Preparing Your Home & Property for the Next Earthquake Sean OMara, Department of Emergency...

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

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

– Mitigate– Prepare– Respond– Recover

• Q & A

The Disaster Cycle

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MITIGATE

PREPARE

RESPOND

RECOVER CITY & DBI’sROLE

Department of Emergency Management (DEM)

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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?

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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?

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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

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Government

BusinessPublic

Emergency PlansContinuity of GovernmentRisk AwarenessResponse Coordination

Continuity ofOperationsCommunity InvolvementInsurance

Personal preparednessNeighborhood preparednessSchool preparedness

Department of Building Inspection (DBI)

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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

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• 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)

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• 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

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What You Can Do to Prepare

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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

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• 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

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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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Parapets• Chimneys• Water

heaters• Light fixtures

• Furniture• Cabinets• Appliances• Electronics

Preparing Your Home: Water Heater

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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Resident’s Response

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• 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

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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

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Turn off electricity, if:

– you smell gas leaks

– wires are broken

– walls are badly

damaged

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Turn circuit

breakers to OFF position

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Or pull fuses

Utilities: Water

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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

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• 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

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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

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• 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