The lead for earthquake hazard mitigation in school buildings in the U.S. is provided by California. The success achieved with schools in California is considered by many to be an excellent example of hazards mitigation at its best by increasing the seismic safety of buildings and facilities. Many researchers addressing seismic hazards mitigation outside of California, including Seismic Zones 2 and 3, are attempting to learn from the California experience and promulgate its merits. This project addresses research questions related to the physical design process and the integration of seismic retrofit of public schools into other general maintenance operations, dealing with the organizational planning of overall school facilities management. Both sets of issues are addressed in order to develop a comprehensive, viable strategy for seismic hazard mitigation in existing schools. The project is divided into three component parts. The first examines the status of seismic exposure and current maintenance and retrofit procedures of school facilities in eight selected jurisdictions in Seismic Zones 2 and 3. The second is a review and analysis of the California experience of seismic hazard reduction in schools over the past 50-plus years to better understand the economic, political, and administrative factors which facilitated program completion. The third component of the project is based on the analysis of current maintenance and retrofit procedures and the specialized California experience to develop guidelines for economically feasible and socially acceptable strategies for seismic hazard reduction in existing school buildings.
