On March 18th, 2020, Salt Lake County experienced (was rocked by!) a 5.7 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter in Magna, Utah. The quake caused significant damage to buildings located in Old Historic Downtown Magna. Damage also occurred to other structures in the rthern part of Salt Lake County. This presentation will review efforts performed by Salt Lake County Public Works, including the MSD (Municipal Service District) Building Department, in response to the event. Response actions (rolled out!) included: initial damage assessments, Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) support, road closures, preliminary building inspections and tagging, longer-term inspections and damage data accumulation, structural inspections of 70 county buildings, FEMA reporting documentation, and more. These efforts started during the beginning and initial complications of the Covid pandemic. The pandemic created a unique environment during the actual event, along with more complicated short and long-term responses by public works. Public works “lessons learned” from this event will be shared. After this session, participants will be able to:
• Identify and improve areas of public works’ first response efforts after an earthquake, most of which can also be applied to other types of disasters.
• Analyze lessons from public works related to FEMA reporting for obtaining disaster funds, including the benefits of having an active and reliable public works mutual aid agreement.
• Identify and appreciate public works tools and practices for emergency preparedness and rapid damage assessments, including ATC-20 training.

Contributor/Source

Leon Berrett

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