Safe Enough to Stay - ABAG Earthquake and Hazards Program

Building evaluation and inspectionAfter a major earthquake, engineers and design professionals comefrom all over the country to help conduct formal building inspectionsusing what is known as the ATC-20 evaluation procedure. Theyevaluate building structures and tag them depending on their levelof damage: Red tags mean a building is unsafe and should not beentered or occupied; yellow tags indicate restricted use, meaning abuilding either requires further evaluation or is okay to occupy exceptfor designated areas; and green tags mean that no unsafe conditionswere found or suspected.Shelter-in-place evaluations are not a building tagging program;instead, they will provide immediate guidance for residents as towhether nonstructural and related conditions make a building suitableor unsuitable for continued occupancy. Residents will need to reviewshelter-in-place conditions within 24 hours of an earthquake so thatthey know whether they can remain in their homes. Meanwhile,it may take several days or weeks for inspectors and designprofessionals to undertake ATC-20 evaluations.Shelter-in-place standards need to be clear enough so that mostresidents will be able to assess their own buildings. But manyresidents will need help applying shelter-in-place standards to theirbuildings while they wait for design professionals to complete an ATC-20 evaluation. Community volunteers can be trained to help residentsdetermine if their home meets shelter-in-place standards.In many areas of the city, certain buildings will have minimal damagewhile neighboring buildings will be structurally unsafe. In buildingsthat appear to have substantial structural damage, residents will needto wait for a formal ATC-20 structural inspection by a designated cityinspector before sheltering in place.Enforcement of shelter-in-place standards and requirements for repairEnforcing shelter-in-place standards is key. The city should use itsenforcement power to ensure that property owners make repairs incompliance with the phased habitability standards described above.The responsibility rests with the property owner to provide for repairsand the restoration of habitable conditions.Properties that are abandoned or otherwise fail to meet legalrequirements for property repair, retrofit or maintenance shouldbe subject to the enforcement and abatement provisions of theapplicable San Francisco codes.Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Lori Peekflickr user kosmosxipoKousaku Maeda, courtesy Kobe University LibrarySPUR Report > January 2012 29