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Not safe in a quake: California State universities slow to address seismic hazards

Published on Saturday, March 20, 2010
Last updated on 01:12AM, Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Not safe in a quake: California State universities slow to address seismic hazards

by Erica Perez
California Watch

Nearly 180 public university buildings in California used by tens of thousands of people have been judged dangerous to occupy during a major earthquake – including libraries, classroom buildings, student apartments, gyms, a hospital, and even a child care center, a California Watch investigation has found.

While some significant earthquake risks have emerged only recently, university officials have known about seismic problems with the majority of their dangerous buildings for five years or more. In some cases, they’ve known for decades.

No public university in California has more seismically unsafe structures than UC Berkeley.

California Watch reviewed thousands of pages of documents and audits and interviewed seismic safety experts about both of the state’s public university systems.

Among the findings:
•    Dozens of new buildings have been built ahead of seismic safety projects that have languished. Projects with outside support, such as those receiving partial funding from donors, tend to get preference for state funding.
•    CSU policies don’t mandate fixing the most dangerous buildings first. 
•    Rigid rules prohibit UC and CSU officials from using certain types of construction money on seismic repairs. Instead, both systems make due with limited pots of money for safety upgrades.

The recent quakes in Chile and Haiti serve as a reminder that many buildings are vulnerable, even in a state with strict building codes.

The state’s public universities have made progress toward protecting safety on campus. The vast majority of buildings are expected to pose only a small risk of causing injuries or deaths in a major quake.

But seismic fixes for some of California’s campus buildings are at least a decade away.

To read the full report go to www.californiawatch.org--and don't forget to see the maps of seismically hazardous buildings in the UC and CSU systems--and the interactive history of earthquakes in California.

About California Watch
California Watch pursues in-depth, high-impact reporting on issues such as education, public safety, health care and the environment. Our reporters also produce stories that hold those in power accountable, while tracking government waste and the misspending of taxpayer resources. We place a major emphasis on solution-oriented reporting intended to have an impact on the quality of life for Californians and our communities. And we offer searchable databases through our Data Center and other resources, links and guides that enable anyone to do their own basic watchdog reporting. We distribute our stories as widely as possible through collaborative relationships with local and regional news organizations and through social media. California Watch has established working relationships with California news organizations of all kinds – newspapers, online publications, television, radio, ethnic media and other new forms of media – to help localize and distribute our reporting. We also publish unique, original content on our Web site that isn't available anywhere else. California Watch is supported by major grants from the James Irvine Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Don Poir commented at Sun, 21 Mar at 10:52am

My first thougt when touring schools with my son was, "Great, they have students housed in high rise dorms." I was not pleased when he lived on the 8th floor of his UCLA dorm tower.

I realize real estate is expensive and building 'up' is the only way to get the most use from a parcel, but the least UC and CSU could do is build to the strictest code.

My son is now off campus. This parent is relieved.

Susan Mernit commented at Sun, 21 Mar at 9:42pm

Don, thanks for posting--there are some details maps and a very long version of this story live over at California Watch at http://californiawatch.org/higher-ed/state-universities-slow-address-seismic-hazards and http://californiawatch.org/interactive-map-history-earthquakes-california

henry maravilla commented at Wed, 24 Mar at 5:10pm

what are we waiting for???? A 10.0 EARTHQUAKE to hit San Francisco before we even start to strengthen those structures???

EvanDuBois commented at Thu, 25 Mar at 9:22pm

While I agree that building safer schools is what we all want, believe me I am a current student at a CSU, the reality is that the state simply doesn't have the money.  In my opinion, students and families are already frustrated with the lack of classes in addition to higher tuition costs.  One poster wrote, "What are we waiting for" and the answer is that it is a delicate situation.  Bottom line, there is very little money.  I suppose the state could close a few campuses’ and refit the others.  I just don’t see how to please everyone given the current budget.

P.S. I am just as worried about my safety as well as everyone else’s, just wanted to make the point that the solution isn't as simple "let's build safer schools!"

Susan Mernit commented at Thu, 25 Mar at 10:48pm

The OL team is wondering what this news will do to insurance rates at California campuses. We also wonder how many other buildings are in the same situation--but not yet identified. What do you think the state should do to raise the money? Float a bond, divert funds from other projects?

curt commented at Mon, 21 Jun at 10:21pm

Each zone is given properties associated with source potential: how many earthquakes per year, the maximum size of earthquakes (maximum magnitude), etc. Finally, the calculations require formulae that give the required hazard indicators for a given earthquake size and distance. For example, some districts prefer to use peak acceleration, others use peak velocity, and more sophisticated uses require response spectral ordinates.

Jessica Thomas commented at Wed, 21 Jul at 5:55am

You are so right, Evan. California officially said that "we`re bankrupts"... And sad that in the chairs aren`t so smart people as you. Yours idea of financian is very simple but actually may work. Why am I saying that? Because I have a friend who is making "essays" for politicians. I mean their speeches. There are to little of them who are speak by themself. And that never ends until they stop just "read" that essay writing by some, far-far away from politics, people