Five recommendations to help Utah become more resilient to earthquakes |
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Over the past several months, we've been working closely with the Utah Seismic Safety Commission (USSC) and other partners to develop a set of strategies that will significantly increase Utah’s resilience to a major earthquake. Following these strategies can help ensure that Utah quickly recovers and remains a great place to live after an earthquake—even "the Big One.” Those strategies are:
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Keep water flowing by strengthing aqueducts. Over two million Wasatch Front residents rely on aging aqueducts that need seismic improvements. If any one of these pipelines broke during an earthquake, hundreds of thousands of Utahns would be without water for six months or even longer.
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Keep our kids safe by improving schools. Tens of thousands of Utah children attend school in buildings that are seismically unsound. These schools need further analysis to see if they could be fixed or need to be rebuilt (keep reading to see how we're already making progress on this!).
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Keep our communities and markets informed. Many of the deaths or injuries that could happen in "the Big One” will come from the large number of unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs) scattered across the Wasatch Front. These homes, schools and offices—generally built before 1976 with brick—often collapse during large earthquakes. If we make Utahns more aware of the risks of these buildings, the market can be brought to bear in fixing the problem.
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Keep our buildings standing through code enforcement. Rigorous structural plan reviews should be conducted by independent and qualified experts for larger, complex buildings. These reviews would ensure buildings adequately meet building code requirements for seismic safety.
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Keep Utah ready to respond. An Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system could save lives and the economy by providing warning time to shut off various industrial, utility, and transportation systems before ground shaking begins. We recommend further study to see if an EEW system could work in Utah.
These strategies and other information have been compiled into a report for the Utah State Legislature that is being reviewed in the current legislative session. Click on the link below to view the full report.
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Envision Utah heads to the Capitol for our annual Legislative Breakfast |
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Each year, Envision Utah meets with Utah lawmakers at the start of the legislative session to ensure they understand and rely on the Your Utah, Your Future vision. This year’s breakfast focused on the need for a new conversation about growth in Utah. Much has changed since the original Your Utah, Your Future vision was released in 2015 and more than ever, Utahns are feeling the pressures of growth and believe it's hurting their quality of life.
Envision Utah CEO Ari Bruening, President Stuart Adams, and Speaker Brad Wilson spoke about the need for state and local leaders to come together with the public to examine our choices for the future on issues like housing, water, disaster resilience, air quality, and more. They highlighted the need to engage in a process that is collaborative, increases public confidence, directs policy, and helps Utah stay a great place to live.
Thank you to everyone who made our event such a great success!
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ICYMI: Part one of our podcast series on disaster resilience is live! |
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This episode breaks down the science of earthquakes: why they happen and what happens to the earth when they do. We talk about the geology that puts so much of the Wasatch Front at risk and how it's possible for scientists to know we're due for a big earthquake. And that's just part one.
In the upcoming episodes, we'll talk about some of the other risks we face living in Utah (think flooding, landslides, drought). We'll also discuss ways our state can not only be prepared for those events but be resilient in the aftermath—a future in which we’re able to bounce back, even after something as significant as “the Big One.”
Click on the links below to check out episode one!
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New report identifies Utah schools at risk of destruction in an earthquake |
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This month, the Utah Division of Emergency Management (DEM) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a report that lists all the schools in Utah that are unreinforced masonry buildings and considered unsafe in an earthquake. There are 119 schools with these buildings on their campuses, meaning about 72,000 kids are likely attending school in buildings that would be very dangerous in the event of a major earthquake.
Taking stock of these unsafe schools and conducting a feasibility study to retrofit or replace them is one of the major recommendations from the report we released with the USSC, and this report is a great step towards implementation. Click on the link below to view the full report.
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After a record-obliterating year of escalating home prices and rents, housing is now central to Utahns’ rising worries over the state’s meteoric growth.
New polling finds more residents believe growth continues to jeopardize their quality of life than think otherwise — a dramatic shift from sentiment gauged in 2014, with 1 in 4 now favoring steps to slow or stop growth.
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More than 72,000 students in Utah attend school in buildings that are especially vulnerable to an earthquake, according to a report released Thursday from the Utah Division of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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A growing chorus of experts say middle housing, a class of multifamily housing options that falls between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, is a vital instrument in the fight against unaffordable housing.
But middle housing has a big problem: Zoning in most residential areas doesn’t allow it.
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Like all of you, we’re worried about keeping ourselves and our families healthy, and we’re concerned about both the short- and long-term impacts of the current pandemic. But thanks to your generous support, we’re also able to remain focused on other critical long-term issues like air quality, water, land use and transportation, education, disaster resilience, and more. Thank you for your support!
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