OAKLAND, Calif. – San Francisco’s Castro-Mission Health Center (the Center) will receive a $1.6 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to protect its patients, staff and facilities in the event of an earthquake.
Outdated building materials left the Center with a brittle, inflexible foundation vulnerable to seismic forces. Apart from the addition of an elevator, it has undergone no structural alterations, modifications or additions since construction in 1964. City assessments conclude that the Center is at risk of partial or total collapse during a major earthquake.
Grant money will help modernize the Center with reinforced concrete walls and new foundations, which will significantly reduce lateral sway, minimizing damage to the structure and its contents. A new fire alarm system will also be installed to prevent the common threat of gas and electrical fires after earthquakes.
The $2.1 million project includes a $1.6 million grant from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), with the remaining $538,000 from non-federal sources.
FEMA’s HMGP helps states, territories, federally recognized tribes, local communities, and certain private, non-profit organizations become more resilient to potential infrastructure damage and reduce future disaster costs. In the past 31 years, FEMA has invested nearly $1.4 billion to reduce disaster risk in California.
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