Facts

Facts and Data:

• LUM buildings are safe by DSA standards (under the 1933 Field Act) to be used indefinitely.
• No school has collapsed and nobody has died in a California School due to earthquakes since the 1933 Field Act. [1]
• LUM buildings are not a lost cause. Experts says that there are cost effective alternatives to retrofit the buildings if necessary. [2]
• 25% of the Bay Area is at moderate to high risk of liquefaction. [3]
• Best practices to close a school, according to the California Department of Education, are not being followed at LUM school. [4]
• Schools in Alameda have not being tested using a Structural Performance Criteria (SPC) rating, which would allow easy comparison of safety across all schools in Alameda.
• More people die in earthquakes due to non-structural damages than structural damages. So the Non-structural Performance Criteria (NPC) rating should also be evaluated across all schools.

References:

[1] "SEISMIC SAFETY INVENTORY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS" (A Report to the Governor of California and the California State Legislature) Prepared by the Department of General Services (November 15, 2002)

[2] Letter by Smith Engineering Inc.

[3] "PRELIMINARY MAPS OF QUATERNARY DEPOSITS AND LIQUEFACTION SUSCEPTIBILITY, NINE-COUNTY SAN FRANCISCO BAY REGION, CALIFORNIA: A DIGITAL DATABASE", U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-444.

[4] Closing a School Best Practices Guide (online version link)