Vulnerability of Schools in Puerto Rico to Tsunami Events Case Studies: Loíza, Mayaguez, and Toa Baja

Abstract

This research extends the vulnerability analysis of schools to the municipalities of Loíza, Mayaguez, and Toa Baja. The analysis is performed based on their evacuation time to reach a safe zone in a tsunami-like event. This was achieved by identifying the schools in the hazard zone, assembly points, evacuation routes, determining the evacuation times, and evaluating the routes conditions by virtual inspection. The finding of this study show that the majority of the schools in these towns, with exception of five, fail to meet a 20-minute threshold of evacuation time, with Loíza posing as the most critical out of the three towns. Additionally, all three towns showed poor condition of the pedestrian evacuation routes infrastructure, unbalanced number of primary services, and lack of signage. The study presents some recommendations to improve their condition.