LOS ANGELES — It's been 30 years since a deadly 6.7 magnitude earthquake devastated Northridge and many lessons have been learned since.
“The Northridge earthquake was a tremendously powerful event,” said geologist, Pat Abbott.
Abbott was inside his San Carlos home on Jan. 17, 1994 at 4:31 a.m., when a strong jolt woke him up.
“I was really surprised even more when we learned that the earthquake movement was actually to the north away from San Diego,” said Abbott.
The 6.7 magnitude earthquake centered in Northridge near Los Angeles. It lasted less than twenty seconds, yet caused devastation that's taken decades to recover from.
Nearly 60 people were killed, and damages totaled in then tens of billions of dollars.
"Freeway bridges collapsed, apartment buildings collapsed onto parking lots, something like 500 fires got started," said Abbott.
Abbott says a lot of lessons were learned in its aftermath, leading to significant changes.
"Retrofitting is one of the biggest things. We now recognize that buildings standing on steel poles are going to collapse, that's what we call a soft first story. So, we have retrofitting in those buildings, more retrofitting in masonry, brick buildings, things that are more rigid," said Abbott.
Other structures such as freeway overpasses and bridges have also been retrofitted.
And, the state of California has stepped in to help homeowners do the same.
Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) is a grant program that provides eligible California homeowners up to $3,000 toward a residential seismic retrofit. The purpose is to help homeowners lessen the potential for damage to their houses during an earthquake by "bracing" the crawl space, when necessary, and "bolting" the foundation to the house's frame.
Building codes for new projects have transformed as well.
"You know, it's a lot easier to upgrade building codes before a building has been built than it is to try to get people to go back to retrofit, because a lot of times the retrofit expense is more than the building is worth," said Abbott.
On top of that, safety measures like ‘drop, cover and hold on’ are now being taught in schools.
Also, advanced technology has allowed experts to alert people at least a few seconds before an earthquake's waves reach their location, using an early warning system called Shake Alert.
"If you're at the epicenter, you're on your own. The farther away you are, the more warning you get," said Abbott.
Together, all of these advancements have helped save lives.
But, Abbott warns, there's certain things not under our control.
For starters, there's no way to predict exactly when an earthquake will hit. And, in San Diego, potential damage such as cliff collapses can't be prevented either. Still, Abbott says if that happens, we're more prepared than ever before.
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