EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Risk to Children Feared in Lack of Seismic Laws

By SUSAN MOFFAT

Feb. 10, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

More than 200,000 children in licensed day care in Los Angeles County are potentially among the most vulnerable in an earthquake because no regulations exist requiring safety glass, bolted bookcases, extra supplies of food and water or even working flashlights in child-care centers, experts say.

Structural seismic safety regulations that apply to public schools do not apply to day-care centers, some of which are in former public school buildings that do not meet state requirements, said Joel McRonald, chief of special programs in the state architect’s office.

Public school buildings are required to have more reinforcement than other structures, such as extra bracing in walls and extra strong connections between foundations, walls, and ceilings.

Although buildings that do not have such extra reinforcement still may be structurally sound, McRonald said it is a pet peeve of his that regulations are less stringent for day-care centers than for public schools.

“If we’re mandating (that) K-12 can’t be in the buildings,” he said, “why are we allowing preschoolers?”

Many parents were relieved not to be separated from their children during the earthquake. And in the wake of the disaster, many are shocked when they hear that there are virtually no regulations requiring earthquake preparedness in licensed family day-care homes beyond maintaining a list of emergency contact numbers.

Requirements at school-type day-care centers are only slightly stricter. Such facilities must hold semiannual disaster drills and assign staff to handle specific functions, but child-care workers say there is sometimes little real preparedness even though the plans exist on paper.

The quake was a wake-up call for many parents and child-care providers that they are not as prepared as they should be. Looking at the wreckage of day-care centers or homes of day-care providers, parents realize that tragedy may have been averted only because of the early hour of the temblor.

For many Angelenos, day care is as essential as water or transportation. With many day-care centers and homes closed because of earthquake damage, some parents cannot go to work to earn income they need to put their lives back together, and some people have lost their jobs because they have had to stay home and care for children.

According to estimates by the nonprofit Childcare Resource Center, about 10% to 15% of licensed child-care providers in the San Fernando Valley were shut down for up to three weeks after the earthquake. Although virtually all school-type day-care centers have reopened, dozens of family day-care homes serving hundreds of children remain closed due to earthquake damage.

Day-care centers in private homes are inspected once every three years, and inspectors are not required to check for earthquake preparedness. Because such centers are in homes, they often contain ordinary hazards such as china cabinets and unsecured bookshelves and television sets.

Moreover, the ratio of children to adults is higher in the family centers than in most homes. A single adult at a licensed family day-care facility may legally be responsible for up to four infants, or three infants and three preschoolers--more than could be carried to safety by one person at a time.

In unlicensed homes, where hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles children are cared for, the situation may be even worse, experts say, because many more children may be supervised by a single adult and the houses are not inspected.

One licensed family-care provider in Canoga Park shuddered at the thought of an earthquake occurring when she was alone with the six children in her care. As it was, when the earthquake occurred at 4:31 a.m., she and her husband had only tiny flashlights, so they lit candles--which she now knows could have caused a gas explosion.

In addition, a large unbolted wall unit stands in the room where the children play. She pointed out that she has a week’s supply of food on hand, but then realized that most of it is in a freezer and would quickly spoil if the electricity failed.

“Among family day-care homes, a lot don’t have any idea about earthquake preparedness. Zero. None,” said Michael Bailey, owner of a Northridge child-care referral agency.

However, many family day-care providers had taken precautions. Diane Wilson, who cares for several children in her Granada Hills home, had her husband bolt bookcases to the walls, and she keeps water, food, tools, tents and other emergency supplies in the garage.

Still, when the earthquake hit, the house was such a wreck that family members suffered minor injuries trying to get outside. After their house was yellow-tagged, allowing only limited entry, the Wilsons baby-sat children in a tent in their yard.

Because of the light regulation of day-care providers and their wide variations in safety preparations, it is up to parents to ensure that their children’s day-care environments are safe, experts agree.

Day-care centers are not covered under the Field Act--the law requiring extra safe school structures--because at the time the law was passed in the early 1930s few centers existed. The act covers only public schools, not private institutions such as day schools or child-care centers.

