About half the square footage of all Weber School District buildings earned ratings of "poor" or "very poor" in a seismic vulnerability study.
The study, prepared by Reavely Engineers and Associates Inc., states it would cost at least $28 million to upgrade all those buildings to a "good" status.Speaking to the Weber school board Tuesday night, REA spokesman Jeff Miller explained that a "very poor" rating means a building would have "extensive damage or total collapse" in the event of an earthquake that registered 7.0 on the Richter scale.
"Poor" was defined as "appreciable damage or partial collapse." Among the four ratings in the study, "fair" means not much damage, while "good" means little or no damage.
But Miller said the study results for the Weber district were typical of just about any seismic analysis done on most institutions.
"It's just a matter of science improving" and coming up with better materials and schemes for buildings to withstand earthquakes, he added.
School officials say the study will be useful in deciding where to spend seismic upgrade funds from next year's budget.
Of the $28 million in improvements the seismic study recommends, the biggest price tags include $3.6 million in work needed at Bonneville High School's original building, and $2.2 million for Roy High's original structure.