URM SCHOOLS IN UTAH

UTAH’S EARTHQUAKE RISK

There is a 43% chance of a magnitude 6.75-7.6 earthquake on the Wasatch Fault in the next 50 years — essentially a coin toss. A 7.0 earthquake would release
90 times the energy of the 2020 Magna earthquake and would be among the deadliest disasters in US history.

URM BUILDINGS AND RISKS

Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings in Utah pose a grave threat, especially in schools, where at least 72,000 children are at risk. While URM construction ended in 1976, a 2022 inventory identified around 130 remaining school campuses with URM buildings, impacting 12% of K-12 public school students across 20 counties and 30 school districts.

A POTENTIAL CATASTROPHE

The 2020 Magna earthquake caused significant damage to Westlake Junior High School, a partial URM, necessitating a $60 million replacement. Students
and staff would likely have been injured or killed if the COVID-19 pandemic had not caused the school to be closed that day.

IMPROVING STUDENT SAFETY AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

For 2024, the Utah Seismic Safety Commission recommends allocating $4 million to evaluate retrofitting or replacing all 130 URM school campuses.

Addressing URM school vulnerabilities is not just about protecting students and staff but is also crucial for swift recovery after a disaster. Functioning school buildings often serve as emergency shelters in the days and weeks after a disaster. And communities can’t return to normal until students are back in the classroom.