The 1/12/10 Earthquake:

transcript

The January 12, 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Building Assessments: The First Step to Recovery

Andre Filiatrault, Ph.D., Eng.Professor, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering

Director, MCEER (Multidisciplinary Center for EarthquakeEngineering Research)

March 26, 2010

January 15, 2010

MCEER Assembled Interim Emergency Engineering Support Unit (ESSU)• Ten French/Creole-speaking engineers and architects

from various institutions and corporations across the US

• Three earthquake specialists

• Six Haitian natives

• Funded by AIDG

• January 21-28, 2010

ESSU Mission• Set-up building assessment procedure on behalf of the

United Nations

• Provide preliminary structural assessment for remaining standing critical buildings in Port-au-Prince

• Inform responsible parties of recommendations regarding building occupancy

• Report findings to the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP)

• Provide supporting documentation

Rapid Building Assessment Procedure (ATC-20)

• US procedure developed by the Applied Technology Council

• Focuses on potential collapse of building, fallinghazards, and other hazards (e.g. geotechnical)

• EESU used standard ATC-20 Evaluation Form

• EESU translated placards in French but did not post them per UN requests

Conventional Posting System

• INSPECTED (Green) Appears safe for lawful occupancy

• LIMITED ENTRY/RESTRICTED USE (Yellow) Limited entry/use, controlled by building owner/manager

• UNSAFE (Red) No entry unless controlled by jurisdiction

INSPECTÉOccupation Permise

Ce bâtiment a été inspecté (ci-dessous) et aucun danger structural apparent ne fût trouvé.

Inspection extérieure seulement

Inspection extérieure et intérieure

Avertir les autorités locales en cas de conditions dangereuses; réinspection peut-être requise

Commentaires:

Nom et adresse du bâtiment:

(Attention: Répliques après l’inspection peuvent aggraver les dommages et dangers.)Ce bâtiment a été inspecté dans des conditions d’urgence pour:

Inspecteur/ Agence:

Ne pas enlever, altérer ou cacher cette affiche sans l’autorisation des autorités locales

UTILISATION LIMITÉEAttention: Ce bâtiment a été inspecté et des dommages structuraux ont été trouvés tels que décrits ci-dessous:

Entrée, occupation et utilisation sont limités tels qu’indiqué ci-dessous:

Autres restrictions:

Ne pas pénétrer dans les zones suivantes :

Inspecteur/ Agence:

(Attention: Répliques après l’inspection peuvent aggraver les dommages et dangers.)Ce bâtiment a été inspecté dans des conditions d’urgence pour:

Brève entrée pour accéder aux contenus:

ACCÈS INTERDITCe bâtiment a été inspecté et des dommages structuraux importants ont été trouvés rendant son accès interdit tels que décrits ci-dessous:

Autres restrictions:

Inspecteur/ Agence:

Ce bâtiment a été inspecté dans des conditions d’urgence pour:

Brève entrée pour accéder aux contenus:

Accès interdit sans autorisation spécifique et écrite des autorités locales. Accès peut causer la mort ou des blessures graves

Building Evaluation Requests

• Interim EESU Team created an e-mail account to receive and prioritize building evaluation requests

• ees-haiti@hotmail.com

• E-mail account remains operational and is monitored by MCEER Information Services

• Requests forwarded to United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) and US Army

Building Assessment Summary (January 21-28)

Total of 115 buildings

• Hospitals/Medical Facilities: 34• UN Office Buildings/Residences: 37• Other private dwellings: 14• Schools/Colleges: 8• Warehouses: 6• Commercial buildings: 5• Orphanages: 2• Government Buildings: 3• Others:6

Assessment Examples

Grace Children Hospital

• Green tagged (safe)

• Minor cracking of masonry walls

• Hospital unused

WFP Shodesoca Warehouse 29

• Yellow tagged (limited use)

• Damage to front walls and columns

• Slight damage to interior columns

• Damage to exterior parapets

• Total storage 1500 Tons of perishable food items

Ministry of Justice Courthouse

• Red tagged (unsafe)

• Complete collapse of 3 story building

• 7 workers from courthouse still missing

• Minister of Justice needed to obtain critical documents

• Assessed the structural integrity of basement entry and cleared for rapid retrieval of critical documents

Impact of Building Assessments

• Cleared approx 12 Hospitals/Medical Facilities

• Numerous private dwellings and apartments

• Several Schools/Colleges

• L’Ouverture Cleary School – 320+ children

• 3 Warehouses (over 6 million pounds of food)

• 3 month time frame before food perishes

• Several commercial buildings

Some Observations

Why Have So Many Buildings Collapsed?

• Unreinforced masonry structures

• Lack of symmetry

• Lack of transverse reinforcement

• Poor quality of concrete

• Reinforcing bars w/o ribs

• Quality of construction

• Lack of building codes

Psychological Impact is Hampering Recovery

Undamaged home in suburban areaUnused

Undamaged DASH Delmas 48 hospital Unused

Lack of Awareness of Obvious Dangers

People walking under unstable roof slab on St-Louis de Gonzague Catholic School Campus

Inappropriate Salvaging of Materials

Tallest and Most Modern (Digicel) Building in Haiti Performed Very Well

Unbelievable Resilience of the People of Haiti

Challenges for Rebuilding Haiti

• Poverty & illiteracy

• Lack of capacity of Haitian Government

• Who is in charge? (US, Haitian Government, USAID, UN, World Bank)

• Rainy season in May

• Hurricane beginning in Fall

• Future earthquakes

• Design for multiple hazards(earthquake, hurricane, floods)

Opportunity to Transform Haiti

• Reconstruction after disasters as economic engine• 1976 Tangshan Earthquake in China • 1871 Chicago Fire • Etc.

• Overwhelming international support (~2.6B$ to UN)

• Haitian Diaspora (~800,000 in US)

• Resilience of Haitian people

Education and Training is Key to Rebuilding Haiti

Source: Craig Totten, KPFF

Strength Through Unity