NEHRP Clearinghouse
- Title
- Risk Management Series. Design Guide for Improving School Safety in Earthquakes, Floods, and High Winds.
- File
- PB2005100789.pdf
- Source
- January 2004, 361 p.
- Identifying Number(s)
- FEMA-424
- Abstract
- In America society places great importance on the education system and its schools, and has a tremendous investment in current and future schools. The school is both a place of learning and an important community resource and center. This publication is concerned with the protection of schools and their occupants against natural hazards. These hazards must be recognized as part of the natural environment and as extensions of phenomena that designers have always considered. Natural hazards can be reduced to extreme phenomena related to the four elements (i.e., earth, water, wind, and fire). Earthquakes are highly accelerated and exaggerated forms of motion that are always occur-ring in the earth and floods occur when rivers overflow or the wind stirs up the ocean along coastal waters. High winds and tornadoes are an extreme form of the beneficial breezes that freshen the air. Fire has been a threat to buildings for centuries and was one of the first threats to be the subject of regulation. Because of its familiarity and the extensive provisions for fire protection in building codes, it is not a subject for detailed consideration in this publication.
- Keywords
- Education; Guide; School readiness; Education industry; Investment; Education policy; Floods; Schools; School safety; Safety; Management; Decision making; Education planning; Natural hazards; Protection; Earthquakes; High winds