Vulnerability of schools in Puerto Rico to tsunami events

Abstract

Puerto Rico is in an area of high seismicity, due to the presence of seismic faults around and within the Island These faults have the potential to generate earthquakes that cause tsunamis, as occurred in 1918 in the western area of Puerto Rico Considering that the school population between students and teachers is around 600 000 people, schools are essential facilities to safeguard against extreme events on the Island For this reason, the objective of the research is to evaluate if the schools of Puerto Rico are vulnerable to tsunamis To do this, the schools that are in a tsunami hazard zone were first identified and quantified for all the coastal municipalities of the Island Then, two municipalities were selected as case studies in which a vulnerability assessment process was developed, which includes the analysis of pedestrian routes for the evacuation process and evacuation times to safe places The study found that two schools are critical in vulnerability, one in each study municipality with excessive evacuation times and evacuation routes that are unsafe and unfit for the evacuation process