Seismic Hazards Maps

[Ted Smith]

From: ted....@cdmg.uucp.netcom.com
Subject: Preliminary Seismic Hazard Zone Maps Released

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOCAL PRELIMINARY SEISMIC HAZARD ZONE MAPS OUT FOR REVIEW

The latest tool to help protect life and property during an
earthquake is in the works, thanks to the California Department of
Conservation. The department has just distributed six preliminary
seismic hazard zone maps and draft map guidelines to local officials for
technical review.

The maps show areas in portions of San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Orange and Ventura counties that during an earthquake are likely to be
susceptible to landslides and/or to water-saturated ground failure known
as liquefaction.

The first set of preliminary maps encompass 17 communities
including the northern half of San Francisco and in Southern
California, Simi Valley, the western portion of Santa Monica and an area
from Fullerton and Buena Park south to Newport Beach. Each of the six
maps is a 7 1/2-minute quadrangle, covering approximately 60 square
miles at a scale of one inch equals 2,000 feet.

Subsequent sets of preliminary maps for portions of Los Angeles,
Orange and Ventura counties will be distributed for review
approximately every six months until the currently funded total of 38
maps are produced. The mapping was completed in cooperation with the
Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.

Local governments and other interested parties now have until
January 7, 1997 to review and comment on the maps and guidelines. Once
the maps are made official in March 1997, the Seismic Hazards Act of
1990 requires local governments use them to identify areas where
geologic or soils investigation are required before permitting urban
development. The guidelines will help guide cities, counties and
consulting engineers and geologists in the investigation and mitigation
of these types of hazards inside and outside the mapped areas.

"These maps identify areas having an increased likelihood of
liquefaction and earthquake-triggered landslides occurring," said
Charles Real, supervising geologist, Department of Conservation, at a
briefing held for local media. "However, we're not saying the seismic
hazards will necessarily occur."

In February 1996, the California Department of Conservation
released 16 reconnaissance seismic hazard maps for portions of Southern
California. The preliminary seismic hazard zone maps just distributed
for technical review cover a different area from the reconnaissance maps
and are a refinement of the type of information in the earlier maps,
including sub-surface geologic data not present in the reconnaissance
maps.

The preliminary Seismic Hazard Zone Maps are available to
interested parties for review at cost through two reprographic services.
For details, see the Department's WWW site at
http://www.consrv.ca.gov/dmg/shezp/ or call the Department's Public
Information Offices: Los Angeles (213) 620-3560; San Francisco, (415)
904-7707; or Sacramento (916) 445-5716. Copies of the draft guidelines,
a geographic index of the maps released for review, images of the maps
released, and other related information are also available through the
web site.

Comments from interested parties or organizations must be
submitted to the State Mining and Geology Board by January 7, 1997.

The six preliminary seismic hazard zone maps released on October
8 incl ude these cities or portions of cities: the northern half of San
Francisco and in Southern California, Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa,
Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Moor Park,
Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Santa Monica, Simi Valley,
Stanton and Westminister.

The California Department of Conservation has one of the oldest
geological surveys in the United States in its Division of Mines and
Geology. An integral part of the survey's purpose is to prevent or
minimize injury, death and property damage from geologic hazards. The
department also safeguards farmland; oversees oil, gas and geothermal
wells; regulates mining; studies earthquakes and landslides; promotes
beverage container recycling; and manages California's earth resources.

================================================================
California | Ted Smith <tsm...@consrv.ca.gov>
Division | or <ted....@cdmg.uucp.netcom.com>
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