Ventura County ranks in top 10 for earthquake risk

October 06, 2000
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula TimesVentura County ranks right up there nationwide in a lot of ways related to good living, but its latest place on two top 10 lists is shakier: potential earthquake damage.Reports released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State Department of Conservation in recent weeks has Ventura County high on the lists for potential earthquake property damage, ranking 10th in the state at $89.9 million.The FEMA report also outlines the average amount of damage to buildings by an earthquake for each million dollars’ worth of existing buildings: the City of Ventura’s damage is estimated at $2,760, number six on a list of 10 areas nationwide that could be hit the hardest.The FEMA study measured on a criteria including how likely the areas were to be hit by an earthquake and how susceptible buildings are to quake damage.Also in on the FEMA studies was the National Institute of Building Science, who joined FEMA in calling that communities on the lists must have existing long-term plans to cope with earthquakes.
The State Department of Conservation report also puts Ventura County on very shaky ground, listing it 11th-highest-ranked county in the state with an average of $132,618,000 that could be destroyed in a quake. The department took into account more frequent tremors in California than the national FEMA study, inflating the potential average damage.In the 1994 Northridge earthquake - which killed 57 people and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage - Fillmore received substantial damage that virtually destroyed much of the Santa Clara Valley city’s new revitalized downtown shopping area, as well as residential property with damages running into the millions of dollars. The earthquake rattled Santa Paula but although only nine miles away from Fillmore, property damage was kept to a minimum, about $50,000, when a sharp aftershock days later toppled chimneys throughout the city.The Santa Clara River Valley is considered ripe for earthquakes: it sits between two major faults, the San Cayetano, which is on the north side of the valley, and the Oak Ridge that hugs the southern mountain range. The two faults have slowly been moving together for years.Although there were no surprises that the reports ranked California at the top for potential quake damage, several of the largest US earthquakes occurred outside the state: Missouri near the Tennessee border with the 1811-1812 series of New Madrid quakes, one of which that reportedly caused the Mississippi River to flow backward for several days, and the 1964 Anchorage quake that rocked Alaska and devastated the city.



Site Search

E-Subscribe

Subscribe

E-SUBSCRIBE
Call 805 525 1890 to receive the entire paper early. $50.00 for one year.

webmaster