‘[Haiti] not an earthquake disaster; but a lack of European Engineers disaster’

Aerial view of collapsed buildings and burned-out section at Beach and Divisadero Streets, Marina District. [C.E. Meyer, U.S. Geological Survey] [The October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake—Selected Photographs]

The audience at last Tuesday’s UC Berkeley lecture given by Eduardo Fierro, one of the first U.S. earthquake engineers to visit post-quake Haiti, collectively cringed as Fierro showed slide after slide of haphazard columns, brittle frames, and slipshod rods and joints.

“This was not an earthquake disaster,” Fierro said. “[This] was caused by people that didn’t know how to use codes, that built things in bad shape. These were the people that caused the tragedy.”

Fierro concluded the seminar with photographs of local reconstructive efforts currently taking place. Things don’t look much better—new construction is proceeding the same way as before the quake. “Same little columns, same blocks, same lack of rebars,” Fierro said.

But what’s the solution? “Better code and better design isn’t the answer,” Fierro said. He stressed that the rebuilding process must be simple and supervised. One idea: distributing a “cartoonish” booklet depicting the right construction processes – a guide so easy to understand you “don’t have to be an engineer” to read it.

Read more »