Three of our buildings on the main campus are considered dangerous buildings because of seismic deficiencies in their construction. The middle school building is the most dangerous building and according to the Structural Engineer’s report from February 2012 by Associated Consultants Inc. “In the even of an anticipated earthquake, this building does not have adequate strength and load paths to resist forces. The masonry walls may fail and there is a chance that the building will collapse.”
The specter of building collapse is a dark one. The School Board will be dealing with what to do with a building that is haunted by that specter throughout this school year. Corbett is not the only District, entity, or town faced with the question of what to do with an unsafe building. Because this problem is one that impacts our whole region OPB is doing a series of shows about the impending Cascadia Subduction Zone quake that will strike our area. The next show in this series is detailed below. The more we all learn about the problem the better decisions we can make with regard to our buildings and the safety of those inside them.
Unprepared: An Oregon Field Guide
Oregon Field Guide spent a year-and-a-half probing into the state of
Oregon’s preparedness, and found that when it comes to bridges, schools,
hospitals, building codes and energy infrastructure, Oregon lags far
behind many quake-prone regions of the country. This sneak preview of the
full documentary airing October 1 is a continuation of OPB’s ongoing news
series “Unprepared”.
