Nearly eight years after the quake, FEMA is still funding Anchorage school repairs

FEMA on Friday updated its funding for an Anchorage School District project repairing damage from the Nov. 30, 2018, earthquake. Nearly eight years later, the agency is still funding repairs to Anchorage schools.

It's one of 32 quake projects FEMA has funded for the district, according to the agency's project records. Together, FEMA has committed $41.7 million toward $46.7 million in costs.

Seven of those projects are closed out. The other 25 are still open, and five have had funding updates this year, including Fire Lake Elementary and Mirror Lake Middle School.

Most district buildings "did really well" in the quake, "with the exception of Gruening and Eagle River," a district official told the school board at an Oct. 20 work session. He called the repairs that followed "an 8-year process."

FEMA's records show repair projects of about $4.4 million at Gruening Middle School and $3.5 million at Eagle River Elementary. The agency also committed money to temporarily relocate both schools. Dimond High School has a $4 million project.

FEMA money has also gone toward making schools stronger, not just fixing them. At the same work session, district planning and design lead Larry Morris said FEMA paid for seismic evaluations after the quake, plus a grant to design structural upgrades at Klatt Elementary.

The project updated Friday covers repairs to a group of district buildings and equipment. Its federal share is now about $174,000 of a $513,000 cost, and it's awaiting closeout.

Closeout is FEMA's final accounting on a project, and a disaster isn't closed out until every project is. FEMA recently closed out quake repairs at two Mat-Su state parks.

Across Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula and Mat-Su boroughs, 85 quake projects remain open. They hold about $107 million of the $186.3 million FEMA has committed.