Los Banos Rotary Club History
Fresno Authority Tells of Need For Safe Buildings

The best is none too good – especially when it comes to school buildings! That is the admonition given members of the local Rotary Club Tuesday noon by H. Wayne Taul, registered structural engineer of Fresno.

Praising the Field Act and Title 21 construction regulations, Taul explained the statement simply, saying that our way of life is hinged around our public school system; that we compel attendance in the schools by our children; and consequently we are morally obligated to give them the utmost protection by building sound, earthquake proof buildings. Since the recent earthquake in the south end of the San Joaquin Valley, Taul, in his capacity as structural engineer, has personally made more than 400 inspections of public and private buildings in the earthquake area, and condemned more than half of them.

This week, in Fresno, he inspected and declared unsafe, two of the main buildings at Fresno Junior College. All of the condemned buildings, he said, were built prior to the passage of the Field Act, which sets up minimum construction and material standards for public buildings. Again praising the standard of construction required by the Field Act, he pointed tot eh Tehachapi earthquake. There the high school gymnasium, built to Field Act specifications, did not suffer even a crack in the plaster, while other buildings only 50 feet away, collapsed.

The study of earthquakes, their cause, intensity and damage., is a hobby of Taul, and he briefly explained the inevitable force of nature which is the problem of nearly all countries in the world. On the west coast, he used a blackboard to chart the path of earthquake centers in recent years, beginning with the San Francisco quake in 1906, Santa Barbara quake in 1925, Long Beach in 1933, El Centro in 1935, and Tehachapi and Bakersfield in 1952. There have been more than 600 earthquakes recorded in this state since 1906, he said, through the most intense quake in the valley occurred in 1857.
The people in this section of the valley should realize, he pointed out, that there is always the possibility of an earthquake here, and that in planning new buildings, particularly of a public nature, this fact should be remembered. He also pointed out that structural engineers can and do design buildings that are impervious to earthquake damage.

By way of consolation, he again praised the construction standards required in the Field Act for school buildings, and declared that school buildings being built in this state today are the finest in the world, and are built to last a minimum of 70 years.

He emphatically advised that prospective builders, including school trustees, make certain of their construction place and advised-that such place be first submitted to a qualified structural engineer for approval. Constant vigil should also be maintained, he said, first to employ a qualified architect, a reputable contractor, and an inspection service which would provide proper testing of the materials to be used. He also pointed out that the State Division of Architecture, which must approve all school construction, is an engineering and not a policing body, and that its approval of building plans is not a guarantee of the materials to be used, nor particularly of the plan itself, either than that such plans meet or surpass minimum structural specifications.
The speaker was introduced by program chairman Elge Mastrangelo.

September 19, 1952

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