A large number of soft story structures in the Los Angeles area experienced detrimental damage as a result of the seismic activity in the city. In November of 2015, a city-wide ordinance was created to obligate the owners of these buildings to retrofit in accordance with the Los Angeles Code. The purpose of this program is to reduce the risk of injury or loss of life that could be the result of the effects an earthquake has on these wood frame soft story buildings. This mandatory program, which aims to reinforce these vulnerable buildings from potential catastrophic damage, is one of the nation’s largest movements to promote seismic building safety thus far.
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HmHkuS3k0hg/maxresdefault.jpg)