Are Union City Schools Earthquake Safe?

If the big one hits the Bay Area, are schools in the safe?

That's one question that will likely be on the minds of parents throughout the district and the state of California now that a watchdog group called California Watch has published a list of potentially unsafe school buildings.

Four New Haven schools are listed on the "AB 300" list, a 2002 inventory list of school buildings with potentially dangerous seismic hazards. However, schools on this list may not currently have a problem.

Union City Patch has requested additional information from the district and is awaiting information as to when any retrofitting may have occurred.

None of the city's schools were listed as "Letter 4" designations, the most serious designation by the State Architect's Office.

However, a majority of schools in the district are listed as either being within a quarter-mile of an earthquake fault or located in a liquefaction zone. 

A liquefaction zone is where sandy soil can be jolted into a liquid by a strong earthquake. In extreme cases, buildings in those zones can sink into the ground or be carried off by the liquidied soil.

The California Watch project website offers numerous links so you can look at the data and peruse interactive maps that show details such as school proximity to fault lines and liquification zones.

For answers to your questions, quake preparedness tips and more, click here.

For a timeline of the California Watch project, click here. You can also see an interactive map of the history of California earthquakes since 1861,  including their magnitudes, locations and the damage caused.

Union City Patch has requested additional information from the school district  and will be following up on this story at a local and state level.

Related materials:

• Interactive Map – Seismic dangers facing schools around California
• React/Act – Get involved in the story and find out who to contact with questions.  There are tips on preparedness, a list of frequently asked questions and a parents preparedness checklist.
• Interactive Timeline – See how the 19-month investigation developed in an interactive timeline complete with video, documents and more.
• Historical Map of CA earthquakes – See an interactive map of the history of California earthquakes since 1861, including their magnitudes, locations, and the damage caused.

California Watch, the state’s largest investigative reporting team, is a project of the independent, non profit Center for Investigative Reporting.