More Than Earthquake, It Was Engineering Goof-ups which caused devastation.
Haiti’s disaster was more to do with poor engineering and design than nature’s fury. UC Berkeley lecture given by Eduardo Fierro on his visit to post-quake Haiti highlighted cases of use of poor construction material, poor design practices and poor quality of concerting. These guys who were responsible for Haiti’s construction are the ones who caused the damage there. Fierro, arrived in Haiti within two days of the earthquake to investigate the destruction caused to the country’s built environment. From Port Au Prince to smaller cities like Leogane, Fierro found that the about the same mistakes were there.
Principle on which Earthquake Engineering lays its emphasis is lightweight structures, healthier columns and proper use of beams. Get the full report and pictures here.
via Engineer: “This was not an earthquake disaster” – Haiti Rewired.
May also like to read: Why Big Structures Fall, A Civil Engineering Perspective.
The Haitian people has my condoloences. The recent earthquake was a tragedy.