An Assessment of the Consequences and Preparations for a Catastrophic California Earthquake: Findings and Actions Taken - Prepared By Federal Emergency Management Agency by Various
page 37 of 83 (44%)
page 37 of 83 (44%)
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practices, older hospital facilities can be expected to be poorly
resistant to earthquakes. Among residential buildings, single family homes are expected to suffer structural damage and loss of contents. Damage to multifamily dwellings--particularly older buildings--would, in all likelihood, be more extensive. Analysis of expected damage indicates that temporary housing for as many as 200,000 families might be needed--a requirement calling for careful planning and exceptional management skills. Schools are judged to be among the safest facilities exposed to the earthquakes. Since passage of the Field Act in 1933, after the Long Beach earthquake, school buildings in California have been continuously improved to withstand seismic hazards. As a result of continuing and substantial upgrading of design and construction practices in the past 10 years, dams and reservoirs can be expected to show an improved performance in an earthquake. Nonetheless, on a contingency basis, one dam failure might be assumed for each planning effort. Realizing the fact that 84 key communications facilities, earth stations, Department of Defense voice and data switches, commercial transoceanic cable heads, Federal Telecommunications System switches, and major direct distance dial switches are located within 55 miles of either Los Angeles or San Francisco, damage must be expected to occur. With this realization, priorities have been assigned to all critical circuits transiting the key facilities, based on established criteria of criticality of service continuity. _National warning systems circuitry, command and control circuits, and circuits supporting |
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