Jan. 17, 1994, Is Still With Us

Three years to the day after the 1994 Northridge earthquake shattered wide areas of Southern California, it remains a strong presence in our lives.

In Pacoima, Mary Immaculate Church and School recently broke ground for a school building that will replace a structure that had to be razed after the quake. Los Angeles County communities from Northridge to Crenshaw are rebuilding churches, and others are just now making decisions to rebuild.

In neighboring Ventura and Orange counties, local government efforts to prepare for the next big quake are proceeding in earnest. Repairs have put many county and city government buildings, libraries, hospitals and schools back in service. Work on 16 of Los Angeles’ 17 “ghost towns” of uninhabitable structures is nearly complete.

But much remains to be done. Work on damaged Los Angeles Unified School District buildings won’t be complete until late 1998. At least 340 buildings in Los Angeles are still vacant, abandoned by the owners. Many homeowners have yet to settle their insurance claims, with some resorting to the courts for satisfaction.

But there is much to be commended in the work of various federal agencies. Nearly $1 billion in federal monies was set aside in 1994 to rebuild or repair vital public and private hospital and medical facilities, including the County-USC and UCLA medical centers. Federal Housing and Urban Development funds continue to flow in for repair of apartment complexes, and low-interest, long-term HUD loans have been extended to more than 12,200 Southern California residents.

New beginnings abound: a vacant San Fernando Valley apartment building that will reopen as a shelter for abused women; a low-income housing project that will rise on the site of a razed apartment complex.

Meanwhile, preparation for future calamities range from the prudent to the esoteric. In Calabasas, Westlake Village, Oxnard and Orange County, work is underway involving local government and community emergency response teams and urban search and rescue groups. Emergency equipment, food and other materials are being stockpiled because some communities could be cut off from relief efforts for days. Every other jurisdiction in the region would be wise to heed those examples.

There’s one preparedness effort in particular we’d like to note: that of Nancy Wright of the San Fernando Valley, who opted for laser eye surgery that corrected her vision. Seems she lost her contact lenses in the Northridge quake and never wanted to be in that awkward situation again. Who says Southern Californians don’t think ahead?