Dive Brief:

• Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is taking up the challenge of a Los Angeles Times report that found more than 1,000 buildings in the city may have earthquake risks because of their design.
• The focus is reinforced concrete structures built in the 1960s and '70s and part of the '80s.
• Before a Mexican quake in 1985, steel in the buildings was not tied together to give resilience.

Dive Insight:

It is not the first time the issue has come up in Los Angeles, but it did not hold anyone's attention long enough the previous times for anything much to be done. A 1994 temblor raised the same questions, but Cal Tech seismologist Thomas Heaton noted that it happened in the middle of the night, so no one was in commercial buildings to experience their weakness.