Kick Off Event to Announce Los Angeles’ Selection as One of 100 Resilient Cities

In December 2013, The Rockefeller Foundation announced the selection of the City of Los Angeles to participate in the Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge. The 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge seeks to support 100 cities that are ready to build resilience to the social, economic, and physical challenges that cities are increasingly facing in the 21st century.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti

On June 30, 2014, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti invited community stakeholders, City officials, service providers, businesses, and the non-profit sector to a kick off event workshops to discuss Los Angeles’ resilience priorities and begin to develop a shared resilience agenda. CES was one of the invited guests.

Los Angeles was selected to join the first cohort of 100 Resilient Cities from more than 400 applicants around the globe to develop ways to minimize damage and recover economically from disasters.

As a member of 100 Resilient Cities, Los Angeles has a distinct and important opportunity to strengthen its commitment to resilience via:

1. Funding to hire a Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) who will lead the development and implementation of the City’s resilience strategy; 2. Technical support in the development of the City’s resilience strategy; 3. Membership in the global 100 Resilient Cities network, and 4. Access to a platform of resilience-building tools.

Mayor Garcetti emphasized that though earthquakes top the list of risks in L.A., keeping the city functional in the long run goes beyond getting ready for the “Big One.” Problems such as an unprotected water system can pose huge risks if a gas line ruptures and fires break out in the aftermath of an earthquake, he said.

“I’m making sure that Los Angeles, threatened by 13 of the 16 federally designated natural disasters, gets serious about resilience and sustainability,” Garcetti said. “When disaster strikes, we must be prepared now to keep our water, communications and other key infrastructure operational.”

Dr. Lucy Jones

Dr. Lucy Jones, of the US Geological Services and recently appointed by the Mayor as LA’s Senior Adviser on Seismic Safety, was a speaker. She said that the San Andreas Fault has a major earthquake every 150 years. She pointed out that the last major earthquake on that fault occurred 300 years ago. Dr. Jones warned that a major San Andreas quake would cut off all 3 water aqueducts providing water to Los Angeles, cut off the food supply routes to LA and result in major fires throughout the region.

In the break-out sessions, Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross, noted that while supporting the need to make buildings safe, the burden of paying for the cost of building earthquake retrofitting must not be placed on renters who can least afford to pay increased rents. Potentially 29,000 soft-story apartment buildings that are mostly rent-controlled housing for low and moderate income and working class families could lose their affordability if they are required to be retrofitted.

Gross also pointed out that given LA’s diverse population, it was imperative that information and access to it be provided in the numerous languages spoken in LA.