30 years after Northridge, how ready are we for the next big quake? - Los Angeles Times
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30 years after Northridge, how ready are we for the next big quake?

Bicyclists make their way past the collapsed Kaiser Permanente outpatient center in Northridge in 1994.
Bicyclists make their way past the collapsed Kaiser Permanente outpatient center in Northridge after the Jan. 17, 1994 earthquake.
(Jonathan Alcorn / For The Times)
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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Jan. 17. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

30 years after Northridge, how ready are we for the next big quake?

One of my core early memories happened 30 years ago today. I was 5 years old, sleeping peacefully in the bottom bunk of my bed, when I was jolted awake by violent shaking.

As I sat there terrified and confused, my parents burst into my bedroom, each holding one of my toddler siblings, with similar looks of fear and confusion on their faces. We all hunkered in the bed until the shaking stopped. It felt like minutes, but the 1994 Northridge earthquake lasted about 20 seconds. We and our home in Ventura County were fine — nothing more than a few broken picture frames.

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But a county over in the San Fernando Valley, that 20-or-so-second, 6.7 magnitude quake killed 60 people and injured thousands more. It crumpled freeways and destroyed or damaged an estimated 80,000 homes, stores and other structures. Trains derailed. Gas and water lines ruptured. Power transformers blew. Hundreds of fires broke out across the region. The powerful temblor cost an estimated $20 billion in damage and an additional $40 billion in economic losses, according to the California Department of Conservation.

The earthquake toppled many residents’ senses of security and control. It also changed how we build things, exposing the risks of brittle concrete structures and soft-story apartment buildings, many of which collapsed. Thirty years later, retrofitting work continues in L.A. and other SoCal cities.

But some cities “have ignored the seismic threat,” Times reporter Rong-Gong Lin II previously noted. “And that has created an uneven landscape that in the coming years will leave some cities significantly better prepared to withstand a big quake than others.”

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The Northridge quake also spurred a scientific drive to better monitor and identify earthquakes — and alert affected communities before they start to feel the shaking, providing potentially lifesaving warnings.

Still, as my colleagues Karen Garcia and Jon Healey wrote this week, California’s early warning system is lacking compared with what’s in place in other countries:

“Japan’s warnings sound from cellphones, televisions and radios. Mexico’s sirens blare moments after a large temblor is detected, aiming to give residents time to seek safety before the shaking reaches them. In California, by contrast, the system relies on people signing up for alerts — and having a device on hand that can receive them.”

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As scientists and officials make progress on these efforts, the big question remains: Will we have made enough progress by the time the next big earthquake hits?

Maybe today’s newsletter stirs your own memories of living through the Northridge earthquake, or maybe you weren’t living in SoCal — or living at all — when it struck. Either way, there are things we can all do to be a little more prepared. Here are a few questions to consider:

The Times has a handy guide (and a newsletter) on all things earthquake preparedness. Now’s as good a time as any to explore it and know how to prepare for the next big one. Because it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when.

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Migrants line up for food provided by volunteers at a makeshift camp near the border wall in Jacumba, Calif.
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How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].


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And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they’re important to you.

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Issa Rae arriving at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Monday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Laura Blasey, assistant editor

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