How safe are schools from earthquakes?

(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)Tuesday was the first day of school for thousands of kids across the country. For many, it was also their first earthquake.

"First day of school and the we have an earthquake, the whole school shook side to side. Ceiling falling and walls cracking. It was insane," one high schooler tweeted. "First day of school for my baby and they get a earthquake. Can't even get through to the school or my husband," wrote a concerned mother after tremors rattled the East Coast from South Carolina to Boston.

For students in California, earthquake drills are no-brainers, but on the other side of the county, the experience was unchartered.

"We were just about to go into spelling and it started," elementary school teacher Ali Hodell of Mineral Virgina said. "Our trailer started shaking." At six months pregnant, Hodell, who teaches from a "mobile classroom" was worried that she wouldn't be able to help students evacuate if the trailer tipped. "We had some hysterical crying, which is to be expected, but we were all OK," Hodell reported to the Perkiomen Valley Patch. "We immediately lost electric, and we do not have school tomorrow."

On Wednesday, public schools in the Washington DC area were also closed for a "quake day," after 13 schools were flagged for damage. Concerns over aftershocks and foundation issues were at the forefront. But even handling students who may be panicked by the unexpected event has become a concern for parents. If roads close, and phone lines are down, how do you even get to your child if they're stuck at school during another major quake?

East coasters are used to snow days and hurricane advisories but earthquakes are so rare many schools don't have practical measures in place for students and their parents. Even more concerning, schools outside of quake zones aren't all structurally sound in the event of seismic disaster.

"This is the kind of thing that we worry about, infrequent large earthquakes in highly population areas with an old inventory of brick buildings, structures built before there were earthquake codes," David Oppenheimer, a seismologist for the USGS at the Earthquake Science Center in Meno Park, Calif, told USA Today. "You put this earthquake under a more urban area you would have had perhaps loss of life and more damage."

FEMA also acknowledges the challenges schools in non-earthquake zones face. "Depending on when and how they were designed, built, and furnished, existing school buildings may have weaknesses that make them more vulnerable to earthquakes," according to the FEMA website.

The best thing a parent can do is play detective, contacting local building-regulatory agencies for information on your child's school building codes and their seismic design provisions. Buildings with unreinforced masonry walls and mid-rise structures with reinforced concrete frames may be most vulnerable in the event of another quake. It's also important that school buildings have reinforced light fixtures, shelves and lockers, to ensure they won't crash in the event of a tremor.

And is it time to go over earthquake safety drills? California kids know all about the "drop, cover and hold on" tactic, but farther East, "stop, drop and roll" is as close as it gets. Check with your kid's school to see if they've instituted protection and evacuation measures for students in the event of a quake. While it may have felt like a rare occurrence, the earth opens up a lot more frequently than we realize. According to the US Geological Survey, there's a 100 percent chance of an earthquake anywhere in the country on any given day. School days are no exception.

Related links:
A guide to teaching your kids about safety
Are you prepared for an earthquake?
6 things you didn't know about earthquakes
Back to school safety checklist