----------------------------Original message---------------------------- ------- Forwarded Message Return-Path: [log in to unmask] Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]> Received: by wash.ucsdic.ucsb.edu (5.57/PCS-v1.2-eef) id AA02897; Wed, 9 Feb 94 09:47:33 -0800 Received: by calif.ucsdic.ucsb.edu (5.57/PCS-v1.2-eef) id AA08612; Wed, 9 Feb 94 09:47:27 -0800 Message-Id: <[log in to unmask]> To: milstaff@wash Cc: hajic@wash Subject: Status of Recovery Efforts at CSUN Date: Wed, 09 Feb 94 09:47:25 -0800 From: [log in to unmask] X-Mts: smtp ----------- STATUS OF EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY EFFORTS AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE California State University, Northridge, with its approximately 25,000 students is the fourth largest in the twenty-campus California State University system. The campus consists of over 100 buildings, 53 of which are major facilities, spread out over 353 acres in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of the City of Los Angeles, containing 1.2 million of the City's 3 million population. CSUN is the only four-year public institution of higher education in the San Fernando Valley and is a primary employer in the area with its nearly 4000 faculty and staff. The campus was founded in 1958 and serves as an intellectual, cultural, and educational resource not only for the San Fernando Valley, but the surrounding Santa Clarita, Simi, and Conejo Valleys. The majority of our students come from the region's elementary, junior and senior high schools; they live and work here; their roots and history are intertwined with the rapid growth of the Valley and with the University. These are students, faculty, and staff who cannot easily pick up life and career elsewhere. The 6.6 earthquake which struck Northridge in the early morning hours of January 17 disrupted life in the area and at the University in profound ways. No major public university in the nation has ever experienced the extensive damage and disruption wreaked upon CSUN in just 40 seconds. All buildings have been affected to some degree; all major buildings have been significantly damaged; none are being occupied for classroom or teaching purposes at this time. o Despite the enormity of problems, the University is committed to rebuilding a program for the Spring semester, which we plan to begin on February 14-a scant two weeks later than normal. To achieve this goal, - - -the University has rented 300 single-story temporary structures at a cost in excess of $5.5 million for a period of 6 months. These temporary buildings will be placed around the campus and serve as interim classrooms, faculty offices, and meeting spaces. - - -class schedules have been redesigned to provide continuous instruction 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and extended use on Saturdays, in order to accommodate the limited supply of classrooms and accommodate student need. - - -faculty have created innovative new courses that adapt to the constraints caused by the earthquake. Engineering students for example will be working on real projects in the community relating to earthquake-related problems. - - -the University has accelerated its plan for creating a one-stop student success center, which will combine student advisement, career counseling and financial aid together in one location. - - -the University is investigating incentives to encourage telecommunicating, rideshare, and Metrolink public transportation usage, as well as staggered work hours for staff employees in order to alleviate traffic congestion. o The University has incurred substantial costs in preparing the campus for reopening. To date, the University has: - - -expended $1,500,000 for emergency telephone service to the temporary buildings; $3,000,000 in short-term instructional equipment rentals; and $1,000,000 to equip student labs with 400 computer stations. (Until access to buildings is permitted, it is not known how many of the University's 5200 pre-earthquake computer stations survived.) - - -expended $22,000 per day in asbestos clean-up campus-wide, including the entire Engineering Complex; and $25,000 per day in hazardous chemical clean-up, primarily in the 4 science buildings; - - -expended $3 - $5,000,000 in professional structural engineering evaluations of all campus structures; $50,000 for testing campus electrical systems and underground trunk lines; and $500,000 in emergency supplies (gloves, flashlights, hard-hats, tents; plastic sheeting for roofs); - - -expended $840,000 in demolition costs of Oviatt Library (falling roof), Sierra Tower (remove collapsing stairwell), and other heavy debris clean-up in 5 additional major buildings. o The impact on records, academic and non-academic, has been awesome: - - -All of the University's communication systems have been disrupted: phone service is skeletal; data systems such as "E" mail, internet and other local networks are not operational at the present time. Mail services has been re-established, but the backlog is immense. - - -Student loans and financial