Preparing Your Home & Property for the Next Earthquake

Sean OMara, Department of Emergency ManagementRon Tom/Mike Mitchell, Department of Building Inspection

May 11, 20151 S VanNess Avenue, 2nd Floor Atrium Conference Room

Agenda

2

• Overview of DEM & DBI• Disaster Cycle and Your Role

– Mitigate– Prepare– Respond– Recover

• Q & A

The Disaster Cycle

3

MITIGATE

PREPARE

RESPOND

RECOVER CITY & DBI’sROLE

Department of Emergency Management (DEM)

4

We manage everyday and not-so-every day emergencies in San Francisco:

• Emergency Services: We help San Francisco prepared for any emergency and we coordinate response and recovery.

• Emergency Communications (9-1-1): When people in San Francisco have police, fire, or medical emergency our dispatchers are the first people they call.

• Homeland Security Grant Management: We manage homeland security priorities for the San Francisco Bay Area.

What does DEM do?

5

We manage everyday and not-so-every day emergencies in San Francisco:

• Emergency Services: We help San Francisco prepared for any emergency and we coordinate response and recovery.

• Emergency Communications (9-1-1): When people in San Francisco have police, fire, or medical emergency our dispatchers are the first people they call.

• Homeland Security Grant Management: We manage homeland security priorities for the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco’s Emergency Communications Center (9-1-1) answers more than 1.1 million calls per year.

What does DEM do?

6

We manage everyday and not-so-every day emergencies in San Francisco:

• Emergency Services: We help San Francisco prepared for any emergency and we coordinate response and recovery.

• Emergency Communications (9-1-1): When people in San Francisco have police, fire, or medical emergency our dispatchers are the first people they call.

• Homeland Security Grant Management: We manage homeland security priorities for the San Francisco Bay Area.

BA UASI includes 12 regional governments and more than 100 cities with 7.5 million people.

Whole Community

7

Government

BusinessPublic

Emergency PlansContinuity of GovernmentRisk AwarenessResponse Coordination

Continuity ofOperationsCommunity InvolvementInsurance

Personal preparednessNeighborhood preparednessSchool preparedness

Department of Building Inspection (DBI)

8

Emergency Preparedness Coordination

– DBI Emergency Operations Plan– Conduct training as Disaster

Service Workers– Specialized training for Safety

Assessment Program– Building Occupancy Resumption

Program (BORP)

Mitigation: DBI’s Programs

9

• Programs• Parapet Safety Program (1972)

• Unreinforced Masonry (1989)

• Buildings Program (1992)

• Soft Story Retrofit Program (2014)

• Voluntary seismic retrofit

Mitigation: Building Occupancy

Resumption Program (BORP)

10

• Allows building owners to arrange for private post-earthquake inspection

• Requires contracting with qualified engineers

• Includes a building-specific inspection plan

• Deputizes engineers to post buildings after quake

In a serious emergency, city services will be impacted, so a basic rule of thumb is to be able to take care of each other for 72 hours before help arrives.

72 HOURS

11

What You Can Do to Prepare

12

www.sfdbi.org San Francisco Department of Building Inspection | 1660 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94103

Phone: 415-558-6088

What You Can Do to Prepare

13

• Discuss all possible exit routes from each room, building and neighborhood

• Decide where you will reunite after a disaster.

• Conduct emergency drills and practice “DROP, COVER and HOLD”

• Always keep your car’s gas tank at least half full

Preparedness: Property Owner

14

How can I prepare my property?

• Owner hires a civil or structural engineer to develop a plan/report identifying how occupants can safely enter the building to remove their possessions.

• Owner hires contractor whose staff retrieve possessions for the tenants.

Structural Home/Building Preparedness

15

• Evaluate your structure

• Underlying soil conditions

• Age and type of construction

• Structural /connection condition

• Remodeling impact

• Investigate retrofit options

• Compare retrofit costs with insurance premiums

Bolt Sill to FoundationUsing Square Plate Washers

16

• Square plate washers perform better in quakes than the round one that has been replaced here.

• They also make the tightening of expansion bolts easier.

Plate washers must be a minimum of 2” x 2” x 3/16”

thick

Strengthen Cripple Walls

17

• A cripple wall is generally the weakest part of older building because it has insufficiently strong sheathing materials.

• This can cause full or partial collapse in an earthquake.

• These areas can be strengthened for relatively low cost by correctly applying plywood sheathing to the cripple walls.

Crawl Space Cripple Wall

First Floor

Non-Structural Mitigation

18

• Parapets• Chimneys• Water

heaters• Light fixtures

• Furniture• Cabinets• Appliances• Electronics

Preparing Your Home: Water Heater

19

• Earthquake strapping of water heaters

• California law requires your water heater be properly braced so it won’t tip over in an earthquake

• Source of water during emergency

Preparing Your Home: Smoke Alarms

20

• Be sure your home’s street number is visible from the street, so emergency vehicles can find you.

• Install a smoke alarm in each sleeping room

• Provide a smoke alarm outside of each sleeping area

• Install a smoke alarm on each additional living level.

• Keep at least one ABC type fire extinguisher on each level of your home.

Response: City/At-LargeEarly Stages

21

• Evacuating/extracting people from buildings

• Route recovery/traffic control• Mitigation of immediate

public hazards• Restoration of critical

services• Lighting of field work sites• Debris clearance• Inspection of critical facilities

DBI’s Response

22

• Coordinate with DPW for inspection of critical facilities and City buildings

• Supervise inspection of private buildings

• Verify red-tagged building status

• Re-inspect buildings under construction• Issue emergency repair

permits• Inspect earthquake building

repairs• 72 hour window

DBI Manages Safety Assessment

23

Resident’s Response

24

• Listen to public messaging (KCBS/KGO radio)

• If safe to do so, stay at property

• Check in with neighbors• Call 911 only for emergencies• Carry out preparedness plan

Utilities: Natural Gas

25

Train family to turn off utilities, if necessary

Teach children to identify the smell of gas

Turn off gas, if:

– you smell leaks & are unsure

– your meter wheels are spinning

Be aware that you may not have service for weeks

Utilities: Electricity

26

Turn off electricity, if:

– you smell gas leaks

– wires are broken

– walls are badly

damaged

27

Turn circuit

breakers to OFF position

28

Or pull fuses

Utilities: Water

29

Turn off water if house is flooding or if water is contaminated

Shut Off Water, If Necessary

• Locate water shutoff

• Insert tool in hole & remove cover

• Turn water OFF

Road to Recovery

30

• Rapid organized response by DBI to conduct building damage assessment post event

• Request for Mutual Aid to augment DBI personnel as approved by the Mayor

• Timely processing of repair permits• DBI inspection of damage repairs• Swift resumption of new construction plan review

and inspection

Remind Yourself

31

Drill with your family at least once a year; earthquake anniversaries are good

remindersMaintain first aid and other

emergency skillsCheck family emergency

supplies, replenish them as needed

Visit Us Online

32

• www.alertsf.org• www.sfdbi.org/earthquake-

preparedness • www.sfdbi.org/softstory• www.sf72.org• www.sf-fire.org• www.sfgov.org/sffdnert• www.businessportal.sfgov.org• www.redcrossbayarea.org• www.sfsafe.org