CSUs not prepared for earthquakes
Carlos Cordova, Cayla Luna, Tristan Zelden, & Zimry Hernandez wrote this article for Cal State Fullerton’s Daily Titan. It is available for republication or reference. If you think their work is important, you can support it here.
The printed edition of this story incorrectly stated that Cal State Fullerton had no volunteer building marshals on staff. The article also stated that an audit had shown that several CSU campuses were not prepared for an earthquake — there have been several audits at different universities since 2016.
Part 1 of 2
For five years, Cal State Fullerton failed to maintain a team of trained building marshals who would help evacuate the campus in the event of a major earthquake. After the Daily Titan began asking questions about the lack of marshals, the university sent out a campus-wide appeal asking for volunteers to be marshals.
Several Cal State University campuses, including Cal State Fullerton, failed to repair their Emergency Operations Plan, according to a 2016 audit by the California State University system. The university has not published any audits on the same subject since then.
The Southern California Earthquake Data Center says there is an 85% probability of a major earthquake in the next 30 years. Orange County has been hit by several large earthquakes — in the last century, all with epicenters in Los Angeles County. Questions arise surrounding the university’s ability to get students and faculty out of buildings and off campus in the event of a major earthquake.
“Specifically, we found that the campus building marshal and evacuation chair programs needed improvement,” according to the audit.
The audit also revealed that new hires and emergency operations center team members did not always complete training that included information on emergency preparedness, had an incomplete building marshal list and were not adequately prepared for an earthquake.
The university is looking for volunteers for the building marshal program, according to a March 16 email sent by Angela North, the director of strategic initiatives. The email was sent after the Daily Titan requested information about the lack of campus building marshals.
However, the turnover rate makes it hard to find new employees, and people are often not aware of the position, said University Police Capt. Scot Willey.
“The challenge is that it needs constant upkeep because there is always a turnover in employees through all the colleges at any university and ours is no different here at Cal State Fullerton. So the list of who's on the building marshal program constantly changes and unfortunately, we haven't had anybody in that position since summer of 2021,” Willey said.
Buildings constructed after the 1970s have a stricter seismic code which makes them stronger against earthquake damage, said Kristijan Kolozvari, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at CSUF.
“There is no earthquake-proof building,” Kolozvari said. “Generally, when it comes to earthquake safety, the newer buildings the better.”
Several buildings on campus were built before these changes were made to the seismic code, including McCarthy Hall in 1963 and Langsdorf Hall in 1969.
“I think a lot of infrastructure is pretty old, which is pretty obvious,” Kolozvari said. “They could be risky and that’s the big problem that I think the whole state of California and even UC system also has.”
Kolozvari said that just because a building is up to code, does not mean that it will not be damaged during an earthquake.
“When you’re talking about earthquakes and things, in a sense, it’s a totally different ball game than a fire or something where we’re moving people off the building. Because, with an earthquake, the building becomes part of the problem,” said Sean Walker, the associate dean of natural sciences and mathematics and building marshal for CSUF.
According to the audit, the Emergency Operation Center did not have sufficient supplies to last 72 hours and some were expired.
Evacuation signs guide students and faculty to go to the closest exit. For some, this is the only information available if there were to be a severe earthquake on campus.
“I've only seen the signs, inside the buildings, like the map basically,” said Diana David, a fourth-year film major at CSUF.
Walker said that the last training he had was prior to COVID-19 and that the program may need some adjustments.
“I think once they get a full set of staff over there, we have an emergency manager and we’re back from COVID and maybe we can do training together,” Walker said.
The program currently does not have an emergency manager. The position orchestrates training and communicates with the building marshal during a disaster, like an earthquake, Willey said.
“It takes a lot of planning, so even when you have a two-year gap in the actual live training, it takes that full two years to plan that and maybe not even two years, it might take a year, but it takes a long time,” Willey said.
Walker said that despite not having an emergency manager, the program could still benefit from filling the position.
These faults to the campus' Emergency Operations Plan are not exclusive to CSUF. Several other audits completed by the CSUs showed that campuses all over the state have problems completing their emergency preparedness programs.
In 1994, Northridge’s 6.7 magnitude earthquake caused significant damage to many CSU Northridge campus buildings and delayed the start of the spring semester by two weeks. Yet, in 2019, that campus still lacked the proper resources to function in an emergency, according to the CSU.
Lisa Curtis, the emergency manager for CSUN, said that the audit conducted in 2020 was a real eye-opener for her and the department.
“I would say it just was more detailed into areas we knew we were trying to overcome certain hurdles — such as the building marshal staffing and getting that current and trying to identify the best mode of keeping currency with the building marshall rosters,” Curtis said.
Curtis said the campus audit also pointed out that the emergency generators were not all available due to their design and location on campus.
San Francisco State University was audited in 2020 and was found to have substantial lapses in its emergency management capabilities.
According to San Francisco State’s audit, the university failed to show documentation that newly-hired employees had gone through emergency preparedness training provided by their environmental health and safety department and their campus police department.
All 10 members of San Francisco State’s Emergency Operation Committee from 2017-19 had not completed six specific Federal Emergency Management Agency training courses.
Apart from training, the entire campus “did not have building evacuation plans that included procedures for reporting emergencies, accounting for all employees, performing rescue/medical duties, making accommodations for people with disabilities, and listing contact information for employees who may have questions regarding the plan,” according to the 2020 audit.
Although San Francisco sits near one of the most dangerous and active fault lines in the western United States — the San Andreas fault — the university seems unprepared to handle emergency situations.
In 2019, the state senate approved an $8 billion bond for the CSU and UC systems to help “expand student capacity in classrooms and labs; address fire, safety and seismic deficiencies; and to modernize and construct facilities to keep pace with current technology and workforce needs.” The bond also requires universities to submit five-year plans that will prioritize “seismic retrofitting needed to reduce seismic hazards in buildings identified as high priority.”
In a statement responding to the 2019 bond, the CSU wrote that its aging infrastructure was in “dire need of renovation and replacement, with more than half of our facility space being 40 years or older and a third being over 50 years old.”
“Across all 23 CSU campuses, buildings are falling apart, which is why (this bond) is so necessary,” said Mia Kagianas, president of the California State Student Association.
Kolozvari said there are several different earthquake structure plans that are designed to prevent a collapse. Buildings can have a base isolation system placed under the foundation, which is a soft layer that separates the structure from the base. During an earthquake, the rubbery layer helps absorb energy coming from the seismic faults instead of the energy affecting the structure.
Kolozvari said that hydraulic and seismic dampers can also be placed in buildings to help absorb and dissipate energy.
“The purpose of the building code is to prevent collapse and save human life,” Kolozvari said.
Part 2: Quakes and the Campus