Slide1: Congressional Hazards Caucus October 11, 2007


Scenario Study Area: Scenario Study Area More than half state’s population. Six of the 10 largest cities in state. Cornerstone of state’s economy. King County has 44 percent all jobs statewide. Major Employers: Boeing, Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Microsoft, WaMu, Starbucks, Alaska Air Group, University of Washington, Military. WA is fifth largest exporter in nation. Ports of Seattle, Tacoma handle $52 billion waterborne international freight annually. King, Pierce, Snohomish Counties


Estimated Losses: Estimated Losses Property, economic loss – $33 billion Deaths – 1,660 Injuries – 24,000 Buildings destroyed – 9,000 Buildings unsafe to occupy – 29,700 Buildings with restricted use – 154,500 Property damaged by fire – $500 million Households displaced – 46,000 People seeking shelter – 11,000 Recovery time – Many years.


Key Response Concerns: Key Response Concerns Urban search and rescue help needed. Lack of water inhibits firefighting. Cleanup of numerous hazardous materials, sewage spills. Standards of care adjusted for injured. Thousands of displaced individuals need shelter. Caring for vulnerable populations. Disabled, seniors, school children. Communicating with non-English speaking people, ethnic communities.


Transportation and Recovery: Transportation and Recovery Correlation between transport damage & business disruption. Northridge EQ, Great Midwest Flood: Transport disruption as costly as facility damage. Kobe EQ: Transport, port damage slowed economic recovery of region. Port to Port study Segments closed months to years. Commerce movement difficult.


Major Highways Near Seattle Fault: Major Highways Near Seattle Fault Alaskan Way Viaduct (SR 99) Built in 1950s on poor soils, near now-failing seawall. Damaged in 2001 EQ. Replacement will take 6+ years.


Slide7: Damages Parts of major highways experience major damage or bridge collapse. Local roads, bridges will experience damage. Immediate Impacts Emergency services will be limited. Severe traffic congestion. Likely Impacts to Roads US 101 west of Olympia, M6.7 Nisqually Earthquake, 2001


Route Recovery: Route Recovery Long-term Impacts Severe traffic congestion for 1 year or more 30 min. commutes could take hours Movement of goods will slow, affecting just-in-time inventories.


Slide9: BNSF and UP handle about 200,000 tons/day, share a line south of Seattle. Restoration of service may take much more than one week. Loss of revenue is likely to exceed cost of repairs. Railroads 1965 Puget Sound Earthquake


Slide10: Facilities on poor soils, fills. Damage expected to: Pier, wharves, seawalls Containers yards Cranes and other structures Buried infrastructure Recovery: Multi-billion impact on local economy. Full economic recovery may take years (Kobe). Damage at Port of Kobe: Crane legs buckled, soils failed at container terminal Seaports Port of Seattle, WA


Slide11: EQ closes all airports immediately. Possibly a month or more to restore full operations. SeaTac International Structural and non-structural damage Boeing Field & Renton Airport Liquefaction and runway damage Older structures may collapse Paine Field – Everett Limited damage expected Boeing Field Runway Damage in Nisqually Earthquake SeaTac Control Tower Damage in Nisqually Earthquake Airports


Slide12: Major Concerns Piers and Terminal structures vulnerable. Liquefaction / Lateral Spreading similar to port damage. Vulnerable Terminals Seattle/Colman Dock: Bremerton/Bainbridge routes Fauntleroy: Vashon/Southworth route Planning System has contingency plans that can be implemented post-EQ. Use of other ferry terminals, port facilities will increase. Ferries may be used as an alternative mode of transportation. Courtesy: WSF Courtesy: WSF Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferry approaching Colman Dock, Seattle


Lifelines: Lifelines Water Wastewater Liquid Fuel Natural Gas Electric power Communications Liquefaction will drive damage to underground pipelines. Fault rupture will damage N-S trending pipelines.


Building Performance Factors: Building Performance Factors Type of system (tilt-up, pre-cast, shear wall) Primary material (steel, concrete, wood) Year designed/built (year and code) Type of soil (soft soil vs. rock) Layout (irregular, regular, soft-story, high-rise) Quality of design, construction


Building Damage Estimates: Building Damage Estimates Significant damage to structures on poor soils. 4,000+ commercial structures with extensive damage. Pre 1970-vintage buildings. Tilt-ups Unreinforced masonry About 20 percent of housing stock at least moderately damaged. 46,000 households displaced (est. 115,000 people) Long-term impact on industry and economy.


School Damage Projections: School Damage Projections At least moderately damaged King County – 55 percent Snohomish County – 22 percent Pierce County – 17 percent Immediate concern Caring for thousands of children while parents try to reach them. Intermediate and long-term concerns Where, when to house students to continue education and allow parents to return to work. Potentially expanding use of online education, home schooling for some students.


Hospital Damage Projections: Hospital Damage Projections


Fire Station Damage Projections: Fire Station Damage Projections Some stations are in unreinforced masonry buildings in areas of poor soils. Undamaged stations may find their garage doors jammed shut by the ground shaking.


Community Recovery Issues: Community Recovery Issues Restoring damaged transportation systems critical to recovery. Returning people to their homes. Federal (Stafford Act) disaster aid is limited. Public Agencies face 25 percent match for repairs. Debris disposal. Economic revitalization: Timing, funding of rebuilding, redevelopment. Maintaining business viability. Some businesses will fail, some will relocate. Restoring historic resources will be challenging. Pioneer Square  poor soils Land-use: how best to protect and/or develop critical areas.


Individuals – The Bottom Line: Individuals – The Bottom Line Those with fewest social, economic resources will have greatest difficulty recovering. Potential recovery, rebuilding resources: Personal finances. Insurance proceeds (State of Washington): 10-20% covered for earthquake. 25-30% covered for flood. Government assistance is limited: SBA Emergency Loans (credit worthy). $28,800 FEMA grants (not credit worthy). Expect increased foreclosures, bankruptcies. Expect increased problems resulting from stress. Expect many will relocate outside the affected area.


Preparing for next disaster: Preparing for next disaster SoundShake ’08 earthquake exercise. Increasing involvement with private industry. Expanding outreach, communication with different cultures, in different languages. Establishing state-wide logistics and resource management framework. Updating state emergency plans to include catastrophic events. Developing scalable template for evacuations. WSDOT increasing pace of bridge retrofit program.


Questions?: Questions? Mark Stewart State Hazard Mitigation Programs Manager 253.512.7072 m.stewart@emd.wa.gov Scenario website http://seattlescenario.eeri.org/documents.php