Is My Kid’s LAUSD Campus Safe From Earthquakes?

Is my kid’s local LAUSD campus earthquake safe?

That’s what listener Connie Lichtenstein wanted to know after she found out that the school they were considering sending one of their children to had a building that may need to be retrofitted.

After looking into it I can say it’s a complicated question with an unsatisfying answer, but it’s worth exploring because it can give Connie and maybe even you, an insight into earthquake safety at schools, about which questions have been raised before.

What is Assembly Bill 300?

In 1999, the California legislature passed AB 300, which directed the Department of General Services to put together a list of public school structures that didn't meet a major 1976 code overhaul called the Uniform Building Code.

More than 9,600 buildings across the state were identified for review, according to a 2002 report prepared by the DGS.

After assessments, each of those structures fell into one of two categories:

1. Those that are likely to do well in an earthquake (2,122 structures)
2. Those that might be a danger and need to be evaluated (7,537 structures)

According to representatives from LAUSD, 667 district buildings were ultimately identified as needing seismic evaluations.

Since then:

• 34 buildings have been successfully retrofitted
• 139 buildings have had their seismic evaluations completed and are in some stage of the retrofit process
• 459 structures are still in the process of being assessed for seismic safety

All tilt-up, non-ductile concrete and brick buildings (one of the riskiest types of buildings) have been demolished or retrofitted.

LAUSD lists their building inventory online, but that only identifies 645 out of a potential 667 buildings. It's unclear why. Representatives say it's up to date.

A classroom.

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Alison Yin

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EdSource

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What does LAUSD say?

I requested an interview with an expert from LAUSD to discuss the safety issue and was denied.

After more than a week of waiting for answers to a list of questions, the school district followed up with a statement from a spokesperson.

Looking for clarity, I asked: Are students and faculty safe inside of buildings on the AB 300 list in the event of an earthquake, even if a building has not yet been assessed or had its retrofit completed? Are they expected to meet life safety performance? The question that's at the crux of this entire piece?

LAUSD did not answer the question.

So ... is my kid's school safe?

If you do find out that one of the unimproved buildings is on your kid's campus, should you be worried?

"The fact that the building is on this list doesn't automatically make it a highly vulnerable building," said Henry Burton, an associate professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at UCLA.

"Because of the number of variables that are involved it's very hard to say if there's a building that's in imminent danger."

A whole lot of work goes into figuring out if a building is going to perform OK in an earthquake. Experts need to review building plans, do on the ground assessments, take into consideration everything from materials to the way that they're joined together. They also need to do ground motion modeling that considers different types of potential quakes.

If they do find out that a building needs to be retrofitted, the structures often need to be opened up for expensive improvements that can take years to complete.

Students at Bryant Elementary School take cover under their desks during an earthquake drill as part of the Great ShakeOut event on October 18, 2018 in San Francisco, California.

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Justin Sullivan

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Getty Images

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Multiple structural engineers I spoke with also said that even if a building was built 100 years ago, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't do well in a quake.

"Usually when I'm talking with parents, I will often throw my poor daughter under the bus by reaching the conclusion that there aren't too many school buildings out there that I would not allow my daughter to go to class in," said Kenneth O'Dell, a structural engineer in Long Beach.

"I have confidence in the building inventory within the local market for schools. And that confidence comes largely from the knowledge that the Division of State Architect has been involved in certifying school buildings since shortly after the 1933 earthquake."

The structural integrity of schools has been a priority in California since 1933, after the Long Beach Earthquake destroyed 70 schools. Luckily, students weren't in school at the time and mass death was avoided. A month later the legislature passed the Field Act, which set more strict building requirements for schools than were previously in place. It's often pointed out that since then, no school buildings in California have collapsed in an earthquake.

Ultimately, it's up to you to decide if you're OK with the risk, as is always the case when we talk about anything disaster related. That was the entire conclusion of our podcast The Big One, which dives deep on the impacts of a major San Andreas earthquake.

“If they continue to be on this list and they're not retrofitted in any way, then yeah I think I would either continue homeschooling my kids or I would find a school for them that isn't on that list that we don't have to worry about," said Lichtenstein, when I told her what I learned.

What should I ask my child's school?

"The only thing I would suggest is to try to get more information from the relevant school district about what they're doing about the buildings, and if they have a sense of the timeline for evaluating and retrofitting these buildings," Burton said.

Feel free to ask either your kid's school or an LAUSD board member about a particular building, whether it's been assessed and what its shortcomings may be. If you get stonewalled or find anything out, shoot me a note.

Outside of structural safety, there are some important questions about earthquakes that the school should be able to answer:

• What are the school's earthquake plans and can you see them?
• What sorts of supplies do they have available and when were they updated?
• What sorts of precautions are they taking in terms of strapping down heavy items in the classroom and how often are classrooms inspected?
• Where will parents be able to pick up kids after an earthquake?
• If you can't get to your kids after the earthquake, what happens?
• Is there anything you can prepare for your child in anticipation of a disaster to make them more comfortable while they're waiting?

You should also consider printing out an emergency card and sticking it in your kid's backpack, so they always have critical information on them that they can refer to amidst the chaos.