 
The Economic
Benefits of a Disaster Resistant University:
Earthquake Loss Estimation for UC Berkeley
01
May 2000
FACT SHEET
* UC Berkeley
has done more that any other university in the nation to improve
the seismic safety of its buildings. This study looks at the
importance of loss reduction programs and business resumption
planning.
* The object
of this study is to help research universities facing the potential
for natural disaster to find ways to safeguard their research
as well as the human capital associated with the academic environment
(students, faculty, and staff).
* The federal
government funds $15 billion in research annually. On average,
the University of California, Berkeley receives more than $350
million a year in research grants.
* Moderate
earthquakes have caused heavy damage at several universities
in the last decade. In the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, 200
buildings at Stanford University were damaged, 24 were closed
for a number of years. Repair costs totaled more than $200 million.
* In the
1994 Los Angeles-area earthquake, 107 buildings were damaged
and every campus building at California State University, Northridge,
was closed. Total damage: $400 million. In the same earthquake
at UCLA 20 miles away, 10 buildings suffered structural damage
and losses from overturned equipment in the medical center alone
quadrupled damages. Total campus (plus hospital) damages: $600
million.
* Overall,
the potential value of losses to UC Berkeley campus facilities,
depending on the severity of the earthquake, ranges from $625
million to $2.6 billion ( about 30 percent of the replacement
value of the campus (without land value).
* 29 percent
of the space at UC Berkeley is dedicated to research
* The value
of contents (equipment, labs, furnishings, etc.) is about $3
billion
* Replacement
value of campus buildings (including student housing and parking
structures) is approximately $6 billion
* If an earthquake
of 7.0 or larger on the Hayward Fault were to strike today,
it could force a campus closure for up to one year. However,
as a result of the 1997 SAFER Program, six major building retrofit
projects are underway and retrofits on four additional campus
buildings are scheduled for completion between 2001 and 2006.
These efforts will help to greatly reduce the time needed for
post-quake building repairs.
* If the
campus were to close for one year, the aggregate economic losses
to the region would be significant($680 million in personal
income, $861 million in sales and some 8,900 jobs lost.
* The most
important contribution of the university to the regional economy
is the supply of professional graduates. There is a 20 percent
chance that a student who comes to UC Berkeley from out of state
or out of the country will stay in California after graduation.
Each of these individual workers will contribute roughly $1
million to the state GDP and conservatively pay $100,000 in
state taxes over their lifetime.
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