Richmond District Earthquake Preparedness Special Section

Quake Would Cause Massive Damage

by Deanna Yick

We won't all die, but survival depends on when it strikes, where it strikes and how prepared we are to deal with it. "It" being the imminent major earthquake the San Francisco Bay Area fearfully anticipates.

Considering the damage a large earthquake could do, San Francisco residents, especially those in the Richmond District, ought to be scared. The district has much more to lose than it did back in 1906, when a now infamous earthquake shook the area's undeveloped sand dunes and only a few homes.

The 1989 earthquake took a devastating toll on the district. Storefront windows of many businesses were blown out, the Asian American Theatre, once located on Arguello boulevard, suffered extensive flooding and numerous buildings, such as the post office on Sixth Avenue and the Coliseum Theatre on Clement Street, had to temporarily shut down due to structural damages.

The reason the Richmond District was so badly hit in 1989 - and why imminent disaster looms ahead in the future - directly relates to the type of land the district is built upon.

Studies by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) show that although there are a few patches of unstable bedrock, most of the Richmond District sits upon unconsolidated sandy soil. During an earthquake, seismic waves will move the pockets of water between the sand granules and shift the soil away from the weight of the structure on top of it. This process, known as liquefaction, will cause violent shaking.

A possible scenario mapped out by the USGS estimates that a 7.1 earthquake on the Hayward Fault would cause a moderately low hazard liquefaction level in the district, but shaking would be of strong intensity.

A 7.9 earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, however, would cause both a high hazard liquefaction level in the district and shaking of a very strong intensity.

Flooding may also occur since the district lies on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

But despite the risks shifting and shaking pose, the movement of the earth will not be the fatal culprit.

"Poorly constructed buildings, not earthquakes, kill people," said Lt. Fernando Juarez, the community coordinator for the SF Fire Department.

Any buildings with unreinforced masonry or deep-set windows are considered high risk, and other structures are also expected to be damaged.

"Roads will be blocked, streets will be impassible, and bridges and highways will be down," Juarez said.

The number of injuries and deaths from falling debris depends on the earthquake's timing. There are greater risks if the earthquake hits during rush hour traffic or midday when children are in school than if it hits in the middle of the night when everyone is at home.

A publication from the SF Fire Department projects between 3,000 and 11,000 deaths and estimates between 12,000 and 44,000 injuries.

Yet no matter where or when it strikes, no one is completely helpless if they take precautionary measures. In particular, residents can prepare and try to prevent damage by seismically upgrading their homes.

"Foundations should be secured into the ground and plywood shearwalls can be installed to spread the stress of a major quake," said David Hirtz, the Outer Richmond District Coordinator for the SFFD Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT).

Likewise, the SFFD is prepared to deal with the expected effects of a natural disaster - namely, the fires that will ignite from broken gas lines and threaten to burn down various parts of the City. For this job, the firefighters on duty will be assisted by all off-duty personnel who must report to their regular fire stations, which have all been seismically retrofitted and equipped with backup generators, in the event of an emergency.

To fight the fires, the SFFD has prepared a number of water sources.

According to Juarez, hydrants painted all white contain a minimal amount of regular drinking water, while hydrants with black, red and blue tops are hooked up to the city's high pressure water system. The water in those hydrants comes from three underground tanks that store salt water pumped in from the San Francisco Bay.

Underground cisterns are also located at various intersections throughout the City, each containing 10,000 gallons of undrinkable water to be used solely for firefighting.

If necessary, two fireboats are available to pump in salt water directly from the San Francisco Bay and portable hydrants can pump water from any available source, such as private or community swimming pools.

While every member of the SF Fire Department is busy putting out fires, everyone else will be on their own.

"The fire department will be preoccupied by fire fighting since we are the only ones trained for that kind of work," Juarez said. "People must be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours."

For this reason, the SFFD created the NERT program, which teaches people what to do during an emergency and trains them to emerge as neighborhood leaders.

"Initially after an earthquake, you can't look to all the places you normally would for help," said Hirtz. "NERTs volunteer to help their communities immediately after a disaster until other agencies and organizations can aid them."

The NERT program provides residents with basic emergency skills and knowledge about disaster medicine. They will not only help with communication and light search and rescue efforts, but they will also direct volunteers from various locations, including neighborhood staging areas.

The staging areas in the Richmond District are located at the George Washington High School tennis courts just off Geary Boulevard between 30th and 32nd avenues and at Mountain Lake Park at Ninth Avenue and Lake Street.

Police, fire and medical aid will also be dispatched from the Emergency Command Center at Turk and Octavia Streets, said Jim Aldrich, the emergency response coordinator at the Mayor's Office of Emergency Services.

The public will be issued information from the mayor, his staff and representatives from city departments, utility companies and other agencies who are expected to convene at that location and coordinate all citywide response activities.

