Haiti Before the January 12th Event:

Exposure, Seismicity and State of the

Engineering Practice

Pierre Fouche

Ph.D. Candidate, Civil, Structural & Environmental

Engineering

March 26, 2010

Before the January 12th Event

Haiti: A History of Difficulties…• A country born from a slave revolution

• Immediate international sanctions to contain an exportation of this revolution to other colonies of the time

• Restricted access to the global economy

• Internal unrest and dissensions

• Chronic political instability

• Atrophied economy

…But Also of Natural Disasters• Located in the hurricanes belt

• Hurricane Flora killed 8,000 in 1963, the 6th

most devastating hurricane of all time

• Exposed to flash floods and landslides due to severely degraded environment

• Exposed to earthquakes

• Cap-Haitian earthquake of 1842 claimed 10,000lives

• Port-au-Prince destroyed by an earthquake in1770

Haiti’s Historical Seismicity (Calais, 2002)

Before the January 12th Event• Social situation

• Lack of affordable and hazard resistant housing

• Strained economy with chronic job losses and high unemployment rate

• Overpopulated capital city (1/3 of the population of the country)

Before the January 12th Event• Condition of the built environment

• Poor urban planning: Reflection of the state ofpoverty

• Absence of lifelines and designated emergencyshelters

• Non-application of the laws related to zoning• No enforcement of the laws relative to

construction• Poor knowledge of the state of the public

infrastructure• Predominance of auto-construction and

incremental construction

Before the January 12th Event• State of the engineering practice

• No sound construction practices• No uniformity in design practices• Ignorance or limited application of construction

code• Absence of quality control in design and

construction• No appropriate standards for materials used in

construction

Before the January 12th Event• State of the engineering practice

• Engineers and architects generally uneducatedabout earthquakes

• No licensure requirements so no legal framework for accountability

• Absence of seismic design requirements or guidelines

The January 12th Event

Widespread Collapse of Unplanned Hillside Construction

SOURCE: AFP

Damage to Engineered Construction(St-Louis de Gonzague Catholic School)

Damage to Historical Landmark (Fort Jacques, Haiti)

SOURCE: ISPAN

Damage to Government Building (Haiti National Palace)

SOURCE: MATTHEW MCGREGOR, ABOVE; JORGE CRUZ, BELOW

The Earthquake in Numbers (Source: Haitian Government as of 02/12/10)

• People affected: ~3,000,000

• Casualties: ~230,000

• Injuries: ~300,000

• Homeless: ~1,000,000

• Collapsed/severely damaged residences: ~250,000

• Collapsed/severely damaged commercial buildings: ~30,000

• 13 of 15 government buildings collapsed

After the January 12th Event

Hope, Resolutions and Challenges…• An occasion to change of paradigm

• An occasion to build better

• But needs are overwhelmingly diverse

• Financial resources• Human resources (education and capacity

building)• Risk reduction and resilience building…

Hope, Resolutions and Challenges…

Uncertainties are high but the Haitian people is hardworking and always courageous in the face of adversity.

THANK YOU