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LA Mayor Calls for Mandatory Earthquake Retrofitting for Thousands of Buildings

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday proposed the most ambitious seismic safety regulations in California history that would require owners to retrofit thousands of building most at risk of collapse during a major earthquake.

A concrete building in downtown Los Angeles. (Credit: Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Garcetti’s recommendations target two of the riskiest types of buildings in Los Angeles built before 1980: concrete buildings and wooden structures built atop weak first floors, such as those on top of carports and garages and supported by slender columns.

Thousands live and work in these buildings every day, and seismic officials have warned of hundreds of deaths across Southern California if nothing is done to strengthen these buildings before a large earthquake hits again.

The mayor’s plan calls for thousands of wood buildings to be retrofitted within five years, and hundreds of concrete buildings to be strengthened within 30.

Click here to read the full story on LATimes.com.

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