Which Beaverton schools are safe during an earthquake?

In the mid-1990s the Beaverton School District (BSD) ​conducted a district-wide investigation of the seismic stability of its schools and subsequently began a targeted program to seismically upgrade and improve them. 

Click to go to BSD's Emergency Preparedness Webpage

It's Earthquake Preparedness webpage states, "Because of our community's generous support of the 2014 and 2020 Bonds, the district has built several new schools and seismically upgraded others." These bonds provided the District a unique opportunity to not only address daily operational needs, but also respond to the findings of The Oregon Resilience Plan by constructing disaster resilient schools that are also capable of supporting their surrounding communities as emergency shelters. ​

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Schools as emergency shelters
​The Resilience Plan for Cooper Mountain High School and Timberland Middle School describes the vision: ​

​"Elementary, middle, and high schools will have an important role in the response and recovery of the state from this catastrophic event. Because of their location and layout, they are perfectly suited to serve as emergency shelters and community resource centers within 72 hours after the event and during the response period."

During an emergency, the following schools can serve as evacuation centers in partnership and under the direction of local Red Cross or other government agencies: Aloha High School, Aloha-Huber Park K-8, Arts & Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA), Five Oaks Middle School, Mountainside High School, Tumwater Middle School, plus Beaver Acres, Bethany, Bonny Slope, Cooper Mountain, Hazeldale, Sato, Vose and William Walker Elementary Schools. 
​The following middle schools will be seismically upgraded as part of the 2020 Bond over the next several years and will be able to serve as evacuation centers in the future: Cedar Park, Five Oaks, Highland Park, Meadow Park, Mountain View and Whitford. ​

Seismic evaluation of schools
If the school nearest you isn't one of the schools mentioned above, you may wonder how well your nearest school will do in a large-scale earthquake, like a Cascadia subduction zone quake. BSD had schools evaluated in 2019, and provided several detailed reports you can review and download from their Seismic Reports and Upgrades webpage. 
Two reports of note: 

• Seismic Assessments for the Beaverton School District (Volume 4 of 4) offers a visual map of each school, with four color codes showing what parts of the school meets or exceeds district goals for performance and safety during an earthquake. 
• Seismic Assessments for the Beaverton School District (Volume 1 of 4) provides more details about district goals for structural performance levels and ranges. 

Click to open the Seismic Assessments for the Beaverton School District (Volume 4 of 4)

Seismic Assessments for the Beaverton School District (Volume 1 of 4) provides more details about district goals for structural performance levels and ranges.

Author

Karen Ronning-Hall, Disaster Preparedness Evangelist, living in beautiful Portland, Oregon, with hubby Bill, daughter Geneva, Bean dog, Thumper kitty, and Terry the turtle.  ​