Mayor Garcetti and Optimum Seismic, Inc. Highlight earthquake modifications to make 7,000 apartment buildings in Los Angeles safer from earthquakes

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Stronger buildings protect tens of thousands of residents

Published: October 22, 2021 at 5:00 am CST | Updated: 5 hours ago

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Mayor Eric Garcetti appeared with Optimum Seismic, Inc. co-founder. Ali Sahabi this week to talk about the importance of earthquake preparedness and highlight progress toward increasing seismic resilience in Los Angeles. This event was held in conjunction with the Great California ShakeOut.

The Optimum Seismic, Inc. team. With Mayor Eric Garcetti

“As Californians, it is critical that we know what to do and take the necessary steps to prepare before the earthquake, not after,” Mayor Garcetti said. “Here in Los Angeles, we’ve made resilience a priority, adjusting our most vulnerable buildings to protect Angelenos’ lives and property.”

“I want to thank an amazing team that did this day in and day out,” Mayor Garcetti said as he thanked Sahabi of Optimum Seismic, whom he called a great friend and builder, for helping do this earthquake retrofit in Los Angeles.

“You can’t count the living, you can only count the lost,” Mayor Garcetti added. “Today, we know that this work is going to result in people who will still be here after the next big event, and that’s something worth doing.”

“These old apartments are the most affordable building we have, so it is very important to protect them,” my companion said. “Residents, businesses and the environmental community will lose out if these buildings are severely damaged by a major earthquake. We know how to repair these buildings. And the cost of retrofitting is much lower than building new units. Doing so is good business and common sense.”

“What is very important about the mayor’s leadership is that many years ago when he was a member of the city council, he realized the importance of doing something about these buildings,” Al-Sahabi said. “Today, great progress has been made and thousands of residents are safer.”

Concluding the companion’s comments, Mayor Garsti said: “Thank you Ali, you know this business so well, and you said beautifully why it hits so many things including affordable housing and our environment as well as our personal safety.”

In 2015, Mayor Garcetti signed the Historic Mandatory Building Retrofit Act to ensure that the most vulnerable buildings in Los Angeles were strengthened to prevent loss of life in the event of a major earthquake.

The ordinance requires mandatory seismic adjustments for first-floor buildings, which were built prior to 1980. Soft first-floor buildings, which are often apartments, are timber-framed buildings with a large opening on the first floor for things like parking and garage doors. In retail premises may contain large display windows.

The law also includes buildings made of non-ductile reinforced concrete.

Mayor Garcetti noted that as of September 2021, 12,558 two-story buildings and 1,222 non-resilient buildings were identified as requiring mandatory modernization. About 93% of these buildings have completed retrofit plans and are on track to meet requirements within 7 years of full compliance.

Since 2015, nearly 7,000 buildings in the city have been completely modernized to withstand the impact of earthquakes.

The city has also modified its telecommunications and water systems to ensure that Angelenos’ basic needs are met during times of emergency.

To help families and neighborhoods prepare, the Ready Your LA Neighborhood Program (RYLAN) provides tools and resources for Angelenos to make a plan with the people closest to them, encourage neighbors to get to know each other and learn basic survival skills. Los Angeles’ ShakeAlert, the nation’s first earthquake early warning app, laid the foundation for MyShake, a statewide cell phone app from Earthquake Early Warning California.

Great California ShakeOut provides an opportunity to practice earthquake safety – encouraging individuals to prepare emergency plans and supplies.

Carol B. Parks, general manager of the Los Angeles Division of Emergency Management, notes that “Los Angeles will continue to actively plan for ‘The Big One.'” We encourage Angelenos to review preparedness tips, and sign up to receive free emergency alerts on their phone by texting “Ready” to 888-777.”

Media contact: Tom [email protected]

Carol B. Parks, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Emergency Management; Mayor Eric Garcetti; Ali Sahabi, Co-Founder and COO, Optimum Seismic, Inc. Rehabilitation of a single-storey apartment building in Los Angeles Ali Al Sahabi, Co-Founder and COO of Optimum Seismic & Mayor Eric Garcetti

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SOURCE Optimum Seismic, Inc.

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