Leona Heights Neighborhood News

by Gordon Laverty

The moving film on www.KTVU.com of our neighborhood along the Hayward Fault may motivate you to get serious about your earthquake preparedness. Most of us have been aware of the forecast of the next big quake ("expected in the next 30 years"). But that estimate was the same one made 20 years ago! And most of us with our mundane responsibilities have done next to nothing to seriously protect our living areas.

Well, it is now time! My work with the Governor's Earthquake Task Force took me in the last 30 years to engineering inspections of two major earthquakes in Southern California, one in Central California, and one in Northern California. Here are several living area inspection items I urge you to attend to based upon personal experience.

If you can inspect under your first floor, ensure that the two-by-six wood sill is well bolted to the concrete foundation of your home so your building will not slide off the foundation (otherwise your house can be destroyed).

Under the first floor in the basement area, be sure you have added ½-inch plywood sheeting well-nailed to exposed two-by-four wood supports to which the outside wall is attached (otherwise your home can sidesway and collapse).

If your home has exterior redwood siding, check to be sure it is nailed every four inches in both directions (otherwise your home may sidesway and collapse).

These three preventive actions, based on my accumulated observation of destroyed homes, would have saved many of them.

With respect to the interior of your living area, I will never forget a chance encounter with a group of Coalinga women on the porch of a well-known restaurant on I-5 near their town. As I bounded up the stairway and saw them, I asked, "And what were the greatest losses you folks experienced in the recent earthquake?" Almost without exception they responded, "All my china and glassware," and several began to cry. So look inside your home at your shelf and other storage sites for your treasures, and do one or several of these: install cupboard doors (latchable); install sliding glass covers; install deterrents to sliding off cupboard and mantle edges, such as wood strips, wire strung between nails, or floral putty for mugs and small statuary. You will be glad you did.

Another alert: A member of our family observed a young man going from mailbox to mailbox around March 11, clearly looking for something to take. Our family member (unarmed) shouted, "Hey, what or who are you looking for?" With that, the fellow ran to, jumped in, and drove off in a blue car with no license plates; thanks a lot! So watch your mailboxes, and don't put anything in them you can't afford to lose.