Will the Hollywood Earthquake Fault Make WeHo Tumble? Here’s What You Can Do to Minimize Damage If It Does

[dropcap]Q[/dropcap]. Have there been major earthquakes in West Hollywood in the past?

[dropcap]A.[/dropcap] There was one on Sept. 9, 2001, that caused significant shaking but no real damage. However the area encompassed by West Hollywood (incorporated in 1984 as an independent city) has felt the effects of some major earthquakes elsewhere. Perhaps the most damaging was the Sylmar earthquake on Feb. 9, 1971, which caused more than $500 million in damages and took the lives of 65 people, most of whom died when the Veterans Administration Hospital in San Fernando collapsed. There were no reported deaths in the area now covered by West Hollywood, but the 60-second quake and its aftershocks caused buildings to sway and collapse from Los Angeles west to Santa Monica.

The Northridge earthquake on Jan. 17, 1994, produced what one earthquake follower has called “the strongest ground motions ever instrumentally recorded in an urban setting in North America.” Sixty people were killed, 7,000 were injured, 20,000 were left homeless and more than 40,000 buildings were damaged in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and San Bernadino counties. That included some damage in West Hollywood. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, for example, lost a 2,000-space parking garage. The total damage was estimated at more than $40 billion and extended into west and central Los Angeles. Foreshock, an online blog, offers a history of Los Angeles area earthquakes.

Unfortunately, earthquakes can’t be predicted.