Catastrophes on campus: are we ready?

During the summer and early fall, when a string of recordsetting heat waves left temperatures in the triple-digits for days on end, Pierce students had few options to escape the extremes. Now, as the fall cold sets in, the worries about the heat waves are over and new concerns about the safety of students and infrastructure during the rapidly approaching El Nino should be well underway.

There is only a month left before El Nino hits the city, and if Pierce College is going to do anything to minimize injuries and massive damage it needs to be done now. The least the campus could do is to set up tarps on barren hillsides to prevent landslides and install lights in all of the parking lots and roads to increase visibility during downpours. Shuttle pickup and drop-off areas should be expanded campuswide, and the shuttle’s pick-up and drop-off schedule should be increased to accommodate all students stuck in the rain. Lastly, the campus could open the cafeteria as a safe zone for students to escape the elements.

According to the Los Angeles Times, when El Nino slammed into California in the winter of 1997 it caused landslides, flooding, more than $500 million in damage and at least 17 deaths statewide. Yet for more than 20,000 Pierce students, there is no shelter from the torrential downpours that are expected to be stronger this winter than in the catastrophic storms of 1997-98. By opening the cafeteria as a makeshift shelter, the college could protect large numbers of students from injuries and illness caused by the wet and windy weather.

Though the rainfall can have a potentially beneficial effect on the pervasive drought that currently grips the state, the positive impact may be negated by the toll the drought has already taken. Hillsides near the faculty offices and Art Hill lack trees and plants with strong roots, which leaves those areas particularly vulnerable to landslides. If the flooding that has been predicted does occur, the dirt may not be able to sustain the pounding rain and could come tumbling down into roadways and buildings. Covering the hills with waterproof tarps could prevent thousands of dollars of damage. Most students who drive to campus have no experience navigating the roads in such extreme conditions. The number of traffic accidents always rises during the rain, and there is no doubt such cases will see an increased spike during the massive storm forecasted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While students driving off campus are on their own, the college has a moral obligation to protect them when they are in the parking lots and roads on campus property. Setting up flood lights, like the portable ones used in the soccer fields, would help improve visibility for both drivers and pedestrians.

The shuttle which currently transports students to and from the top of the Art Hill could also be utilized to protect pedestrians on campus from

“Child Development is hard because I didnʼt know I needed to take the first one, I ended up taking the seventh one, itʼs a bit difficult to comprehend what my professor said but itʼs manageable.”

-Janella Granados, Child Development major

“Psychology would be the hardest because itʼs a lot of material to remember. The amount of material that needs to be memorized for the test, the study guide is like 6 pages front and back to remember...itʼs just so much material.”

-Katherine Hannah, Undecided major

“My hardest class would be sociology, the professor doesnʼt explain things well, thereʼs a lot of reading.”

-Brenda Romero, Business major

Volume 123, Issue 9

–CORRECTIONS–

Page 1: Bonnie Lavin-Hughes was incorrectly identified as a student. She is an adjunct professor of the dance department.

Volume 123, Issue 9 those drivers whose visibility is reduced by the weather, while also giving them a short respite from the pouring rain and howling wind. By adding stops around the entire campus and putting the shuttle on a non-stop schedule of pick-ups and drop-offs, it can cater to and protect any students who need to travel from one corner of Pierce to another. Such measures need to be enacted now in order to be ready for the storm, which NOAA predicts will be the state’s second strongest in 40 years. It is not too late to act, but every moment of inaction could mean potentially thousands of dollars in damage later, not to mention the human and liability costs of student injuries.

Page 1: The reporter, Kellan Bradley labled her last favorite dance as “Debutantes ball goes nuts.” She was actually describing “Ode to Sibling rivialry“ choreographed by professor Denise Gibson.