State Fails to Certify Thousands of School Quake Construction Projects

A state audit released last week confirms a 19-month published in April 2011 that California inspectors tasked with enforcing earthquake safety laws in public schools failed to certify thousands construction projects.

The Daily News reported that:

"The California State Auditor's office found that the Division of the State Architect has weak oversight and lacks enforcement authority when it comes to certifying that school construction projects are in compliance with a state law known as the Field Act.

"The Field Act, one of the first pieces of legislation to mandate earthquake-resistant construction in school buildings, was introduced following the Long Beach Earthquake in 1933 that destroyed more than 70 schools."

The uncovered holes in the state's enforcement of seismic safety regulations indicating that some schools may have been inadequately retrofitted, while more recent construction projects may not have received final state certification.

A review of data from the Division of the State Architect found that 20,000 school projects statewide have never received the required final safety certifications. In the crunch to get schools built within the past few decades, Patch found that state architects have been lax on enforcement.

Patch reported that of the public schools in Chatsworth, two are listed by the state as potentially subject to damage in an earthquake.

They are Chatsworth Park Elementary School, 22005 Devonshire St.,  and Chatsworth High School, 10027 Lurline Ave., which are each located in a liquefaction zone. Liquefaction means that in the case of severe shaking, the soil begins to act like a liquid and can no longer support the buildings located there. You can find an interactive map here.

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