Resilient Los Angeles: Preparing for Overlapping Disasters in Pandemic

L.A. City Chief Resilience Officer Aaron Gross elaborates on how the pandemic is shaping the city’s understanding of resilience and the cascading impact that overlapping disasters of earthquake or wildfire could have on the city’s limited resources.

1 minute read

August 17, 2020, 10:00 AM PDT

By Clare Letmon


Los Angeles Earthquake

Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock

A recent report found that last year’s Ridgecrest Earthquake tripled the odds of a major earthquake on the San Andreas within the next year. In light of this news, TPR spoke with LA City Chief Resilience Officer Aaron Gross to discuss how the pandemic is shaping the city’s understanding of resilience and the cascading impact that overlapping disasters of earthquake or wildfire could have on the city’s already limited resources. 

Gross shares the city’s progress on implementing the 2018 “Resilient Los Angeles” plan—which lays out 15 goals and 96 actions to make Los Angeles more resilient to a wide range of systemic shocks and stressors—and how COVID-19 has highlighted the acute vulnerabilities faced by communities across Los Angeles:

"I don't think COVID has changed the definition of it, but the idea of building back stronger has been highlighted by COVID and looking at how and when we're able to reopen has become a huge part of that"

For the full interview, visit The Planning Report.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020 in The Planning Report

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Mary G., Urban Planner

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