Prioritized Post-earthquake Response Program

BY SHAUNA DEBODT, NLPS EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT COMMUNICATIONS AND ARLEN VALADE, NLPS SAFETY OFFICE

Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools (NLPS) is the first school district in the province to implement a new program to identify areas of concern in schools during an earthquake. The Prioritized Postearthquake Response (PPR) preparedness program is a highly advanced earthquake preparedness tool designed to assist building occupants in determining if it is safe to reenter a building after an earthquake.

NLPS has been working with engineers from Seismic Resilience Innovation Corporation (SRI) to create a PPR preparedness system that connects all NLPS schools and facilities. SRI is a B.C. consulting firm comprised of several structural engineering member firms. The NLPS PPR system has been designed to assist and to prioritize the immediate postearthquake response of school principals and district facilities staff.

The PPR system is comprised of three parts: 1. A registered seismic engineer from SRI Corporation assessed each building to determine the acceptable and unacceptable damage caused during an earthquake; 2. Ground motion sensors are installed in eight hub schools around the district and gener

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ate the ground motion reading for the schools connected to them; and 3. Online software (Responder) tells each school what the ground motion was from the hub school and determines the colour of the building’s map.

The end product of the PPR system is a PPR rating for each school building.

The PPR system was piloted at Fairview Community School in 2020 and used districtwide during the 2021 Great B.C. ShakeOut.

This fall, for the Great B.C. ShakeOut, the engineers at SRI sent a virtual earthquake to the online system at every school in the district. Principals and safety committees were encouraged to log on to their school web site, read the percentage ground motion (level of shaking) and radio in the condition of their own schools to the DAC Emergency Operations Centre (EOC). The DAC EOC then recorded all school information and conditions of the school blocks to determine a districtwide level of damage.

Training websites are provided for review of the PPR system, and two more earthquake drills are planned for the 20222023 school year. n