ANNA CHANG-YEN - Daily Herald | Posted: Thursday, January 5, 2006 11:00 pm
If a long overdue earthquake hit the Wasatch Front, most of Provo's schools likely would come crashing down.
That's what Ron Harris, a geology professor at Brigham Young University, told Provo school and city leaders at a joint study session on Thursday. He implored the district to take action to protect students.
He said he spoke in Sumatra in the late 1990s and warned officials that an earthquake was coming, and he'd hate to see the same situation play out here. "We're going to be responsible for maybe losing a whole generation of children."
Only three of Provo's 18 schools were built after earthquake building codes went into effect in 1985, he said. "We have 11,000 students in unreinforced schools."
Most other buildings in Utah Valley would fare no better, Harris said. "We need to make a disaster-resistant Provo." He recommended forming a working group, including members of the Provo City School District Board of Education and the Provo Municipal Council, to proactively respond to what would otherwise be a devastating disaster.
He also encouraged city leaders to adopt a warning system that would work like an Amber Alert, analyzing seismometer measurements and warning people by landline and cell phones, radio, sirens, TV and Internet that an earthquake was coming. It would allow at least 10 seconds warning to "duck and cover." He recently proposed the $500,000 system to Sumatra and said Japan currently uses the system. Most of the infrastructure needed is in place, he said, except a processing center to send the signal.
Greg Hudnall, director of student services, objected to the idea that the district is doing nothing. Teams of educators and support personnel at schools are trained annually, and schools hold earthquake drills. The district also conducts "tabletop training" each year, during which a major disaster is simulated, and district employees, along with Provo emergency services representatives, rehearse their response. This year the group will look at responding to an earthquake.
"The thing is we're not doing enough, and we know that," Hudnall said.
The issue is money. Hudnall said bringing all district schools up to current earthquake building codes would cost about $9 million.
Provo City School District Board of Education President Shannon Poulsen said the district first needs to determine, through master planning, which schools are outdated and might need to be closed, so that taxpayer money is not wasted. In the meantime, educating people about the dangers and how to react to an earthquake is key, she said. "Then we do what we can as soon as we can do it."
Board member Darryl Alder said it might be a good idea to ask taxpayers to pay for earthquake upgrades at the same time the board asks for millions to repair and build schools in June. Current proposed projects would affect only certain areas of the city, but earthquake-proofing would be needed at almost every school and would appeal to more taxpayers, he said.
Harris said it should be a no-brainer. "If Orem can pass a bond for art, we should be able to bond to protect students' lives."
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.