ANNA-SCEC Partnership Concludes

Over the past year, the Los Angeles area Adams-Normandie Neighborhood Association (ANNA) has partnered with the Southern California Earthquake Center to elevate earthquake awareness and preparedness on a communitywide scale. The partners developed a model program for seismic safety to create a culture of sustainable, uniform community preparedness for a damaging urban earthquake. The partners believe the model can be cost-effectively replicated in vulnerable neighborhoods anywhere.

Last year, ANNA president Marianne Mullerleille, a resident of the Adams-Normandie neighborhood, submitted a proposal to the University of Southern California's Neighborhood Outreach Program. The Outreach Program is a nonprofit corporation with a mission to enhance the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding USC's University Park and Health Sciences campuses. It was created in 1993 to provide financial support to USC-community partnership projects and programs that make a visible, positive impact in our neighborhoods. Donations from university faculty and staff through the USC Good Neighbors Campaign are the sole source of USC Neighborhood Outreach funding.

The ANNA-SCEC Project partners identified several objectives addressing the overall education and safety of the community it reaches out to. Through the ANNA after-school program, the project emphasized the improvement of the quality of K-12 education and the quality of life for children who attend neighborhood schools. The program included a community initiative to improve public safety through natural disaster education and mitigation strategy planning aids reduction of crime and violence. SCEC assisted with projects to improve the neighborhood's economic development by helping families build preparedness kits, retrofit their homes, and offering low-cost gas shut-off valves from the Gas Company.

The successful partnership culminated with the ANNA-SCEC Earthquake Prepared-ness Fair on Saturday, April 18. The fair was billed as a "one-stop learning and shopping center" featuring vendors who displayed their products. The locally famous "Quake Cottage" gave community members a chance to safely experience a simulated magnitude 8 earthquake. Food was provided by McDonalds and by a neighborhood chef who put his barbecuing skills to the test-explaining that this is the ideal way to cook after an earthquake. Fun and games were provided for the kids (young and old)-there were clowns, balloon animals, a moonbounce, and even the "Earthquake Game" at the SCEC exhibit.

USC's School of Letters and Department of Psychology provided expertise for the required "objective evaluation." Dr. Margaret Gatz, professor and practicing clinical psychologist, has completed extensive research in the field of earthquake preparation. In her work, she examines multi-generational predictors of earthquake impact and preparedness. At the beginning of the yearlong program, Dr. Gatz, with the assistance of graduate student Kecia Watari, assessed the community's attitudes toward earthquakes and measured its reliance on preparedness and mitigation strategies. Those who completed the surveys were given a complementary one-day earthquake preparedness kit.

Results of the study were compiled for future comparison to a post-test, and were reported at an ANNA monthly meeting. A post-test conducted at the completion of the partnership (immediately after the fair), measured the same factors in the community. The results are being compiled and will be compared to the pre-test. The partnership sparked interest in future community projects that may examine social applications of earthquake-related research. Finally, a community guidebook is under construction by SCEC. The book will be mounted on the World Wide Web as a guide to other communi-ties. Watch for an announcement about December in SCEC publications list and web site: WWW.SCEC.ORG.