A multi-disciplinary team of US earthquake researchers and practitioners, organized by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), is traveling to Haiti to document scientific, engineering and societal effects resulting from the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti. The research team is under the leadership of Reginald DesRoches, Professor and Associate Chair of the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, a native of Haiti and a current EERI Board member, and includes experts in engineering, urban planning, architecture, geography, and community resilience.
The team departs on February 28, 2010 and will spend six days collecting data and documenting observations, paying particular attention to the disaster’s impacts on people, the performance of structures and lifelines, and the enormous societal challenges of relief, recovery and rebuilding. Team members will meet with local Haitian engineers, architects, and planners, as well as Haitian government officials and business leaders that will lead the nation’s reconstruction.
A member of the EERI team stands at the North Wharf at Port-au-Prince harbor shortly after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck.
The enormity of the earthquake presents serious challenges for Haiti's infrastructure, economy, and society. Estimates suggest more than 212,000 people died, 250,000 were critically injured and over one million Haitians were made homeless. EERI and the US Geological Society organized an advance reconnaissance team that visited Haiti in late January.
Their trip report, including findings, is available on the EERI website at: http://www.eqclearinghouse.org/20100112-haiti/reports-from-the-field/usgseeri-team-report-now-available
The scale of this disaster is so large that many organizations will be working together in conducting reconnaissance. The Learning from Earthquakes team will be joined by representatives from partnering organizations who are all traveling under Professor DesRoches’ leadership. A list of all team members traveling to Haiti is available here:
http://www.eqclearinghouse.org/20100112-haiti/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Team-Members.pdf
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A 15-m gauge crane partially submerged after the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. Photos: EERI
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The team will also be collaborating in the field with the American Society of Civil Engineers Technical Council on Lifelines Earthquake Engineering team:
http://content.asce.org/TCLEE/Haiti2010.html
Earthquake Engineering Research Group
Chile Earthquake Clearinghouse
