Earthquake News Bulletin

"WE WISH WE'D HAD THE WINDOWS PROTECTED WITH SOLAR SAFETY FILM"

A special report on the San Francisco Earthquake Damage

As a result of the ever-growing concern over the "Big One", hundreds of thousands of square feet of safety and solar films have been installed on homes, businesses, schools, and government offices throughout earthquake-prone regions of North America.

Many of these installations were put to the test during the devastating San Francisco earthquake in 1989. In all cases the windows with solar safety films withstood the force of the earthquake, preventing injuries, loss of life, and saving millions of dollars in property damage.

Unfortunately, many other untreated homes and buildings throughout the ravaged area were far less fortunate. For example, the I. Magnins Department Store in Union Square in downtown San Francisco suffered heavily.

Nearly all the untreated windows in the store shattered and cascaded down from heights as high as 12 stories, resulting in very serious injuries to passersby and a tremendous dollar loss to the store.

A police department spokesman summed up the various costs incurred by stores like I. Magnin which did not have safety solar films on windows:

  • Customer access to the store was severely restricted, which meant customers shopped elsewhere.
  • The whole area looked like a war zone, further discouraging shoppers from entering the store.
  • Although co-operative weather minimized the incidence of water and other elements damage, heavy rains or wind could easily have penetrated the building through the open window areas causing additional extensive damage. The openings made it impossible to satisfactorily control the temperature in the building for employees and customers.
  • Because many glass companies' inventories in the area were also destroyed in the quake, window glass could not be replaced for several weeks, prolonging the general agony caused by the earthquake.

If the windows at I. Magnin had been protected by solar security film, would all of these problems have been prevented? Next door neighbours with solar security film would shout a loud "YES":

Macy's next door: all windows remained intact!

Herme's Clothing, across the street: all windows remained intact!

Casual Corner, half block away: all windows stayed intact!

As on tired mop-up crew worker said, "If everyone had security film on their windows, there would be a lot less for us to do!"

SAN FRANCISCO PASSES GLASS MEASURE

In light of damage and loss of life suffered in the recent earthquake, San Francisco council has received for final approval municipal ordinance which makes it mandatory that all buildings in the San Francisco regional area which are commercial or industrial in nature have approved solar security film on all exterior exposures.

The ordinance, expected to receive final council approval in the very near future, is the first known attempt by a municipal authority to reduce or eliminate the death and devastation caused by flying glass from shattered or damaged windows in a natural or man-made catastrophe.

Experts interviewed in several California cities said they expected such legislation would become common within the next few years.