The Brief

On Jan. 17, 1994 the Northridge earthquake struck Southern California early in the morning. The violent shaking — produced by a previously unknown fault — destroyed buildings, infrastructure and displaced tens of thousands of people. According to the U.S. Geological Survey more than 30 were killed and 7,000 injured.

Northridge caught us off guard, and showed us just how unprepared we were for the breadth of the disaster.

Firemen carry a janitorial worker who was rescued from a collapsed garage at the Northridge Mall.

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Denis Poroy

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Given that it’s been so long and another earthquake is always on the way, what’ve we learned about quakes since then?

Scientists from the community here in Southern California quake community shared their thoughts.

We’ve gotten much better at earthquake monitoring

After the quake hit at 4:31 a.m., residents turned to experts for answers.

“Our computers were so old and slow we literally couldn’t get the data from the mainshock for a couple of hours after the event,” said Lucy Jones, seismologist and founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society.

The general public wanted to know how big the event was, where it was located and what fault it came from, but they, along with everyone else from first responders to government officials, were left in the dark. Not just because of the lack of computing power, but also because the seismic network was lacking.

“That experience directly spurred major improvements and changes in earthquake monitoring,” said Susan Hough, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Since Northridge, we’ve substantially grown our seismic monitoring networks.

Now, within minutes after a quake, we’ve got a good idea of its location, size and intensity. All critically important information, especially for those that need to be dispatched to help with the disaster.

We can now warn people quakes are coming

Better preparedness tools have come along as a result of that ever improving seismic network, including the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System, which is able to warn people of shaking before it gets to them.

“Our goal is to give people several seconds before the heaviest shaking arrives. And a lot of that is dependent on where you're located in relation to the epicenter of the earthquake,” said Robert de Groot, who’s part of the ShakeAlert operations team.

So called soft-story structures, with elevated first floors over open space for cars, fared poorly in the 1994 earthquake.

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The system can detect ground motion from an earthquake in a place like Palm Springs, and send alerts to cell phones in Los Angeles faster than the waves of the temblor can travel through the Earth — letting people know that they need to drop, cover and hold on.

You’ll be alerted of larger quakes via the Wireless Emergency Alert system, which should be enabled on most smartphones. Though, if you’d like to install an app that alerts you of smaller quakes as well, MyShake from UC Berkeley is an option.

One column of the overpass is standing. Cars lie smashed by the collapsed Interstate 5 connector in Sylmar on Jan. 17, 1994.

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Serious shaking can occur far from the epicenter

While the epicenter of the earthquake was in the San Fernando valley, Santa Monica got hit harder than expected.

“That was because of the focusing of the seismic waves, kind of like waves going through a magnifying glass,” said Elizabeth Cochran, a seismologist with the USGS.

“Underneath the Santa Monica mountains there's really hard rock. As you move into the L.A. basin, there's soft rock. And because of that, the waves kind of bend in certain ways, sometimes bending towards each other such that all of the energy is directed in one location.”

A mother and her children walk near a tent city at Winnetka Recreation Center on Jan. 22, 1994 as the California National Guard sets up the shelters for the thousands of Angelenos made homeless by the quake.

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We build better buildings (but many are still dangerous)

Structural engineers had a whole lot of takeaways from Northridge, including that the welds used in the construction of some of our tallest steel buildings were weaker than previously understood.

“Fortunately the shaking was not strong enough to cause collapse of high rises, but lots of study done post the earthquake shows that had the earthquake been a magnitude 7-ish, it probably would have caused the collapse of high rise buildings,” said Tom Heaton, professor emeritus of engineering seismology at Caltech.

We’ve significantly overhauled how we construct steel buildings since then, but there are an awful lot of buildings constructed here prior to 1994. I covered this in detail several years ago for The Big One podcast, pointing out the questionable construction underlying two famous buildings in downtown L.A.

Besides steel buildings, we’ve also seen major retrofits required for soft-story apartment buildings (which collapsed in the quake), and non-ductile concrete buildings, all of which are susceptible to big quakes. Many buildings still need to be retrofitted.

Northridge also prompted the reexamination of what we expect from buildings after an earthquake, besides “don’t collapse.”

A resident fills a water jug on Jan. 18, 1994, at one of many water lines set up in the area to assist victims of the Northridge earthquake. Local authorities warned residents not to drink tap water after the quake broke many water mains in the area.

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“Important structures that were necessary to bring the city back to function were yellow tagged or red tagged, and even if they didn't collapse and didn't kill people, they actually put the economy backwards and had to be closed and retrofitted over time,” said Domniki Asimaki, professor of mechanical and civil engineering at Caltech.

“It's not enough for us to build buildings to meet life safety and collapse prevention. It is important for us to build buildings to meet the performance criteria that we set for each building.”

California’s requiring hospitals be retrofitted with the goal that each will remain functional after a quake.

Firefighters cross a street as a broken 16-inch gas main burns in the background, after the Jan. 17, 1994 quake.

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Hal Garb

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We need to worry about the small faults too

Northridge was a good reminder that we need to worry about faults besides the giant San Andreas.

“It happened on a smaller fault and it was only a 6.7, but what made it really devastating was its location. There was a fault just right underneath an urban area really close to where a lot of people live,” said Clara Yoon, seismologist with the USGS.

Smaller magnitude quakes located right under a whole bunch of people can do a lot of damage.

I’ve always got my eyes on the Puente Hills fault, which is smaller but scary. It runs under some of the most populated parts of L.A. County and is capable of producing a massive magnitude 7 earthquake.

Oh, and you should remember that even if you look at a fault map and don’t see one near you (which is unlikely), there are a whole bunch of faults that’ve not yet been discovered. That’s exactly what happened with Northridge. We didn’t know the fault existed before the quake occurred, adding to the confusion on the morning of the disaster.

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As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.