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Study: Many schools not earthquake-proof

Published Wednesday, March 10, 2010 11:31 AM

By Stefan Rogenmoser
The Gazette

A seismic study presented to the Berkeley County School Board shows many district schools and buildings are in shaky condition.

Chief operations officer Ann Williams presented a seismic study showing how district schools and buildings would hold up during earthquakes at the Feb. 23 school board meeting.

Hanahan’s ADC Engineering Inc. conducted the research.

Williams showed photos of Charleston’s 1886 magnitude 7.3 earthquake, and said January’s earthquake in Haiti prompted her to find data on county schools.

About 24 percent of the district’s un-reinforced masonry buildings are at the greatest risk during seismic activity, the study shows. That’s nearly 1.29 million square feet of buildings in the district, which puts parts of 27 of the district’s 39 schools at risk if there were a magnitude 7.0 earthquake or stronger.

A number of maintenance buildings and other structures are also at risk, according to the report.

In 1995 a benchmark code was set for new buildings in South Carolina. District structures built after 1995 scored well, and structures made before scored poorly, Williams said. There is no law in South Carolina requiring the district to retrofit schools.

When asked if the district had the ability to build earthquake-safe schools before 1995, Williams said the school board builds schools adhering to the South Carolina building code in effect at that time.

Buildings made after 1995 would sustain life, Williams said. “The whole issue is it would not come down so people would be killed . . . we’re not worried about the buildings, but life safety.”

The Berkeley Education Center, built in 1929, is the oldest structure used by the district. It scored poorly. Now an adult education center, it used to be Berkeley High School and later Berkeley Elementary.

All county schools in use today were built from the 1950s onward. Additions built on to older schools may make them stronger, Williams said.

The district will further study each building, then reinforce and replace walls by adding “Gunnite” masonry and pilaster as needed, Williams said. More immediate actions, set to take place this summer, include seismically bracing interior walls, lights, ceilings, bookshelves, copiers, plus heating and air equipment, according to Williams.

What needs securing, Williams said, is “anything heavy but not strapped to the wall, or more than three feet tall, that in an earthquake would fall over and injure people inside the building.

“We were very happy to know 75 percent of square footage is in excellent shape.”

The other 25 percent needs to be investigated and made stronger, she said.

“Many buildings in Charleston stood in 1886 that weren’t as well built as ours,” she said. “This is an awareness project we are working on. Our buildings will do very well.

“Students are safe. We are very pleased we were able to get this study. It is always more important to know what you have than not. We will be working on these older facilities as we go through the next few years.”

In 1994 a magnitude 4.4 earthquake shook Goose Creek. Since then, 11 smaller earthquakes have been reported in Berkeley County, including three in 2009, according to Erin Beutel, director of College of Charleston’s S.C. Earthquake Education and Preparedness Program.

“We’ve never had physical damage I’m aware of,” Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler said. “I’ve been here 42 years now.”

The last earthquake to cause major damage in Berkeley County was in 1886. The epicenter of the 1886 quake was in an area called Woodstock, about two miles south of Ladson, Heitzler said. It was called the Charleston earthquake because that’s where most of the buildings were damaged, although there was significant damage to Goose Creek, the mayor said.

At that time, after the Civil War, there were no county public schools due to segregation, Heitzler said. Those who did go to school went to private schools outside Goose Creek.

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