aid checks exceeding $7 million are stored in a safe in a building which is currently inaccessible; - - -Touchtone registration, in process when the earthquake struck, was disrupted. At great risk to life and limb, CSUN employees climbed through a fourth floor window in the South Library which houses the Univerity's computer operations and mainframe to rescue computer back-up tapes. These tapes were subsequently transported to our sister campus in Fresno, thus enabling the registration process to continue. - - -Production of academic transcripts needed for job and graduate school applications was also interrupted: No official transcripts have been issued since January 14. Due to the heroic efforts of the aforementioned employees, transcript production will resume next week. - - -All student files located in Admissions and Records will need to be reassembled once access to the severely damaged Administration building is permitted. - - -Business and personnel records located in the Administration building are inaccessible. Until the building can be entered, all business and personnel operations have been postponed. The evaluation process for employees has been postponed; recruitment which was underway for faculty and staff for the Spring semester has been delayed. In addition, the employment verification process has been interrupted. o The impact on academic programs has been equally severe and wide-ranging: - - -The Oviatt Library is inaccessible and not operational. The University hopes to reopen the facility on a limited basis in March. In the meantime, the University is pursuing interlibrary loan capability with UCLA and sister CSU institutions, and is also exploring establishing a shuttle service for students and faculty to nearby institutions. - - -Course materials have been lost or are inaccessible. To assist our faculty, sister institutions across the country have been requested by our sister campus in San Diego to send books and materials. - - -The impact on intellectual activity of our faculty has been profound. Valuable research in process has been severely disrupted. In some cases, data which have been accumulated over many years have been lost and will have to be recreated. Chemical experiments in process were destroyed in the Science facility fires which erupted as a result of the quake. The University faces an awesome task in its effort--in the short term to mount a viable instructional program which will enable students to continue progress toward their degrees, and in the long term to rebuild the campus. We have been greatly assisted in a variety of ways: The CSU Chancellor's Office has made a commitment to revitalize the campus as quickly and effectively as possible by relaxing deadlines, policies and procedures in order to expedite reopening of the campus. It also assembled a FEMA team to assist the University in working efficiently with FEMA. Seventeen CSU campuses sent police officers to assist with securing the interior and perimeters of the campus. Other campuses provided custodians, groundworkers, laborers, electricians, haz mat and filming crews, and administrative staff. Campuses have also provided their facilities for a variety of purposes ranging from touchtone registration to temporary housing for laboratory animals. Two campuses are also sending small modular buildings. In addition, other local institutions within the University of California and the California Community Colleges systems have contributed to the Cal State Northridge recovery effort. Help has been received from both the California Conservation Corps which continues to provide 24-hour perimeter security for the campus, and the Orange County Search and Rescue team, whose members arrived very early on the scene with a horse patrol, medical team, generators, tents, and who helped clear away heavy debris so that movement about the campus could be made more safely. We are truly grateful for the assistance we have been provided, without which the institution could not have contemplated reopening even a limited program in such a short period of time. Much remains to be done in order to achieve total recovery. The total financial impact to rebuild California State University, Northridge will not be known until aftershocks have abated and buildings have stabilized to the point where re-entry and assessment can take place. The Northridge Quake has already been described as the costliest natural disaster in the nation's history. Based on expenditures to date and on data we have been able to accumulate thus far, rough estimates to rebuild the University have reached $300 million, making it surely the costliest disaster to a major public higher educational institution in the country. Total recovery will depend on the joint commitment of local, state, and federal resources. California State University, Northridge is grateful for and urges support of Congressional efforts to assist in the recovery process. - - --President Blenda J. Wilson California State University, Northridge - ------- End of Forwarded Message ------- End of Forwarded Message