LOS ANGELES — California is about to run out of money for mapping earthquake faults, leaving many communities across the state with limited information about the seismic risks of new development.
The California Geological Survey has about 300 more fault maps left to complete, including some covering highly populated areas such as the Westside of Los Angeles, the San Diego Bay area, and the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles. But officials say the budget for mapping will run out once the state completes work on the Hollywood fault early next year.
Seismic experts say completing the mapping is crucial because the state’s strict earthquake building regulations only apply to faults that have been zoned by the California Geological Survey. The regulations prohibit building on top of faults and require extensive seismic testing for any structure built within about 500 feet of a fault.
The slow pace of the state’s mapping has come under new scrutiny in recent months because of several large projects in Los Angeles that were approved on or near the Hollywood fault.
On Monday, state Sen. Ted W. Lieu, D-Torrance, called on the state Legislature to boost funding so the mapping can continue.
California aggressively mapped faults between the 1970s through the early 1990s. Then, a series of budget cuts slowed the effort dramatically. No new fault zoning occurred between 2004 and 2011. The California Geological Survey restarted the effort again using its existing budget, but that money will dry up next year, said state geologist John Parrish.
At one time, the state had six people focused on fault mapping. That will drop to one person by next year, and no staffers are budgeted after June.
Lieu said that the state’s budget situation has improved significantly in the last few years and fully funding fault mapping should be done immediately.
“It boggles my mind,” Lieu said in an interview. “Every day across California, local planning departments are making decisions, and we need to make sure that no future buildings are going to be built on fault lines simply because a map wasn’t updated.”
His remarks come after the Los Angeles Times reported Monday that at least 18 buildings were approved for construction on or near the Hollywood and Santa Monica faults over the last decade without the rigorous studies that would have been required had the state zoned those faults. They include apartments, condos, an office building and a grocery store. Both faults are well-known and capable of producing disastrous earthquakes.
