- Author
-
U.S. General Accounting Office
- Title
- Northridge/Los Angeles Area Earthquake: Opinions of Officials on Federal Impediments to Rebuilding. United States General Accounting Office Report to the Congress.
- Coporate
- General Accounting Office, Washington, DC
- Report
-
GAO/RCED-94-193; B-256606
June 1994
32 p.
- Keywords
-
earthquakes
|
damage
|
disasters
- Identifiers
- Northridge earthquake, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, Monday, January 17, 1994
- Abstract
- On January 17, 1994, an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale caused heavy damage in the Los Angeles area. This earthquake, referred to as the Northridge earthquake, left 61 people dead, 18,480 injured, and 25,000 homeless. More than 55,000 structures were damaged, of which 1,600 were left uninhabitable. The earthquake also caused significant damage to the area's extensive freeway system, resulting in closures at seven locations. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the earthquake, causing estimated damage totaling $13 billion to $15 billion, was the nation's second largest disaster ever in these terms and resulted in the largest number of applications for disaster relief in the agency's history.