Hospitals Affected
Eleven hospitals suffered structural damage and were damaged or unusable after the earthquake. Not only were they unable to serve their local neighborhoods, they also had to transfer out their inpatient populations, which further increased the burden on nearby hospitals that were still operational. As a result, the state legislature passed a law requiring all hospitals in California to ensure that their acute care units and emergency rooms would be in earthquake-resistant buildings by January 1, 2005. Most were unable to meet that deadline and only managed to achieve compliance in 2008 or 2009.
Read more about this topic: 1994 Northridge Earthquake
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