DownloadFeb. 8 issue
MCC engineers assess Haiti buildings
By Linda Espenshade Mennonite Central CommitteePage:
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AKRON, Pa. — When the structural engineers working with Mennonite Central Committee in Haiti evaluate the soundness of earthquake-damaged buildings, their classification is very practical: Is it safe to use?
MCC Haiti staff member Joseph Sangelus and Regional Disaster Preparedness Coordinator Virgil Troyer load water filters onto a truck for distribution. — Photo by Ben Depp/MCC
Can it be used with restrictions? Should it be abandoned?
During the one-hour inspection per building, structural engineers are reading the cracks in the walls and looking at the building from close up and far away, to make an immediate decision.
“What we’re doing now is emergency work,” said Johann Zimmermann, a licensed structural engineer from Harrisonburg, Va., who is leading MCC’s team. “People have to get off the street. People have to get back in the buildings.”
The team of three engineers, which will soon expand to four, is focusing its work on public buildings used by organizations working in the community. Assessing homes will happen eventually.
On Jan. 26 the team evaluated six schools: two were usable, two had damage that could be fixed without engineers, and two would need technical expertise to complete the repairs, Zimmermann said.
The team and United Nations inspectors in Haiti are using an assessment form from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, which allows them to share information on inspections.
Initially the team of engineers sent by MCC was spending several hours assessing each building and explaining to Haitian builders how to make repairs. They soon realized that approach wasn’t time-efficient.
Instead, the engineers are noting the buildings that need further repair and are hoping a formal MCC assessment team, scheduled to arrive in late February, will determine the best way to teach Haitian builders to do the technical repairs. Structural evaluation of homes is also a need the assessment team will consider as it plans MCC’s mid-term response.
“We’ve met some people who are very capable,” Zimmermann said. With a little instruction, they would be able to make the repairs. Prior to this earthquake, builders didn’t realize they needed to make a building earthquake resistant, nor did they have the training to do so, he said.
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