Quake Quandary in Seattle

Barb Graff, emergency management director for the city of Seattle, has been gently pushing, pushing, pushing for years to get the city to address their life safety issue with unreinforced masonry buildings (URM). At this point she is closer than she has ever been in her tenure at Seattle to trying to find solutions to the URM issue.

See their Inside/Out Seattle Video on the topic Quake Quandary.

As I used to tell my staff, "If it was easy, it would have already been done!" While the show is only 30 minutes, they at least touch on many of the complex issues ranging from cost, historical preservation, affordable housing, etc.

For me, I come down on the side of life safety. Barb summarizes at the end by saying whatever the solution, life safety has to be part of it. Amen!

In the end, the next big earthquake may resolve the issue with the inventory of URM buildings being greatly diminished. But at what cost in lives?