OLIVE VIEW HOSPITAL (SAN FERNANDO EARTHQUAKE 1971)

San Fernando earthquake 1971

The San Fernando earthquake occurred on February 9, 1971 at 6:00:41 am Pacific Standard
Time (14:00:41 UTC) with a strong ground motion duration of about 12 seconds. The origin of
faulting was located five miles north of the San Fernando Valley. Considerable damage was seen
in localized portions of the valley and also in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains above
the fault block. The fault that was responsible for the movement was not one that had been
considered a threat, and this highlighted the urgency to identify other similar faults in the Los
Angeles metropolitan area. The shaking surpassed building code requirements and exceeded
what engineers had prepared for, and although most dwellings in the valley had been built in the
prior two decades, even modern earthquake-resistant structures sustained serious damage.
The area where the heaviest effects were present was limited by geographical features on the
three remaining margins, with the Santa Susana Mountains on the west, the Santa Monica
Mountains and the Los Angeles River to the south, and along the Verdugo Mountains to the east.
Loss of life that was directly attributable to the earthquake amounted to 58. Most deaths occurred
at the Veterans and Olive View hospital complexes, and the rest were located at private
residences, the highway overpass collapses, and a ceiling collapse at the Midnight Mission in
downtown Los Angeles.
The damage was greatest near and well north of the surface faulting, and at the foot of the
mountains. The hospital buildings, the freeway overpasses, and the Sylmar Juvenile Hall were on
coarse alluvium that overlay thousands of feet of loosely consolidated sedimentary material. In
the city of San Fernando, underground water, sewer, and gas systems suffered breaks too
numerous to count, and some sections were so badly damaged that they were abandoned. Ground
displacement damaged sidewalks and roads, with cracks in the more rigid asphalt and concrete
often exceeding the width of the shift in the underlying soil. Accentuated damage near alluvium
had been documented during the investigation of the effects of the 1969 Santa Rosa earthquakes.
A band of similarly intense damage further away near Ventura Boulevard at the southern end of
the valley was also identified as having been related to soil type.
Federal, county, and private hospitals suffered varying degrees of damage, with four major
facilities in the San Fernando Valley suffering structural damage, and two of those collapsing.
The Indian Hills Medical Center, the Foothill Medical Building, and the Pacoima Lutheran
Professional building were heavily damaged. Nursing homes also were affected. The one-story
Foothill Nursing Home sat very close to a section of the fault that broke the surface and was
raised up three feet higher than the street. Scarps ran along the sidewalk and across the property.
The building was not in use and remained standing. Though the reinforced concrete
block structure was afflicted by the shock and uplift, the relatively good performance was in
stark contrast to that of the Olive View and Veterans Hospital complexes
Olive view hospital
ON FEBRUARY 9, 1971, an earthquake literally destroyed the Los Angeles County-Olive View
Medical Center. The main hospital, a new six story, $26 million complex, had been dedicated on
January 9, 1971; a few minutes after 6:00 A.M. on February 9 it was a twisted ruin.

Most of the buildings at the Los Angeles County–owned, 880-bed hospital complex had been
built before the adoption of new construction techniques that had been put in place after the 1933
Long Beach earthquake. The group of one-story structures 300 feet west of the new facility, and
some other buildings, were not damaged. The damaged buildings variously were wood-frame
and masonry structures. The six-story, reinforced-concrete Medical Treatment and Care Building
was one of three new additions to the complex (all three of which sustained damage), was
assembled with earthquake-resistant construction techniques. The hospital was staffed by 98
employees and had 606 patients at the time of the earthquake; all three deaths that occurred at the
Olive View complex were in this building. Two were due to power failure of life-support
systems and one, that of an employee who was struck by part of the collapsing building as he or
she tried to exit the building, was a direct result of the destruction

Damages due to earthquake in olive view medical center

The Medical Treatment and Care Building included a basement that was exposed (above grade)
on the east and south sides, mixed (above and below grade) on the west side, and below grade on
the north side of the building, the variation being due to the shallow slope at the site. The
complete structure, including the four external staircases, could be considered five separate
buildings, because the stair towers were detached from the main building by about four inches.
Earthquake bracing used in the building's second through fifth floors consisted of shear walls,
but a rarely used slip joint technique used with the concrete walls at the first floor kept them
from being part of that system. Damage to the building, including ceiling tiles, telephone
equipment, and elevator doors, was excessive at the basement and the first floor, with little
damage further up. The difference in rigidity at the second floor was proposed as a cause of the
considerable damage to the lower levels. Because the first floor almost collapsed, the building
was leaning to the north by almost two feet, and three of the four concrete stair towers fell away
from the main building.[22]
On the grounds, there were cracks in the pavement and soil, but no surface faulting. In addition
to the collapse of the stairways, the elevators were out of commission. Electrical power and
communications failed at the hospital at the time of the earthquake, but very few people occupied
the lower floors and the stairways at the early hour. Casualties in these highly affected areas
might have increased had the shock occurred later in the day. The duration of strong ground
motion at that location was probably similar to the 12 seconds observed at the Pacoima Dam, and
another few seconds' shaking is thought to have been enough to bring the building to collapse.

Iconic soft-story failure of Olive View Hospital during 1971 San Fernando, California
earthquake
Olive view medical center after 1971 earthquake.

Partially detached stairway