ABSTRACT
The city of Watsonville lost 642 housing units in the 17 October 1989 earthquake. These were primarily small single family dwellings that were knocked off their foundations. In less than one year, 75% have been repaired or replaced. In San Francisco, 500 of the 1482 red-tagged units were demolished and a total of 36,000 units were damaged. To date none of the large brick buildings has been repaired, none of the units torn down has been replaced and only 50% of the wood frame buildings damaged have begun repair work. It is unfair and unrealistic to compare the housing recovery rate of single family dwellings in a small town setting to the replacement of multifamily units in a large city. However, it is valuable to examine what is and is not working in each locale as it pertains to housing issues and hazard mitigation.
