2000s; in 1991, Los Angeles Southwest College tore down two that sat on top of the Newport-Inglewood fault.
In the San Francisco Bay area, officials in Hayward ordered its historic city hall vacated after the Hayward fault was found to be slowly tearing it apart. Fremont demolished its city hall after geologists said it was on top of the same fault.
In areas where construction has occurred after fault map studies were published, developers have avoided building on top of faults, placing structures away from fault lines while still building in the fault zone.
2018, The Washington Post
Read the following article: In California, areas with fault zones face limits on development.
Based on your reading, select examples of two (2) different loss control techniques (i.e., avoidance, loss prevention, etc.) illustrated in the article. For each of your two examples:
Indicate the example of a loss control technique (i.e., what specifically is being done to control losses)
Identify the loss control technique being used (i.e., which of the 6 techniques we covered in class)
Describe the loss control technique. And, in each of your descriptions, be sure to indicate which of the three objectives of risk control techniques (i.e., reduce frequency, reduce severity, or make losses more predictable) the technique meets.
Explanation / Answer
Authorities and officials are taking multiple measures to prevent loss of life and damage to property with more and more information on fault lines being available. Some of these measures as highlighted in article include:
Loss control technique being used are “Loss Reduction” and “Loss Prevention”
Loss Reduction is technique where risk presence is accepted, and loss due to risk is also accepted. So, this technique seeks to minimize the loss in event of such threat - In California, fault lines presence gives risk, and due to past earthquakes, the damage and loss is known. Thus, measures of obligating hiring geologists, updating fault line maps and identifying fault zones, limiting development in these zones, prohibiting new developments/renovations on top of an active fault lines are towards reducing the loss in case of an earthquake. Reducing severity and making losses more predictable are objectives met by this control technique.
Loss Prevention: Loss prevention is a technique which places prevention measures and techniques to prevent or minimize the loss because of the risk. Staying in California fault zones has inherent risk to varying degrees, but authorities are taking measures to prevent loss. Demolishing and vacating building on top of fault lines is a measure indicating the same. Also, essential facilities like schools, hospitals and Fire buildings are avoided in areas of risk. Similar to earlier this reduces severity in case of the risk.