Damage at SCCC

Photographs copyright 2001 Joseph Hull, not for reproduction.
 

Photo 1.  SCCC on the west side of Broadway.  Notice the extensive brick facade, a hazard in a large quake.  Our facade help up very well.  These facades are not part of the structural elements of the building, they are basically ornamental.
 

Photo 2.  Cracks in the brick facade near the main entrance to the building.

Photo 3.  Cracks in the brick facade at another locality near the main eastside entrance to the building.  There are about a half dozen places (at least) where the brick facade shows this kind of damage.
 

Photo 4.  This crack in a classroom wall was initiated by the Duvall earthquake, and widened about double during the 2001 Nisqually quake.  The classroom is in the northeast corner of the building, where the ground slopes away dramatically from the school.  The crack increases in width towards the top.
 

Figure 5.  A light fixture has fallen out of the ceiling and is dangling by its power supply cord in this room on the 4th floor.  The light fixtures in SCCC are not bolted or wired or screwed into anything, they just rest on the metal framework that holds up the false ceilings in the building.
 

Figure 6.  Buckling of ceiling tiles and supporting metal strips.  Though interior damage was very minor at SCCC, the damage was concentrated in the volumetric center of the building, almost as if the building as squeezed in all directions (not likely, but that's the impression from the buckling).