Preparedness: Some campus buildings do not meet seismic requirements
Continued from page 1
to 500 years.
It’s an event we expect to see
again, said University geology profes
sor Ray Weldon.
The December 2004 magnitude
nine earthquake and tsunami in the
Indian Ocean and the devastation
wrought by hurricanes Katrina and
Rita have increased the public's anxi
ety about natural disasters. Locally,
Eugene and the University have fo
cused attention on developing haz
ards mitigation and emergency re
sponse plans. On campus, several
treasured, historical buildings are not
up to seismic codes and could crum
ble in a large earthquake. City build
ings holding critical facilities could
partially collapse. A major earth
quake may also destroy dams and
trigger a tsunami that could wreak
havoc on the University’s coastal
campus, while roadways and utilities
may be out of service for days.
There are ways that people, the
city and the University can prepare
for this catastrophic event, and many
measures to mitigate the potential
devastation of a subduction zone
earthquake are already under way.
But Weldon said the absence of
scientific input in emergency plans
hampers planning. Not knowing for
sure what to expect in the event of a
major earthquake doesn’t help either.
Politicians tend to deal only with
political day-to-day problems, Wel
don said. It is more difficult to deal
with something that has a 10 percent
chance of happening in 100 years.
This leads to “lack of preparation
for a small probability, but cata
strophic event,” Weldon said.
Dangers on campus
A recent study by the University’s
Oregon Natural Hazards Workgroup
found several campus buildings
will experience moderate to great
damage in a massive earthquake.
These buildings include Straub Hall,
Prince Lucien Campbell Hall and
McArthur Court.
Other buildings, such as Hen
dricks, Deady and Friendly halls,
have a lesser, but still high risk of ex
periencing moderate damage.
Hendricks, Deady, Friendly, Ger
linger, Condon and other campus
buildings contain unreinforced ma
sonry bearing walls, which are gen
erally brick exteriors with concrete or
wood flooring. Unreinforced mason
ry buildings are particularly haz
ardous during a subduction zone
earthquake with long durations of
ground shaking, according to the
Cascadia Region Earthquake Work
group, a regional non-profit group.
In Feb. 2005, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
gave a $100,000 grant to the Univer
sity to assess hazardous risks on
campus and develop a plan for miti
gation, said Andre LeDuc, ONHW
program director.
Straub Hall is a high priority for
retrofitting because the Department
of Public Safety is located there.
Straub Hall could potentially cripple
DPS’ ability to respond to an emer
gency, LeDuc said.
Currently, DPS is only accessible
through a tiny corridor between two
older, damage-susceptible buildings.
In the event of a major earthquake,
DPS could be made inaccessible by
falling debris from the buildings and
a fire escape that could block the al
ley, LeDuc said.
The ONHW Natural Hazards Miti
gation Plan discusses putting a po
tential DPS emergency command
center outside of the Straub Hall loca
tion in preparation for an earthquake,
LeDuc said.
ONHW has not performed any dis
aster mitigation planning for the Ore
gon Institute of Marine Biology in
Coos Bay, but plans to in the future,
LeDuc said.
A city-wide catastrophe
A study by the city of Eugene esti
mated a subduction zone earthquake
could cause $1.6 billion to $1.7 bil
lion in building damages in Lane
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County. Injuries are estimated to be
about 2,700 for an earthquake during
the day and 700 for an earthquake at
night. Approximately 48 people will
be killed during a daytime earth
quake and more than 10,000 people
will need emergency shelter, accord
ing to the study.
These numbers are based on data
from the 1990 census. Information
from the 2000 census may increase
damage and casualty estimates by 14
percent, the study said.
Moist, sandy soil can liquefy
during an earthquake, causing
foundations to sink or shift and
seriously damage buildings, bridges,
roads and pipelines, CREW wrote in
a 2005 report.
A study by the Oregon Department
for Geology and Mineral Industries
for the Eugene/Springfield area
found hazardous soil covers 10 per
cent of the total area.
Two critical city buildings, a 911
call center and public works shop are
located in this area, but were built
with seismic considerations, said
Chuck Solin, Eugene emergency pro
gram manager.
However, city hall, parking struc
tures and community buildings are
still a great risk, Solin said.
Built in the 1960s, city hall does
not meet current seismic building
codes and would be significantly
damaged after a major earthquake,
Solin said.
The majority of Eugene police ve
hicles are parked and stored beneath
city hall. After a major earthquake,
the building may partially collapse
damaging and cutting off use of those
vehicles, Solin said.
“They’re toast,” Solin said.
Two previous ballot measure
granting funds to rebuild police facili
ties failed, said Michael Penwell,
Eugene facilities design and construc
tion manager.
The city is currently involved in
developing a plan to rebuild city hall,
a process that could cost more than
$100 million.
If city hall is no longer operable af
ter a major earthquake, then the city
plans to relocate temporarily to the
new public library, which was built
to the most stringent seismic stan
dards, Solin said.
Threats to dams
A major earthquake could cause
dams to break, according to the Eu
gene Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Lane County dams were designed
and built in the 1940s to 1960s, the
plan states, and were not built to cur
rent seismic code.
“In the mid 1960s, we didn’t think
earthquakes could happen in Oregon
at all,” Solin said.
Seismic considerations were com
pletely absent in the design of Fern
Ridge Dam, which was built in 1941
and is located on the Long Tom River,
west of Eugene.
A liquefiable sand layer lies under
the dam as part of the structure’s
foundation, said Jim Hinds,
dam safety program manager for the
Portland district of the Army Corps
of Engineers.
This could cause the dam to move
downstream, Hinds said.
Fern Ridge Dam is currently under
repair for an insufficient drainage sys
tem, but the sand foundation will not
be repaired at the same time because
of lack of money, Hinds said. Evalu
ation of the foundation’s danger is
not complete and engineers don’t
know how it will affect the dam,
Hinds said.
Failure of the Fern Ridge Dam
would have a great impact on the
Junction City area, but will not have
a direct effect on Eugene, Hinds said.
Hills Creek Dam, built in 1962 and
located on the Willamette River, will
create the greatest potential havoc on
the Eugene area, Hinds said, adding
EARTHQUAKE, page 8