Tom Tobin, executive director of the state Seismic Safety Commission, expressed concern for the safety of children. He recalled that after the Whittier Narrows quake in 1989, he was dismayed to see that a heavy cornice had fallen off a masonry church, plunged through a roof and landed on a crib in the church’s day-care center. Fortunately, no children were there at the time, he said.

But he said the commission has not studied the issue of regulating day-care centers for earthquake safety. He said it would examine damage reports to see what new initiatives might be appropriate.

But many child-care advocates are wary of increasing regulations, which they say could raise the cost of care for already-strapped parents, or force day-care providers out of business.

Regardless of regulations, many operators say the quake has prompted them to beef up their earthquake preparations.

“It’s actually been a very good learning experience,” said Donna Halsey, who had to shut down temporarily all three of the centers she owns in the West Valley.

Halsey says she will do a better job of securing furniture to walls, and make sure that flashlights are where they are supposed to be. She said she will stock more water and put the television inside a latched cupboard instead of on top of it, unbolted.

One model for earthquake preparedness is the Caltech/JPL Child Educational Center, where seismologists Lucile Jones and Egill Hauksson have their children. At this center, where the Sierra Madre fault is visible from the parking lot, the 90-member staff seems as well-trained as a National Guard unit.

In addition to monthly drills, the 200-child center holds half-day earthquake exercises every six months, deploying triage tents, walkie-talkies, extra water and food and staffers trained in search-and-rescue techniques.

Babies are popped into cribs with heavy-duty wagon wheels, and preschoolers put on emergency backpacks as they file out onto a field. Assigned teams of staffers set up everything from a communications center to a morgue.

Bobbie Edwards, who is in charge of the center’s earthquake preparations, emphasizes the need for parental involvement. On the school’s regularly scheduled “parent work days,” parents helped bolt down fans and bookshelves, saving the school labor costs. The center also asks parents to contribute a $5 annual earthquake preparedness fee and provide the earthquake backpacks.

Teaching children about earthquakes will help calm them when disaster strikes, Edwards says. Jones periodically brings in a seismograph for show-and-tell sessions, and uses a block of Jell-O with a piece of wood on it to show how buildings wobble, depending on how close they are to the epicenter. At this center, children as young as 18 months know how to duck and cover their heads.

Elyssa Nelson, director of the center, is proud of the aplomb with which 3-year-old Jenna Muirhead handled the earthquake: “That one was really good practice,” she told her mother.

Dealing with the psychological aftermath of the quake is perhaps the biggest task for most day-care providers now. Although many preschoolers appear to be unaffected by the jolts, others are suffering sleep problems, bed-wetting and even vomiting because of the stress.

Gayle Tolbert-Myles, who runs a family day-care home near La Brea Avenue and Washington Boulevard, says she is struggling to deal with her own trauma while reassuring the children. She moved into her present house after fleeing a neighborhood that went up in flames during the riots, and says the stress is cumulative for adults and children.

“One little girl was playing on the (toy) phone. She says, ‘We need help, this house is shaking and cracking,’ ” Tolbert-Myles said. Several of the children in her care were left homeless by the earthquake.

Tolbert-Myles has asked parents to bring family photos to soothe the children if they must be separated from their parents.

“I can’t prevent an earthquake. But I can be prepared,” she said. “The rest is in the Lord’s hands.”

Caring for Children

Parents need to work with day-care providers to make sure that their children’s environment is safe and that their post-disaster emotional needs are met, experts say. Some sources of earthquake preparedness information and training for day-care providers include:

* American Red Cross

2700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90057

(213) 739-5289

Earthquake preparedness and post-disaster trauma information and training

* California Office of Emergency Services

1110 E. Green St., Suite 300, Pasadena 91106

(818) 795-9055

Yogi Bear and Big Bird earthquake videos, tapes and comic books for children, earthquake information for preschool teachers (materials may not be available for several weeks)

* Caltech/JPL Child Educational Center

140 Foothill Blvd., La Canada 91011

(818) 354-3418

Earthquake preparedness consulting

* Childcare Resource Center

5077 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood 91601

(818) 762-0905 for child-care referrals

(818) 762-0711 for day-care licensing and preparedness information

* Crystal Stairs

5105 W. Goldleaf Circle, Suite 200, Los Angeles 90056

(213) 299-8998

Earthquake preparedness and post-disaster trauma information, child-care referrals