Dot Earth Blog: Kids (and Teachers) in Peril, From Oklahoma to Oregon

What is it in human nature that leads to children dying in collapsed schools in the face of predicted, even inevitable, disasters?

I first began reporting on this issue after the dreadful school collapses in the potent 2008 earthquake in China?s Sichuan province, then quickly learned about similar vulnerability in Oregon ? where hundreds of schools have been deemed deeply vulnerable to the next inevitable great earthquake on the Cascadia fault.

Now, the Associated Press is reporting the following:

An emergency official says Oklahoma has reinforced tornado shelters in hundreds of schools across the state, but the two that were hit by this week?s storms in suburban Oklahoma City did not have them.

Albert Ashwood is director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. He told reporters Tuesday it?s up to each jurisdiction to set priorities for which schools get limited funding for safe rooms.

Ashwood says a shelter would not necessarily have saved more lives at the Plaza Towers Elementary School, where seven children sheltering in above-ground classrooms were killed. He says no disaster mitigation measure is absolute.

He says authorities are going to review which schools have safe rooms and try to get them in more schools across the state.

Thoughts welcome.

[USA Today has posted a story on?school districts in some states that are installing safe rooms for students and staff.]

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/kids-and-teachers-in-peril-from-oklahoma-to-oregon/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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