LA reveals list of 33 buildings that are AT RISK from earthquakes that desperately need updates

A total of 33 important buildings owned by Los Angeles County – from hospitals to jails – are at risk from toppling during an earthquake and desperately need updating.

The new list has revealed which decades-old buildings made from non-ductile concrete may cause massive problems in a quake – and the majority house critical services that would be desperately needed in the face of an emergency.

Los Angeles County government’s administrative center, Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, is on the hit list – as well as the coroner’s office. Both institutions would obviously be needed in the aftermath of an earthquake event.

All of the structures erected before 1978 were made with non-ductile concrete and brittle elements, meaning they are likely to crumble during a big earthquake. Authorities are fearing that something similar to the catastrophe in Turkey, which resulted in over 45,000 deaths, could happen.

The General Hospital, at 1200 N State Street, is among those buildings in LA County which could topple during an earthquake

Pictured: The Chief Medical Examiner Service office, which is one of the buildings which is listed as being threatened if an earthquake hits

The seismic project to get these buildings retrofitted with steel bars is expected to cost the county hundreds of millions of dollars – and will most likely take a decade to complete.

The board is expected to vote soon on a three-year, $35million consulting contract to design seismic retrofits for the 33 buildings.

If the San Andreas Faultline were to trigger a massive earthquake, experts have already predicted that these types of unstable buildings would cause a staggering half the predicted deaths.

This makes the program a priority, according to seismologists.

Among the buildings at risk are three LA County libraries – Huntington Park, Montebello, and Compton.

And Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center, which was built in 1959, also features on the list. The building currently is designed to house 850 inmates, including 400 parole violators awaiting, and there are 36 people housed there currently.

This is the Hall of Administration – which is the administrative heart of Los Angeles County. It is on the earthquake hit list

Among the buildings at risk are three libraries – Huntington Park, Montebello, and Compton. Pictured: Montebello Library

This is Fire Station 171, which is one of the buildings which may fall during a big LA earthquake

There are 16 buildings which are classed as being for Health Services and Public Health – including a general hospital. And the list includes buildings around the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, as well as the county’s flagship hospital in Boyle Heights.

The County-USC Outpatient Clinic building is also at risk – and it is currently a space housing a forensic clinic for victims of sexual assault and child abuse.

And two fire stations, number 171 and 8 in Inglewood and West Hollywood, have been put on the danger list.

Chief Medical Examiner Service office, where autopsies are performed, also features on the list.

Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist, told KTLA: ‘The big issue is usually that the corners of the buildings aren’t properly tied together. So, when the earthquake pushes sideways, they come apart and that leads to collapse.

Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center, which was built in 1959, also features on the list. The building currently is designed to house 850 inmates, including 400 parole violators awaiting, and there are 36 people housed there currently

‘We never thought that spending the money on retrofitting these buildings was worth the risk. When we modeled what would happen in a big San Andreas, more than half the deaths from the earthquake itself are in these types of buildings.

‘So every one of them is a problem.’

The non non-ductile concrete was discovered to be a problem during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. During the quake, the Olive View Medical Center and Veterans Hospital both experienced heavy damage, and buildings collapsed at both sites.

This caused the majority of deaths that occurred. The total number of fatalities was 58.

Structural engineer David Cocke, former president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, told the LA Times: ‘We do know that there is seismic risk all over Southern California, and we’ve seen — and we saw again in Turkey— that that construction type does not perform well when subjected to strong shaking.’