In light of the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that occurred Sunday afternoon, Cal State Long Beach students and faculty concerned with campus structures can sleep soundly tonight, according to university officials.
Mary Stephens, vice president of CSULB Administration and Finance, sent out a campus-wide e-mail Monday that stated “no damage has been found” from Sunday’s earthquake in Mexicali.
“Please know that the highest level of care is given when these building inspections are conducted,” Stephens said. “If any damage had occurred to campus buildings that are currently on the CSU Seismic Priority list or any other campus facility, immediate action would be triggered.”
As far as CSULB’s campus history with earthquakes, geological sciences professor Bruce Perry said campus buildings meet the codes from 1933, but noted that time may have worn out the repairs made. He also said that nothing jumps out at him to say CSULB is not prepared for an earthquake.
“[Earthquakes are] completely unpredictable,” Perry said. “With regard to well-studied faults, such as the San Andreas Fault, we have a good sense based on what we call the recurrence interval as to how likely of a time period it might rupture and create an earthquake.”
According to James McKibben, the Science Learning Center director in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the greatest potential for a significant earthquake affecting Southern California is the southern San Andreas Fault.
“We are more than 60 miles from it,” McKibben said. “Our campus is located near the Newport-Inglewood Fault that was responsible for the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.”
According to Perry, the San Andreas Fault last shifted in 1857, but the San Andreas Fault has a recurrence interval on average of about 132 years. He also said the San Andreas Fault has the potential to produce a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake.
“The more overdue we become the greater the stress build up on the fault and, therefore, the greater for potential of a higher magnitude earthquake,” Perry said.
However, McKibben said that the building codes in Southern California are among the most seismically stringent anywhere in the world.
“Nothing that makes me believe that we are in imminent danger from a seismic event on this campus,” McKibben said. “The earthquake we experienced Easter Sunday has had the effect of triggering Jacinto Fault and the Elsinore Fault, that are part of the San Andreas Fault zone. These smaller quakes are potentially relieving some stress on the San Andreas Fault.”
However, CSULB students feel that all structures on campus should be seismically safe regardless if the risk of the campus experiencing a massive earthquake is in the near or distant future.
Junior biomedical engineering major Hamad Al Maleadan said he is frustrated that the university still does not have enough money to make seismic renovations even though tuition increased.
“If they don’t have enough money, why do they have three new buildings right now?” Maleadan said.
Senior liberal arts major Kimberly Ryman said she was not surprised that the state does not have enough funding to renovate the buildings on campus.
“We don’t have funding for anything,” she said.
Junior electrical engineering Luis Hernandez said he thinks the state’s current funding “should be going elsewhere.”
“You have to take chances and that includes taking a chance on the inevitable,” he said.
Social work major Ashley Weiss-Wright said she is worried about future CSULB students.
“They really should be doing something about it if students are paying to be here,” she said.
But junior electrical engineering major Mark Pawliszewski said he understands the university not having enough money to be seismically safe.
“Everyone’s budget is tight,” he said. “I don’t blame them.”
Stefan Agregado and Athena Mekis contributed to this article
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