Lum Seismic Danger: Second Engineering Firm Recommends Moving Students

ALAMEDA, CA — A second engineering firm has recommended that students be moved out of Lum Elementary School in Alameda because the buildings would be unsafe in a major earthquake. However, the second firm also may provide hope of saving the school for parents who want the school to remain open.

The new structural engineering firm, Murphy Burr Curry, Inc., left the door open for repairing the school by suggesting,the district could "if feasible, perform a seismic foundation retrofit.”

However, the engineering firm also made it clear the the buildings could partially collapse in a major earthquake. Steven Curry, vice president of the firm, said in a letter to the district that the “type of construction [of Lum buildings] is not well suited for differential settlements of the order of the magnitude expected. The existing foundations do not appear to have the capacity or interconnected layout to mitigate the expected differential settlement.” As a result, he explained in the letter, “The wall and roof framing would be subjected to the same differential movement. This could result in life-safety concerns, such as partial roof collapse due to roof beams or joists becoming unseated from their connections or hangers.

“Given the life safety and egress concerns outlined above,” Mr. Curry continued, “we agree that the district develop a plan to provide alternate accommodations for students and faculty and/or if feasible, perform a seismic foundation retrofit.”

According to the district, both the district’s architect (Quattrocchi Kwok Architects) and the structural engineers who originally recommended moving Lum students off campus (ZFA Structural Engineers) have suggested that extensive improvements to either the soil or the building foundations at Lum could require additional building upgrades and could not be completed during the 2017-18 school year.

ZFA provided an expanded analysis to the district “to clarify our conclusion that the existing classroom, multi-use, and administration buildings at Donald Lum Elementary School have a high potential for partial or global collapse during a design-level seismic event due to foundation failures as a result of expected large differential settlements.”

In response to the new report and the expanded report, Superintendent Sean McPhetridge said, “I have tremendous empathy for the parents at Lum Elementary School who are distressed by the possibility that their children may go to another school next year. But in light of this new information, I must continue to recommend that students be moved off the campus next year. As a district we have a legal, moral, and professional obligation to protect the lives and safety of our students and staff.”

The Board of Education will hear an update at its May 23 meeting.

-Image via Google Street View

Previous:

• Superintendent Shares an Update on Lum Elementary School
• Opposition Mobilizing To Proposed Lum School Closure
• Meeting Friday on Future of Lum Elementary
• School Closure: Lum Elementary Expected To Be Shuttered