Editorial: Don’t bury danger of quakes

Tuesday, April 3, 2001 | 8:53 a.m.

Most people think of California when earthquakes are mentioned. The Golden State has suffered from devastating temblors in the past two decades, but other parts of the nation are exposed to these risks as well. Although in recent times Nevada has not seen earthquakes of the magnitude that have rocked California, seismologists note that this state is the third most prone to earthquakes, posing some significant dangers.

Despite Nevada's high ranking it doesn't appear that local building codes are up to snuff. Scientists and engineers attending the 36th Engineering Geology & Geotechnical Engineering Symposium, which was held at UNLV over the weekend, noted that the Las Vegas area itself needs to do more. For instance, local building codes allow homes and other structures to be built within 5 feet of a fault line. This is better than what it was before -- homes actually were allowed to be built just 1 foot away from fault lines until 1996. For that matter, the change didn't come about until a lawsuit was filed against a developer, charging that homes were allowed to be built on a major earthquake fault. But the 5-foot-threshold in Clark County still is a far cry from the tougher standards developed in California, where building codes require homes to be built at least 50 fe et away from fault lines. Local governments should reassess the existing standard to see how much it should be strengthened! .

It's not just the structures that house homes and businesses that are at risk, though. As Sun reporter Mary Manning noted in a March 15 story, our roadways can be in jeopardy as well. That's why the Nevada Department of Transportation is undertaking a $450,000 study to see whether a 32-year-old section of U.S 95 could be knocked down during an earthquake. That section of highway being looked at is a concrete bridge that is located between Las Vegas Boulevard and the eastern side of the Spaghetti Bowl, where U.S. 95 and Interstate 15 converge. That section was built before stricter earthquake standards were created during the 1980s. If Las Vegas had a major earthquake that damaged the structure, the replacement costs could rival the $300 million spent to replace similar spans that were damaged during the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

Some geology consultants also are questioning whether the federal government has realistically assessed what impact a big earthquake could have here -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency projects that there would be just $28 million in damage. But geology consultants John Perry and Jim O'Donnell, using a computer model, estimate that an earthquake larger than a 6.0 magnitude could result in up to 386 deaths and more than 3,300 people hospitalized in Las Vegas. There also could be $11 billion in total losses to the local economy, according to Perry and O'Donnell, who both live in Boulder City.

When discussion turns to the danger posed by earthquakes in Nevada, it often focuses on the threats presented by the possible storage of high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, which is just 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, virtually in our back yards. But it is clear that the danger is even more pervasive, and literally could be in our back yards, depending on how close our homes have been built near fault lines.

It took deadly fires at hotel-casinos in Las Vegas before this state implemented strict fire codes. With earthquakes we know in advance -- based on what California has experienced -- how deadly they can be. Instead of responding after a disaster has hit, county and city leaders should come together and offer a comprehensive plan that would revamp existing building codes so that they offer better protection for the public if the unthinkable ever happens.