Abstract

The archipelago of Puerto Rico is a region of high danger to tsunamis (ATC, 2019). Recognizing that the school population in Puerto Rico is around 600,000 people (including students and teachers, according to 2016 data), and that schools are essential facilities to safeguard against extreme events, the objective of the research has been to evaluate if the Puerto Rican schools are vulnerable to tsunamis. In the first instance, a comprehensive database of schools in Puerto Rico that could be affected by tsunami events was developed and critical municipalities were identified. The municipalities of San Juan and Cataño were selected as case studies in which a more detailed evaluation was carried out. This evaluation included the analysis of the evacuation time required to move from each schoolyard to a safe place as the main vulnerability factor. The shortest route and several alternative routes were evaluated for each school. The analysis included as a complementary factor the status of the critical school evacuation route in each of the two municipalities. In addition, a survey form was developed and administered to collect data on school evacuation preparedness. The study found that the most vulnerable schools in each study municipality present excessive evacuation times and unsafe and inadequate evacuation routes for the evacuation process. Several additional study areas have been identified to improve the vulnerability assessment of schools. Therefore, a second phase of the research is being developed to obtain better estimates of evacuation times, including all stages of the evacuation process (evacuation timeline), analyzing the factors that affect pedestrian dynamics and simulation of each of these phases and integrating data from evacuation drills. The results of these investigations are expected to contribute to the rehabilitation processes of coastal schools by providing refined tools to decide if vertical evacuation is required.

Abstract

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. Its strong winds and rainfall intensity were responsible for significant damages to the infrastructure and to all types of construction in Puerto Rico. The hurricane and its effects have been intensively studied over the past three years. These studies include estimates of the gust speeds that the hurricane produced. These estimates appear to be lower than those expected for a hurricane of Maria’s category. The present study sets out to contribute to these estimates by analyzing the failures of elements of the transportation infrastructure, obtaining as a result that the gust speeds required to produce the analyzed failures were significantly higher than those of previous studies. This findings suggests that a review of the estimated gust speeds for Hurricane María is pertinent, which would make it possible to better interpret its effects. In turn, this could have an impact on the definition of relevant design speeds for Puerto Rico to design resilient systems under a future update of the building codes of the island.