Vulnerability of Schools in Puerto Rico to Tsunami Events Case Studies: Loíza, Mayaguez, and Toa Baja João Victor Stedile Zolin, Civil Engineering Student Advisors: Gustavo E. Pacheco-Crosetti, PhD, PE Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico – MVC 2023 Héctor J. Cruzado, PhD, PE Abstract Methodology This research extends the vulnerability analysis of schools to the municipalities of Loíza, Mayaguez, and Toa Baja. The analysis is 1 Identify Schools, Assembly Points, Evacuation Routes, and Primary performed based on their evacuation time to reach a safe zone in a Number of Number of In the Hazard City School Students (2021- Teachers (2021- Zone? 2022) 2022) tsunami-like event. This was achieved by identifying the schools in the Services Centro Residencial de Oportunidades Educativas Number of Number of de Mayaguez 208 21 no In the Hazard City School Students (2021- Teachers (2021- Dr. Pedro Perea Fajardo 931 79 yes Zone?2022) 2022) hazard zone, assembly points, evacuation routes, determining the Elpidio H. Rivera 505 40 no Adolfina Irizarry de Puig 422 31 no Number of Number of Elvira Ruperto Quiles 238 22 no Altinencia Valle 534 38 no In the Hazard City School Students (2021- Teachers (2021- Esteban Rosado Baez 267 22 yes Basilio Milan Hernandez 361 33 yes evacuation times, and evaluating the routes conditions by virtual Zone? Eugenio Maria de Hostos 657 48 yes2022) 2022) Carmen Barroso Morales 200 19 yesJose Gautier Benitez 330 28 no Delia Davila de Caban 208 17 yes Escuela Publica Bilingue Cacica Yuisa - Alianza Libre de Musica y Bellas Artes Ernesto Ramos Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos 595 45 yes inspection. The finding of this study show that the majority of the 34 5 yes Mayaguez Antonini 32 no Dr. Efrain Sanchez Hidalgo 284 33 yesMediania Alta Elemental 354 29 yes Luis Munoz Rivera 278 21 no Ernestina Bracero 217 26 no Guillermina Rosado De Ayala 589 40 no Manuela A. Barreto 415 39 no Toa Baja Francisca Davila Semprit 256 24 no Number of Emergency Services Maria Dolores Faria 264 31 yes schools in these towns, with exception of five, fail to meet a 20- Celso Gonzalez Vaillant 308 22 yes Int Bo Quebrada Arenas 659 47 no In Town In a 5km RadiusLoiza Belen Blanco De Zequeira 365 31 yes Maria Luisa Arcelay 75 10 no Mariano Riera Palmer 205 20 yes Jacinto Lopez Martinez 315 31 no Police Hospitals Fire Police Hospitals Fire Jobos 270 21 yes City Total Total Olga Mas Ramirez 132 14 no Jose Nevarez Lopez 140 15 no Su Nueva Bo Mediania 298 22 yes Stations and EMS Stations Stations and EMS Stationsminute threshold of evacuation time, with Loíza posing as the most Segundo Ruiz Belvis 191 28 yes Jose Robles Otero 200 19 yesSuperior Voc Eladio Rivera Quiñones 498 34 yes Loíza 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 9Rafael Martinez Nadal 212 21 no Luis M. Santiago 204 31 no Total= 2716 204 8 Total= 4908 476 16 Total= 4595 409 14 Mayaguez 1 21 1 23 2 21 3 26 critical out of the three towns. Additionally, all three towns showed Total in the THZ= 2127 164 7 Total in the THZ= 2515 228 6 Total in the THZ= 1848 166 6 Toa Baja 1 2 1 4 3 13 3 19 poor condition of the pedestrian evacuation routes infrastructure, 4 Conclusion and unbalanced number of primary services, and lack of signage. The study presents some recommendations to improve their condition. Recommendations Introduction The majority of schools located in the evaluated areas (16/21, 76%) fail to meet the Tsunamis have the potential to cause devastating damage to coastal threshold of 20 minutes for evacuation. For regions worldwide, and Puerto Rico is no exception. PRSN (n.d.) as well instance, in Loíza, at average speed, the as FEMA (2018) warns that Puerto Rico has a high potential for evacuation times ranged from 55 minutes to tsunami-generating events due to their proximity to earthquake-prone 125 minutes.LOÍZA MAYAGUEZ TOA BAJA regions and underwater landslides, such as the Puerto Rican Trench. Also, there was noticed poor road conditions, Assessing the vulnerability of schools in Puerto Rico during tsunami 2 Determine Evacuation Times lack of necessary infrastructure, and urban furniture/hazards that can cause delays during events is crucial, given that schools are not only educational evacuation. institutions but also serve as shelters and voting centers. Previous The study recommends analyzing the research by Pacheco-Crosetti et al. (2021) assessed the conditions of possibility of using schools as vertical evacuation routes and evacuation times for public and private schools evacuation sites or constructing new vertical in San Juan and Cataño. This study assess the cities of Toa Baja, evacuation buildings for those schools. Loíza Mayaguez, and Loíza by determing the evacuation times to reach the should be given priority. nearest assembly point using the guidelines provided by the Improve the evacuation routes by reallocating Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst (2014). urban furniture, improving signage, and 3 Evaluate Routes Conditions by Virtual Inspection adding sidewalks where they are nonexistent. Objective and Scope Prioritizing pedestrian safety is essential to ensuring that they can evacuate the area safely and quickly in the event of a disaster, as Extend the previous vulnerability analysis od schools (Torres, Cohen, an integral part of a resilience improvement 2021) to the towns of Loíza, Mayaguez, and Toa Baja. analysis. Locate schools, assembly sites, evacuation routes, primary services, and evaluate evacuation time and route condition. 5 Ongoing Work Analyze the evacuation routes and times for schools in the hazard zone Assessment of the existing assembly sites of these cities. Identification of alternative safe Identify obstacles that could delay evacuation and recommend LOÍZA LOÍZA zones/assembly sites improvements to the existing evacuation routes education, as well as identify alternative safe zones to minimize potential losses in the case Identification of buildings that may serve as of a tsunami event. vertical evacuation shelters Main References Acknowledgements Torres Rodríguez, V. A., & Cohen Vázquez, J. A. (2021, September 17). Vulnerability of schools in Puerto Rico to tsunami events. PRCR Principal. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://prcrepository.org/xmlui/handle/20.500.12475/1166 • Undergraduate Research Program for Honor and Outstanding Students (URP-HS) for the opportunity of performing this research Disdier, O. M., Luis, F., & Soto, J. C. (2022). Anuario Estadístico del Sistema Educativo Instituto de Estadísticas. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from http://www.estadisticas.pr LOÍZA TOA BAJA • Dr. Gustavo E. Pacheco and Dr. Héctor J. Cruzado for their mentorship (2018). Guidelines for Design of Structures for Vertical Evacuation from Tsunamis. FEMA. https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/fema_earthquakes_guidelines-for-design-of-structures-for-vertical- evacuation-from-tsunamis-fema-p-646.pdf Jones, J.M., Ng, P., Wood, N.J., 2014, The pedestrian evacuation analyst—Geographic information systems software for modeling hazard evacuation potential: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, book 11, chap. C9, 25 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/tm11C9. (n.d.). TSUNAMI PROGRAM. PRSN. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://redsismica.uprm.edu/english/tsunami/