Puerto Rican schools closed after quake
A strong earthquake delayed the start of classes by nearly three weeks as fears linger over the safety of students.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico opened only 20% of its public schools Tuesday following a strong earthquake that delayed the start of classes by nearly three weeks as fears linger over the safety of students.
Only 177 schools were certified to open after engineers inspected them for damage caused by the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that killed one person and damaged hundreds of homes Jan. 7.
But the inspections were not to determine whether a school could withstand another strong earthquake or had structural shortcomings such as short columns that make it vulnerable to collapse, further worrying parents.
“Of course I am afraid,” said Marien Santos, 38, who attended an open house Monday at her son’s Ramon Vila Mayo high school in the suburb of Rio Piedras, where officials gave her a copy of the inspection report and evacuation plans.
Her concerns were echoed by the director of the school, Elisa Delgado. While she believes engineers did a thorough inspection of the school, built in the early 1900s, they warned her not to use the main entrance in an evacuation because it leads to an area filled with gas lines. The problem is that the other exits are too narrow to handle the school’s 450 students, she said.
“It’s not ideal,” Delgado said.
Overall, engineers have inspected 561 of the island’s 856 public schools, finding at least 50 too unsafe to reopen, leaving some 240,000 students out of school for now. Ongoing tremors also are forcing crews to automatically reinspect schools following any quake of 3.0 magnitude or higher, according to Puerto Rico’s Infrastructure Financing Authority.
Since the 6.4 quake, there have been several strong aftershocks, including a 5.9 magnitude one that hit Jan. 11 and a 5.0 that struck Saturday. The biggest quake flattened the top two floors of a three-story school in the southern coastal city of Guanica on Jan. 7, two days before classes were scheduled to start.
Overall, experts say that some 500 public schools in Puerto Rico were built before 1987 and don’t meet new construction codes. A plan to retrofit all schools that need it, an estimated 756 buildings, would cost up to $2.5 billion, officials have said, noting those are preliminary figures.
Education Secretary Eligio Hernandez noted that another 51 schools are scheduled to start classes Monday and that his department is reviewing recommendations on how best to proceed with the other schools.
Gov. Wanda Vazquez said Tuesday that her administration is still trying to find appropriate options for the roughly 28,000 students who have been unable to return to schools.
“It’s not that easy,” she said, adding that holding classes outdoors under tarps poses problems including how bathrooms, meals and transportation will be handled. She said hotels and convention centers in the area are being considered.
Meanwhile, Elba Aponte, president of Puerto Rico’s Association of Teachers, said she has received complaints and photos from parents and school employees of at least 10 schools that have reopened but that they feel are still unsafe.