1971 SAN FERNANDO EARTHQUAKE

1971 SAN FERNANDO EARTHQUAKE

       In 1971south California woke up to an earthquake, san Fernando earthquake, as it came to be called in that fateful morning of february on the mountains of south Gabriel  in the northern edge of south Fernando valley. An upper magnitude of 6.6 on higher magnitude scale was

recorded destroying the northern Fernando valley in a massive tremor that was sent several kilometers from the valley in highly extended faults at the foot of the mountain. Huge damages as a result occurred in Los Angeles while scientific records warned of future threats as low magnitude vibrations had been recorded to have occurred in the past. The highly populated north of los Angeles suffered huge losses with the massive collapse of buildings, the damage of transport networks along the city, the olive view medical center and the veterans administration hospital collapsed in the event leaving behind massive damages and a great loss of lives in the hospital and other parts of los ageless with over 49 deaths. Van Norman dam suffered major structural failures prompting the evacuation of thousand of the neighboring residents in a bid to avoid overtopping, a measure undertaken to prevent loss of lives due to flooding. The walls of San Gabriel’s mountains suffered major landslides with the vibrations setting the ocean floor in major waveforms that swept methane to the shores near maibu in a consecutive of days even after the earthquake. Schooling was disabled with the poor road connectivity especially at the freeway interchange that was a result of surface vaulting that extended in most parts of los Angeles in that fateful morning and the uncertainties prevailing during the event, thousands of landslides were later recorded photographically even after the end of the earthquake, with soil rock and debris heaping at the foot of the major mountains. Over hundreds of seismic aftershocks of magnitude greater than 5 were recorded after the earthquake in most regions of Los Angeles following the massive landslides. Collapsed condenser banks resulted in the Sylmar converter station with approximated loss of magnitude 22$. Generally losses were witnessed everywhere and the urban planning was on the eye of the government with the witnessed infrastructure failure. The collapse of the hospitals brought a shortage in health services as the businesses shut down to prevent further losses and the government incurred a lot in the evacuating of people from the dangerous places.

        As a result of the earth quake the government enforced laws in a code to govern the construction of residential houses and businesses along fault lines. This was aimed at eliminating all buildings across the major vibration action areas that would suffer much damage in the repeat of an event as such. The earthquakes drew public and national planning agencies attention prompting the establishment of all highly prone areas by scientific research to prevent the losses in case of a future earthquake.

REFERENCES

Earthquake., J. P., (U.S.), N. A., & Engineering, N. A. (1971). The San Fernando earthquake of February 9, 1971 : lessons from a moderate earthquake on the fringe of a densely populated region. Washington: National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering,.

Jennings, P. C., Housner, G. W., & Laboratory, C. I. (1971). Engineering features of the San Fernando Earthquake of February 9, 1971. Pasadena, Calif: California Institute of Technology, Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory.

Lew, H. S., Leyendecker, E. V., & Dikkers, R. D. (1971). Engineering aspects of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. Washington: U.S. National Bureau of Standards.