Santa Rosa Junior College sustained minimal damage from the 6.1 magnitude South Napa earthquake Aug. 24, but the quake served as a wake up call to ensure that safety standards are upheld.
Aside from a broken water line serving Bailey Hall and a brief electrical outage that caused alarms to go off, no damage was reported, said Doug Kuula, manager of environmental health and safety. The water line has since been repaired.
SRJC facilities managers, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) control technicians and electricians evaluated that both campuses, Shone Farm, Public Safety Training Center and Southwest Santa Rosa Center were ready for occupation the following Monday.
Even so, school district officials urged employees to watch for unusual conditions, such as cracks in the infrastructure or foul odors.
“Something that was working normally yesterday could turn out to be damaged today, especially with our many older buildings and the possibility of aftershocks,” said Ellen Maremont Silver, communications and marketing director.
The older buildings constructed in the 1930s includes Tauzer Gymnasium and Pioneer, Garcia, Analy and Bussman Halls, which stayed strong during the Napa quake, just as they did during the 1969 Santa Rosa earthquakes of magnitudes 5.6 and 5.7.
“It appears that most of the buildings that were severely damaged in the Napa earthquake were built in the 1800s,” Kuula said. “It is difficult to predict what magnitude it would take to affect these buildings.”
Lists identifying the Building Safety Coordinator (BSC) and Area Safety Coordinator (ASC) for each campus, center and building will be made available soon, Kuula said.
“I am grateful we were not seriously affected. Please let this be a reminder to everyone to review safety procedures, both at SRJC and home,” said SRJC President Dr. Frank Chong.
SRJC will participate in the Great California ShakeOut where everyone will “Drop, Cover and Hold On,” Oct. 16, while a limited number of faculty will evacuate classrooms and report to the appropriate emergency evacuation area.
“Over the last couple of years we have been laying the groundwork to make significant progress in emergency preparedness and response,” Kuula said, “and this year you will begin to see the fruit of these efforts.”