Resilient Schools Through Leadership and Community Engagement

摘要

At the behest of the State Legislature, the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission completed The Oregon Resilience Plan in February 2013. This plan outlines the risks and challenges facing Oregonians from the next Cascadia Subduction Zone mega-earthquake. The Plan provides very sobering predictions about the impacts from this earthquake, including durations for restoring the critical service lifelines of electricity, water, and highways ranging from months to a year or more in the Willamette Valley. The Oregon Resilience Plan is a call to action for all Oregonians, especially for those in public service. Schools are different from most public facilities. Not only do they shelter thousands of our children, they are distributed in neighborhoods and walkable from homes nearby. With enlightened forward planning, they could be significant resources in helping their communities recover in the aftermath of the earthquake. To respond to The Oregon Resilience Plan, Beaverton School District has determined to build its seven new schools to exceed building code requirements in certain critical aspects to better support the community as resource centers and emergency shelters. These new schools will be safe, be available as a community emergency shelter within 72 hours, and be ready to re-open for education within 30 days following a significant earthquake. Operating within a compressed timeframe and constrained budgets, the District launched a groundbreaking effort to engage community stakeholders and translate the concepts and recommendations of The Oregon Resilience Plan into design criteria for its first two schools. We hope that sharing our work with other school districts and design professionals will provide a beginning framework for creating a new standard for resilient school buildings.