:Ocosta Elementary School

The school district originally used a round building on the current campus built in 1967 and demolished in 2014. The elementary school was split from the junior/senior high school in the 1980s, and later expanded with new wings.

On April 23, 2013, a $13.8 million bond issue was approved by 70 percent of voters to fund the construction of a new elementary school with modern features, including a tsunami shelter.{{cite news |last=Doughton |first=Sandi |date=October 15, 2013 |title=Grays Harbor County school to build first U.S. vertical-tsunami refuge |url=http://old.seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022051420_shakeoutxml.html |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=February 2, 2017}}{{cite news |last=Mittan |first=Kyle |date=December 11, 2015 |title=Officials, leaders tackle coastal disaster preparedness, resilience |work=The Daily World |location=Aberdeen, Washington |url=http://thedailyworld.com/news/local/officials-leaders-tackle-coastal-disaster-preparedness-resilience |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214165410/http://thedailyworld.com/news/local/officials-leaders-tackle-coastal-disaster-preparedness-resilience |archivedate=December 14, 2015 |accessdate=February 2, 2017}} The school district broke ground on the project in January 2015,{{cite press release |date=January 16, 2015 |title=Nation's first tsunami vertical evacuation center breaks ground |url=http://mil.wa.gov/blog/news/post/nations-first-tsunami-vertical-evacuation-center-breaks-ground |publisher=Washington Military Department |accessdate=February 2, 2017}} and was dedicated on June 11, 2016.{{cite news |last=Aue |first=Barb |date=June 14, 2016 |title=Huge crowd celebrates new Ocosta Elementary School and tsunami shelter |url=http://thedailyworld.com/news/local/huge-crowd-celebrates-new-ocosta-elementary-school-and-tsunami-shelter |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615130103/http://thedailyworld.com/news/local/huge-crowd-celebrates-new-ocosta-elementary-school-and-tsunami-shelter |archivedate=June 15, 2016 |work=The Daily World |location=Aberdeen, Washington |accessdate=February 2, 2017}}

The school moved classes into the new addition during the fall of 2016.{{cite news |last=Wilcox |first=Kevin |date=October 11, 2016 |title=New elementary school is prepared for a tsunami |url=http://www.asce.org/magazine/20161011-new-elementary-school-is-prepared-for-a-tsunami/ |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |accessdate=February 2, 2017}}

As of the 2014–15 school year, Ocosta Elementary School has an enrollment of 328 students and a 26-member faculty.

File:Tsunami resistant school Ocosta Elementary.jpg

The school consists of three buildings, connected by covered passageways. The main building, underneath the tsunami shelter, has 23 classrooms and houses the administrative offices and gym.{{cite web |title=Ocosta Elementary School: Leading Edge Disaster Preparedness |url=http://www.tcfarchitecture.com/project/ocosta-elementary-school/ |publisher=TCF Architecture |accessdate=February 2, 2017}}{{cite news |last=Silver |first=Jon |date=May 15, 2014 |title=Team designs coastal school to be safe during a quake and tsunami |url=http://www.djc.com/news/ae/12065645.html |url-access=subscription |work=Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce |accessdate=February 2, 2017}}

The new addition was designed by TCF Architecture of Tacoma, Washington, and engineered by Degenkolb Engineers of Seattle. The gymnasium's interior includes historic photographs of the region and finishes resembling beach glass, sea grass, cranberry bogs and a compass rose furnished by local artisans.

{{further|Earthquake engineering}}

File:Ocosta Elementary School - tsunami shelter.png

In the event of a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake off the Washington coast, evacuation from the vicinity of the school would be by vehicle on single-lane State Route 105 and would have to get all the children to safety off the low-lying peninsula within a 30-minute window between National Tsunami Warning Center's alert and the arrival of a {{convert|40|ft|adj=mid}} tsunami.{{cite map |title=Tsunami evacuation map for Westport, Grayland and Ocosta |date=July 2014 |publisher=Washington State Department of Natural Resource |via=Washington Military Department |url=http://mil.wa.gov/uploads/pdf/Publications/westport%20grayland.pdf |accessdate=February 2, 2017}} Realistic travel time to high ground in an emergency has been estimated to be around 100 minutes, more than three times as long as the margin of safety.{{cite web|title=Project Safe Haven: Vertical tsunami evacuation in Washington State|author=Ron Kasprisin|publisher=National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program|page=slide 7|url=http://nws.weather.gov/nthmp/2014annualmeeting/VerticalEvacUpdate.pdf|via=National Weather Service|accessdate=February 2, 2017}}

To provide for vertical evacuation instead, the school's tsunami shelter is located on the roof of the gym, elevated {{convert|53|ft}} above sea level to withstand surges that would follow such an earthquake. The gym is accessible via four staircases, including one from the outside, designed to be wide for quicker evacuation and built with {{convert|14|in|adj=mid}} thick concrete and steel rebar. The shelter is designed to accommodate the students and staff of both the elementary school and the adjoining junior–senior high school, a total of 700 people, with room for some members of the public; the total capacity is estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000 people.{{cite magazine |last=Lubell |first=Sam |date=December 8, 2016 |title=An Ordinary-Looking Gym That's Built to Survive a Tsunami |url=https://www.wired.com/2016/12/ordinary-looking-gym-thats-built-survive-tsunami/ |magazine=Wired |accessdate=February 2, 2017}}

The building and shelter are secured to the ground by 169 pilings driven {{convert|50|ft}} into the ground. It is rated to withstand a 9.2-magnitude earthquake (which would be one of the largest ever recorded) and has a {{convert|6|ft|adj=mid}} parapet to shield against tsunami surges. The pilings, which form the main structure for the shelter, were considered a cost-effective way to build new tsunami-resistant shelters; the shelter only added 20 percent to the Ocosta Elementary School's $13 million construction budget.{{cite web |last=Campbell-Dollaghan |first=Kelsey |date=August 7, 2015 |title=This Tiny Northwest Town Is Building a Groundbreaking Tsunami Shelter |url=https://gizmodo.com/this-tiny-northwest-town-is-building-a-groundbreaking-t-1722709939 |work=Gizmodo |accessdate=February 2, 2017}} Concrete and steel were chosen as the building's main structural materials after observations made during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, where concrete buildings were the least damaged.

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.ocosta.k12.wa.us/ocosta-elementary}}

Category:Schools in Grays Harbor County, Washington