Through the emergency response tactic known as Operation Return, whereby all city officials and personnel must report back to work during an emergency, if designated representatives are not in the city and roads or bridges are down, they may take emergency ferry boats or helicopters, depending on availability and safety issues. If they are unable to report for duty, the next individual in the city's emergency chain-of-command will fill in for them.

To provide emergency back-up communication, the Mayor's Emergency Telephone System connects all police stations, fire stations, health centers, police call-boxes and other city departments.

In addition, each district has a designated Emergency Response District Fire Station to serve as a point of contact where neighbors can file reports. The one for the Richmond District is located at 441 12th Ave.

"The goal is to use the ERD fire station as a mini-command post, but depending on the specifics of the situation, there's no guarantee it will be staffed," said Hirtz.

Via the Emergency Alert System, 49 sirens throughout the City will sound warning tones indicating that people should turn on their radios to emergency broadcast stations KCBS 740 AM, KNBR 680 AM or KGO 810 AM. Radio newsmedia will broadcast news and instructions such as what people should do, where they should go for shelter and how they can help, as well as messages from the health, fire or police departments regarding matters such as contaminated water, out-of-control blazes, curfews or looting. If possible, television stations will also broadcast closed-caption information.

Availability of outside sources of assistance depends on the intensity and location of the quake. A mutual aid agreement provides staff and material supplies from unaffected cities all over the Bay Area. However, if the quake debilitates other cities, not just San Francisco, mutual aid will be impossible and help will take longer to organize. Programs set up by other organizations are also expected to be delayed.

"The American Red Cross and the City will set up shelters for those whose homes are no longer safe, but it will take them awhile to locate a site, inspect it and equip it with cots and blankets before designating it as an official city facility," Aldrich said.

Aldrich further noted that although state law requires that all public schools must be available as emergency shelters, those buildings must also be deemed seismically safe and accessible following an earthquake. People may have to sleep outdoors until official shelters are established, perhaps setting up tent cities in Golden Gate Park as they did after the 1906 earthquake.

The Department of Building Inspection will coordinate and oversee the inspection of all public buildings first and then private homes. The department may call on engineers from other agencies, such as the Department of Public Works, for assistance. Engineers will start with high priority public facilities that provide emergency services, such as police and fire stations, potential emergency shelters and hospitals.

Upon inspection, each building will be tagged either green (denoting safety), red (denoting forbidden occupancy) or yellow (denoting that the building cannot be occupied until repairs are made and it is reinspected, although limited, supervised entry may be allowed to retrieve personal belongings).

Moreover, the stock of emergency supplies located throughout the City does not include much food or water and it may not have enough supplies for everyone.

Juarez said the domestic water system that provides drinking water is expected to be down for 30 to 60 days, so the only available drinking water will be bottled water and the water in the hydrants painted all white, provided there is any left after fighting fires. Every other water source used by the fire department is undrinkable or may be contaminated by flood waters after the quake.

Until the Water Department designates alternate sources of potable water, such as peninsula reservoirs, people will probably have to rely on their own supplies of stored water.

"The Red Cross has a trailer at the Department of Public Works yard holding 500 cots and 1,000 blankets and two other trailers at the Presidio Fire Station each containing 100 cots and 200 blankets," Aldrich said. Other supplies such as fire hoses, medical equipment, flares, rope and flashlights are kept in various quantities with different city departments throughout the City.

"Although we don't have a lot of food, water, or other materials stockpiled, we do know where and how to get it and we will do so as the City needs it," said Aldrich. "But in the end, we may not be able to get enough of these materials to outfit every individual, so we emphasize the value of personal and neighborhood preparedness."

Regarding the chaos that may erupt throughout the City, the SF Police Department will be limited in what they can do. Also expected to automatically report to work in the event of a major disaster, police officers will be responding to large incidents, enforcing security and working in conjunction with the SFFD.

"The police department will respond to the more critical reports as best they can, but people should know they will not be able to respond immediately to every situation," Aldrich said. "But people are not advised to take the law into their own hands."

People may try to manipulate the law, however. Due to the lack of sufficient earthquake insurance programs in the City, most property owners are not covered. Hoping to cash in on their home fire insurance policies instead, spontaneous fires may spark up as homeowners intentionally torch their own homes to make claims and collect payments. Despite the risk of getting caught for insurance fraud, such was the problem following the 1906 earthquake.

Depending on how severely uninsured homes are damaged, Hirtz acknowledged that arson could recur, but said it cannot be prevented and officials will have to deal with the problem if and when it happens.

It seems that the City will also be vulnerable to other possible criminal outbursts, such as rioting and looting that occurs when no officers are present.

"Right after a huge earthquake, city departments will be tending to emergencies," Hirtz said. "An earthquake is not like civil unrest. It's a disaster, and hopefully communities will come together."