Malibu Schools Appear to be Earthquake-Ready, State Documents Say

Malibu schools appear to be fine, but several Los Angeles area schools might not comply with modern earthquake safety standards, according to data from the Division of the State Architect.

A 19-month investigation released Thursday by Berkeley-based California Watch uncovered holes in the state's enforcement of seismic safety regulations for public schools. Some schools may have been inadequately retrofitted, while more recent construction projects may not have received final state certification.

In a 2002 seismic safety survey done by the DSA, a regulatory body that oversees the construction of public schools,  and  were designated as Category 2. These projects “require detailed seismic evaluation to determine if they can achieve life-safety performance," according to the DSA's. But the DSA has no documentation to indicate these schools have been deemed unsafe under the 1976 building code.

The 2002 survey, ordered by Assembly Bill 300, looked at school buildings constructed prior to 1976, when the California Building Code went into effect. Those schools may not have been constructed with modern safety standards.
A specific list of Category 2 schools was sent to each district in 2008, with a request to inspect the schools, update the paperwork or retrofit as necessary.

As mandated by the Field Act, school officials must meet with architects and inspectors before and during construction of any school. Architectural plans must be inspected and approved, and the state requires on-site inspectors during the construction process.

The Field Act was ground-breaking legislation that regulated school structural standards for seismic safety. It was created a month after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck Long Beach on March 10, 1933, killing 120 people. The earthquake, which hit at 5:55 p.m., damaged or destroyed dozens of schools. The death toll would likely have been much higher had the quake occurred during the school day.

California Watch’s review of data from the DSA’s office shows 20,000 school projects statewide have never received final safety certifications required under the Field Act. In the crunch to get schools built within the past few decades, state architects have been lax on enforcement, California Watch reports.

A separate inventory completed nine years ago found 7,500 seismically risky school buildings in the state. California Watch reports that only two schools have been able to access a $200 million fund for upgrades. The funds were provided under Proposition 1D, a 2006 ballot measure that set aside money for schools from the kindergarten to university level for the repair and construction of facilities.

The Los Angeles area has a number of school building projects listed as Letter 3 or Letter 4, state designations that indicate buildings have not received final certification by the DSA, according to the California Watch report. No Malibu schools are listed under those designations.

According to California Watch, one Northern California school in Letter 4 went without fire alarms for more than a decade. Other Letter 3 and Letter 4 schools are simply missing the necessary paperwork for architectural sign-off.

“Letter 4 projects, by definition, had a safety or structural deficiency issue noted during construction,” said Eric Lamoureux, the acting deputy director for the state Department of General Services. “On those projects, we don’t have any information that the issue was resolved, so we have no way of knowing right now whether the issue is still present or not.”

He continued, “We've looked preliminarily at the files. We don’t believe, at least with the information we have, that they present an egregious situation. If it was an egregious situation, we would consider taking that project forward to the attorney general or local district attorney.”

The DSA  has no authority to take any action once construction has stopped.
Projects that closed with a Letter 4 designation cannot undergo further construction until documentation is provided that the required improvements have been made. Without expansion plans or state funds to support such work, schools have little incentive to change their Letter 4 status.

Although the necessary precautionary measures have been taken at Malibu schools, it should be noted that Malibu is a city with disaster threats. Fire is a risk everywhere in Malibu. All four public schools are located within a quarter-mile of a landslide zone. All but  are located within a quarter-mile of a United States Geological Survey fault line.

is in a liquefaction zone, which means in a violent earthquake, the water-saturated soil could turn into a quicksand-like substance. Malibu High and Juan Cabrillo are located within a quarter-mile of a liquefaction zone.

Take a look at the interactive California Watch Malibu map here.

This story was produced using data provided to Patch by California Watch, the state's largest investigative reporting team and part of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Read more about Patch's collaboration with California Watch.

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