COMING ATTRACTIONS

Look for art museums--especially Southern Californian ones--to take steps to protect their treasures from earthquakes. During the second International Earthquake Conference, which closed Wednesday in Universal City, J. Paul Getty Museum conservator Barbara O. Roberts said, “Everything I work for is absolutely for nothing if in two seconds it’s a pile of rubble on the floor.” Roberts said a relatively small expenditure for quake-proofing display cases, pedestals and picture frames can have a profound effect in preventing damage or destruction of priceless pieces of art. “Most museums have some provision for loss from fire or theft, but very, very few have thought through the partial or total loss of collections by a single earthquake or series of aftershocks,” Roberts said. “This is a loss that can, in many cases, be prevented.”