Earthquake Preparedness at PPS

Our Emergency Management program offers several resources to help families make a plan and prepare for emergency situations, like earthquakes. Please see below for some resources families can use to prepare and make a plan now:

Parents Guide to Emergency Preparedness- Earthquake: This page offers information from the American Red Cross on how to prepare for Earthquakes.
Family Plans and Preparedness Resources: This page offers links to make a plan with your family (with plan templates translated in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese). Also included are several preparedness resource links, resources for children, and resource links to help parents with trauma-informed communication.
Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness: This page provides information for parents on ways that our schools prepare for earthquakes and what parents can expect following a seismic event with information related to student-to-family reunification.

Emergency preparedness starts with all of us. It is important we take time to make a plan with our families. For additional information and resources, please reach out to the PPS Emergency Management program.

Bond-Funded Seismic Improvements Since 2012

Since the seismic performance ratings were completed in 2012, PPS has passed three bond measures that have provided funds for a range of incremental and full seismic improvements. This work has been focused on school buildings that are on the City of Portland's list of Unreinforced Masonry (URM) buildings. While the presence of a building on the URM list is not a singular predictor of its performance in a seismic event, various code requirements and grant opportunities have been tied to a building's presence on the list. PPS has been using bonds, grants and other funds to bring its URM-listed buildings up to the current seismic code.

Oregon Schools Seismic Status Report

2025 Bond Seismic Retrofit Selection Strategy

The 2025 bond begins a renewed multi-year, multi-bond plan to address seismic deficiencies at schools. Following Resolution 7109, approved by the Board of Education May 6, 2025, we are using a transparent, data-driven process to seismically retrofit the highest-risk buildings and/or building elements first.

How we selected schools for 2025 bond funding

PPS utilized the Seismic and Seismic Risk Assessment report prepared by Holmes Engineering, to identify the schools that have the highest-risk scores and building elements (such as Unreinforced Masonry), in a prioritization calculation to address the highest-risk schools efficiently in alignment with Board direction.

Assessment: Holmes scored each "building part" at every school across the district based on its age, construction type and specific seismic vulnerabilities. See the Seismic and Seismic Risk Assessment.

Weighted scoring: We ranked schools using a formula that weighted the seismic risk scores 90%, facility condition scores 5% and student enrollment 5%.

Equity was factored into the prioritization formula as an adjustment to a Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) and Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) school’s facility condition score, allowing the team to incorporate equity while aligning with board direction to prioritize the highest-risk schools.

Strategic selection: Using the resulting ranks as a data-driven baseline, we selected projects for the 2025 bond based on constraints such as construction feasibility and phasing, swing site availability, budget and ability to have the highest impact on reducing the overall district seismic rating and risk, therefore reducing the risk districtwide for our students.

Depending on the building, we will use either full-campus retrofits or targeted fixes for high-occupancy areas like gyms or exits, or targeted fixes for specific deficiencies like unreinforced masonry (URM).

A school’s lack of presence on the list does not represent a lower priority.

Our seismic work is not over. High-risk schools not included in this cycle will be prioritized for future investigation, planning, and funding. This work is ongoing.

Since the 2012 bond, we have, or plan to, strengthen seismic resiliency through modernizations, full or partial seismic retrofits and roof-level seismic work at over 65 schools, including 26 of PPS’s 36 schools that have had Title I status in the last five years. This effort will continue beyond work funded by the 2025 bond.

Expected Performance Ratings

2012 Expected Seismic Performance (EPR) Ratings were compiled by James G. Pierson, Inc. Consulting Structural Engineers in spring 2012 and are modeled on the University of California at Berkeley classification system. These classified Portland Public School facilities, by campus, into general groupings to describe their expected performance in an earthquake, using Good, Fair, and Poor. Click here for 2012 Expected Seismic Performance Ratings. The ratings were used in 2012 bond development and planning as a general seismic guide for expected performance and prioritization. All Poor EPR schools in operation during bond planning were scheduled to receive seismic improvements as part of the 2012 school construction bond.

The performance rating system takes into account seismic risk score, previous seismic improvement work, the building class, age of construction, vertical and horizontal irregularities, building site, number of stories and any documented condition of the structural materials. It should be noted that school facilities are often a combination of additions and different building types that have been constructed over many years. Many schools have more than one building class/construction type.

Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP)

The Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP) is a state of Oregon competitive grant program that provides funding for the seismic rehabilitation of critical public buildings, particularly public schools and emergency services facilities. PPS has received (3) SRGP grant awards to date.

SRGP applications are evaluated and ranked on numerous factors, including: the Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA score), project readiness, seismic deficiencies, and scope of work. The maximum project award is $1.5 million and ASCE 41-13 evaluation method must be used to design to Life Safety performance level.

2009 PPS Seismic Study

In the summer of 2009, the District hired KPFF Consulting Engineers (KPFF) to conduct a seismic study of PPS school buildings. KPFF examined twelve school campuses as a representative sample of building construction types. Results were extrapolated across all schools. The conceptual designs were developed using ASCE 31-03 for evaluation and ASCE 41-06 for strengthening.

KPFF evaluated these representative buildings to:

Identify seismic deficiencies.
Develop preliminary rehabilitation options.
Develop construction cost estimates for these options on a per-square-foot basis.

Facilities Seismic Assessment Document

2009 Re-Roofing Projects

In 2009, PPS incorporated roof level seismic strengthening at eight schools as part of solar re-roofing projects.

2006 DOGAMI Statewide Needs Assessment

The 2006 Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Statewide Seismic Needs Assessment was an important step to raise awareness of the statewide needs for seismically improving buildings and securing funding for the Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP).

The assessment by DOGAMI was a "rapid visual screenings (RVS)," not a comprehensive structural assessment. The evaluation may not have captured all local steps taken in recent years to upgrade older facilities based upon seismic needs. To determine the true seismic safety of any given building, a much more detailed, site specific geotechnical and/or engineering survey is needed.

For more information, visit the DOGAMI FAQ page and in particular Question #7 "How do you define 'collapse' in this report?" and Question #10 "Is my child safe in a high risk school?"

2002 Comprehensive Seismic Studies

001 Board Policy

1995 Capital School Construction Bond

At the start of the 1995 Capital Improvement Program (Bond) all schools were evaluated for resistance to lateral (seismic) forces in accordance with recognized national standards, FEMA 178. Numerical scores were computed to evaluate school buildings and quantify the risk associated with deficiencies found. These hazard scores were used as a basis for the decisions prioritizing the lateral improvements undertaken.

The 1995 Facilities Capital Improvements (Bond) Program included $47 million for seismic improvements. Seismic improvements were completed at 53 schools, two other facilities and as part of re-roofing at 15 schools.