3 - Is your child’s school seismically safe?
Some older schools have been evaluated for seismic safety, others have not. Here's what we know.
When my oldest child started attending kindergarten in a 1956 building, I was shocked to learn Washington State does not require older school buildings to be seismically upgraded (structurally retrofitted) for earthquakes.
Our state has the second highest earthquake risk in the nation and older school buildings in high seismic areas (much of Washington State) may not be seismically safe.
Our building construction codes have evolved to include earthquake provisions for seismic safety. Yet these newer codes do not get reflected back to older school buildings in WA State because there is not a requirement for updates/retrofits in our state. Some districts voluntarily perform seismic updates. But many districts don’t address their older schools in part because of lack of funding including not being able to pass bonds/capital levies.
It is not acceptable to mandate our kids to attend school in unsafe buildings.
We need our state legislators to plan for and fund school seismic safety.
Here’s the scoop about our school buildings.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources School Seismic Safety Project1 (SSSP) provided an evaluation of some of our older schools as a snapshot of the problem.
Most buildings evaluated in the SSSP received a one-star (out of 5) rating, 93% of 561 buildings evaluated are in danger of TOTAL OR PARTIAL COLLAPSE during a design level earthquake per the SSSP.
About 70% of schools in Washington State are in high seismic risk areas.
A Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquake has the potential of a design level earthquake for many parts of WA State per the SSSP. There have been 41 CSZ earthquakes in the last 10,000 years, occurring as few as 190 years to as much as 1200 years apart".2 The last CSZ earthquake was 1700 and this earthquake is a similar type (subduction) as the recent 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake in Japan.
The next CSZ earthquake will be widespread. A local shallow crust or deep earthquake will be more localized but could also be significantly damaging. We have many faults in our state.
Other factors affecting school building seismic safety based on the SSSP include:
Year of construction, including two key years
1975 - WA State adopted state building codes
~1999 - Bench-mark for seismic code considerations
Soil class at building site location
School building construction material type
Lack of available building information (drawings, designs etc.)
In summary the School Seismic Safety Project shows:
There are about 4,400 school buildings in Washington State
70% of schools in Washington State are in high seismic risk areas
12% or about 561 buildings were evaluated out of 4,400 buildings
Most buildings received a one-star rating, 93% of 561 buildings evaluated are in danger of TOTAL OR PARTIAL COLLAPSE during a design level earthquake
There are many schools in tsunami inundation zones that need to be rebuilt with vertical evacuation structures or moved out of the tsunami zones.
Keep in mind this evaluation specifically included more older buildings so the high percentage of one-star ratings was not surprising. But there are many older school buildings that were not evaluated.
Of 561 buildings evaluated, 82 schools are considered very high priority. There are likely many more, as only 12% of buildings were evaluated for SSSP.
Of 561 buildings evaluated, 273 schools are considered high priority. There are likely more, as only 12% of buildings were evaluated for SSSP.
What determines priority in the SSSP evaluations? The original construction date, construction type, site soil and seismicity, existing evidence of seismic updates, and other screening factors including information gaps determine priority.
See Reference 3 below to access the list of buildings documented by the SSSP.
If an older building was not included in the SSSP, the seismic safety condition is unknown as part of the SSSP.
As a caveat, please check with your school district regarding your child’s school building seismic safety conditions. See our upcoming newsletter for questions to ask.
And here’s how you can help.
Check out newsletters coming soon about how can you advocate. This includes urging your school district administrators and legislators to plan for and fund school seismic safety.
Please share this information with your family, friends, community, school administrators and legislators. Sharing even with one person will make a big difference.
Thank you for your support for school seismic safety!
DaleAnn
References:
Washington State Department of Natural Resources School Seismic Safety Reports and information https://www.dnr.wa.gov/school-seismic-safety
Cascadia Subduction Zone information and frequency, Oregon.gov CSZ Frequency
WA DNR SSSP School Evaluation Spreadsheet (see column G for Life Safety Risk, see column P for School Priority) WA DNR SSSP Schools Evaluated
Seismic Safety for Kids Grassroots campaign to inform communities of elected officials activity for school building seismic safety http://seismicsafetyforkids.com/