Column: We shake, we rattle, we roll — life in a state that’s one giant fault zone

It was a Tuesday exactly half a century ago, just after 6 a.m., and most of Los Angeles was dozing. “I jumped out of bed, waited a moment, and it was still shaking,” said Treiman, who would go on to work as a state engineering geologist and earthquake risk and preparedness specialist. At the moment, that happens to be COVID-19, which, as Jones pointed out, is “killing a lot more people than any earthquake could.” It was Jones who cured me of earthquake denial four years ago on a tour of the San Andreas fault, when she delivered an earful to dozens of local officials who have not upgraded building codes, earthquake preparation and seismic safety standards. “Every time we’d venture away to pick up a piece of broken glass, another rumble would come and we’d go back to the same doorway entrance,” said Nazarian, who is marking the 50th anniversary of the Sylmar/San Fernando quake by introducing the Seismic Functional Recovery Act, which calls for new buildings to meet higher standards. Largely because of the lessons of Sylmar and Northridge, California has made great strides in reducing earthquake risk, and the city of Los Angeles in particular has aggressively moved to upgrade poorly designed buildings.