LOS ANGELES — In many cities in the Southland, building owners have been subject to mandates calling for seismic upgrading, or retrofitting, for structures that are vulnerable to major earthquake events.

Civil Engineer Joe Demers of Alpha Structural Inc. says soft-story buildings, like the apartment complex he is currently overseeing in Pasadena, make up the bulk of their retrofitting business.

“There are thousands of buildings like this in the LA area. Usually, they involve parking on the lower floor, units above. There’s parking below with a bunch of small little columns that hold it up. And they just go like that,” explained Demers with a toppling hand motion.

Demers said it is common for pre-1976 buildings to have this design deficiency, and his company’s task is to shore up the structure with new reinforced, poured concrete foundations and steel beams retrofitted onto the existing frame to prevent that toppling motion.

“We discovered this deficiency mostly in the Northridge earthquake, and so, ever since then, they’ve been trying to retrofit all of them,” Demers added.

Southern California has not had an earthquake on the scale of Northridge since 1994, when that quake caused 72 reported deaths and more than $40 billion in economic losses. Demers said the Northridge event has had lasting effects on the building industry.

“Every time there’s a big earthquake, they go back to the codes and they change things, and they add things,” said Demers.

Sixteen years ago, the Great Shakeout became a worldwide event where millions of people took part in earthquake drills at work, school and home. Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones was at a recent Chamber of Commerce event in DTLA to help spread the word about earthquake preparedness for small businesses and business districts, using a fictional, science-backed earthquake scenario.

“[Drills] remind you that the earthquakes are inevitable,” explained Dr. Jones. “Now, think about one thing you could do to make it better. Maybe it’s making a family communication plan. Maybe it’s storing some more water. Maybe it’s finally hooking down those bookshelves that you don’t want fall on your kids’ bed. But do one more thing, and you do that each year. You’re going to be ready.”

Dr. Jones explained that messaging about earthquake preparedness often focuses on the individual, but she says it is just as important that businesses be prepared also, including things like retrofitting their structures to help minimize damage and improve economic resilience.

“A serious economic recovery really means that we need to get in there and start rebuilding really quickly so that we don’t end up fading away into a depression,” she said.

The Chamber of Commerce event organizer John Bwarie, of the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce, says part of being prepared is also knowing what the city mandates and requirements for retrofitting.

“Every jurisdiction has its own retrofit requirements,” explained Bwarie. “Building owners and tenants should check to see if their building has been retrofitted. If it’s a vulnerable type of building. There’s different ways to see that, whether it’s a brick building, or a concrete building, or even a steel building. But every level of construction is based on its building code at the time that it was built.”

Southern California cities are continuing to try to meet their retrofitting mandates, which means Joe Demers and Alpha Structural Inc. will be busy for a while.

“We’re doing a little bit less now, but it’ll probably pick up again as the other cities have mandates,” said Demers.