FEMA. Mitigation Minute for March 24, 2021. Seismic Retrofit Program in California Protects Homes, Lives, and Saves Money. FEMA photo. This California home had not been retrofitted and was damaged during an earthquake. Because California’s Earthquake Authority (CEA) estimates that more than 1.2 million older houses in high seismic-hazard areas throughout California are especially vulnerable to earthquakes due to their construction types, the state has developed a new program to address this issue. The Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) program works to bolt homes to their foundations and brace cripple walls to reduce the likelihood they will slide or topple off their foundations during an earthquake. Working in approximately 23 of the state’s counties that are at highest risk for seismic activity, the project is providing $3,000 grants to qualifying homeowners to help cover the cost of code-compliant seismic retrofits. Currently, EBB has a program underway with FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Programs via Presidential Disaster Declarations DR-4308 and DR-4344 to retrofit approximately 8,000 homes in 133 areas and 355 zip codes statewide. Under these FEMA grants, 4,289 seismic retrofits of California homes in high-risk areas have been completed as of Feb. 9, 2021, supporting the state’s readiness efforts to prepare for, respond to, and recover from earthquakes. FEMA photo. Foundation plates help secure a house’s foundation to prevent earthquake damage. Photo courtesy of California Earthquake Authority. This is a photo of two houses in Napa, California after the 2014 earthquake. The house on the right was retrofitted (before EBB program inception) and its occupants did not need to evacuate. However, the house on the left was not retrofitted, and sustained major damage. In 2016, it was still unlivable. Read the HMA Year in Review to learn more about this and other mitigation projects FEMA helped fund in 2020.

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This series is provided by FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Assistance Division. The "Mitigation Minute" contains a weekly fact about grants and resources provided across the country to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from natural hazards and does not endorse any non-government organizations, entities or services.

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