Seattle working on ordinance to require earthquake retrofits, as many buildings remain at risk

SEATTLE — Heartbreaking pictures from Turkey and Syria remind us that we dwell in earthquake nation, too.

It’s why faculty youngsters in Western Washington recurrently do earthquake drills.

However how protected are these faculty buildings?

“Some work has been profitable. There’s much more to be performed. There’s a variety of elementary and public excessive faculties nonetheless in danger,” mentioned emergency administration advisor Eric Holdeman.

Holdeman mentioned Seattle Public Colleges is a mannequin for seismic retrofitting, however many faculties exterior town nonetheless want work.

The Nisqually Earthquake practically 22 years in the past confirmed what can occur with older buildings product of unreinforced masonry.

Inside Seattle, a metropolis record exhibits some buildings on the College of Washington campus nonetheless await retrofitting.

UW officers say about half of the 25 buildings with unreinforced masonry on campus have been addressed to this point in a undertaking the college estimates will finally whole greater than $100 million.

Seattle Central Faculty is in search of funding for a seismic retrofit of the Broadway Efficiency Corridor.

“We all know what buildings are weak, and there’s an engineering technique to repair them. We simply have to do it,” mentioned Amanda Hertzfeld with the Seattle Division of Development and Inspections.

Hertzfeld mentioned of the 1,100 unreinforced masonry buildings within the metropolis, about 200 have had some type of retrofitting.

Pioneer Sq., specifically, has a variety of weak buildings.

The town is consulting consultants and planning to cross an ordinance in late 2024 requiring retrofits.

“The accountability would fall on the constructing proprietor, and that’s partially what makes this so difficult,” Hertzfeld mentioned.

Retrofitting work is pricey, and town is engaged on methods to assist constructing house owners get monetary assist.

In 2019, a metropolis advisor estimated it could price a complete of $1.2 billion to do all of the work, and that was earlier than current inflation.

The brand new metropolis ordinance will probably permit house owners between seven and 13 years to do the work.

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