Haiti Needs Innovative Building Technologies

As buildings in Haiti are slowly reconstructed nearly a year and a half after the devastating earthquake, it is becoming clear that the new structures cannot be built like the old ones.

According to a report by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Reconnaissance Team, the large loss of life, shelter, and infrastructure in the earthquake was mostly attributable to the structural collapse of many buildings. Most Haitian construction is hurricane-proof but not designed resist earthquakes.

Poor design and construction quality, coupled with the lack of maintenance and legal regulation, contributed to the severe dilapidation of many of the buildings in Haiti, according to the report.

Experts blame shoddy concrete construction for the majority of earthquake-related deaths, and say that new buildings need to have innovative technologies in order save lives next time.

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Currently the most common building material in Haiti is concrete, concrete blocks are used to construct many low-rise, non-engineered structures that become single-family homes and small businesses. Usually these low-rise buildings are one or two stories tall, but sometimes grow to three-story buildings.

Building Damage

According to the United Nations, between 30 and 60 percent of buildings in Port au Prince are severely damaged or collapsed.

The Haitian government reported that some 105,000 homes were been completely destroyed and more than 208,000 damaged in the earthquake. Public buildings were likewise hard hit, with over 1,300 school buildings and over 50 hospitals and health centers collapsed or made unusable, according to figures from the government’s post-disaster assessment report last year. Many governmental buildings including the President’s Palace, the Parliament building, Law Courts, and most of the ministerial and public administration buildings were also destroyed, and the country’s main port also lost part of its functionality.

While concrete crumbled in the earthquake, timber frame buildings, though sometimes suffering from termite damage or poor maintenance, performed much better under the tremor stress with their more flexible structural systems. “It is common to see one of these structures standing next to a concrete and masonry building that collapsed,” EERI reported.

Innovation

The deputy director of Disaster Response for Seattle-based humanitarian aid organization World Concern, Chris Sheach, said he thinks the outcome of the earthquake would have been different if Haiti had had anti-seismic buildings.

“The damages would have been significantly reduced if anti-seismic construction methods were utilized,” said Sheach in an e-mail to The Epoch Times. “Many of the surviving structures use these methods.”

World Concern is working with local Haitian engineers, carpenters, and masons to improve local construction techniques. The organization is also trying to create designs that incorporate more safety features, use eco-friendly materials, and are replicable on a large scale. It also tries to avoid building in places that would cause undue degradation to the environment.

“It is important to have a technique that is locally replicable, but seeks to achieve best practice, both for safety and environmental preservation,” Sheach said.

World Concern’s marketing director, Derek Sciba, said that working with residents and using local materials is important for creating good homes and buildings.

“Now that we can work with neighborhood groups, we are getting their input on the new homes,” Sciba said. “They have a say in the process. We’re using local materials, and building homes where people will want to live long-term. We have to build for the environment, and have Haitians play the key role in rebuilding their homes and lives.”

Sciba said that stable homes provide much-needed security to families.

“Imagine the hopelessness of living on the street, of having no place to raise your children,” he said. “The security risk alone is a nightmare.”

“We want to bring comfort and stability to these families, rebuilding their lives in communities where they can find work, education—and see a stable and improved life.”

Sciba said that World Concern wants to get as many people as possible off the streets before the looming hurricane season arrives.
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