Introduction (continued)

The Geoengineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association, with support from the National Science Foundation, is sending a team to Haiti to investigate the geotechnical effects of this earthquake. The team will leave the US on January 30 and stay for one week.

The Haiti earthquake, which was a strike-slip Mw = 7 event that affected ground near the margins of a bay, represents a common earthquake scenario in the US and throughout the world. This earthquake generated soil liquefaction and ground failure along the coastline and severely affected critical facilities, such as the country’s main port. It will also be important to understand how soil and geologic conditions influenced the damage patterns across the City of Port-au-Prince.

Participating in the investigation are:

Mr. Jeff Bachhuber (engineering geologist, Fugro/William Lettis and Associates)

Prof. Brady Cox (geotechnical engineer, University of Arkansas)

Mr. Jim French (geotechnical engineer, AMEC/Geomatrix)

Prof. Russell Green (geotechnical engineer, Virginia Tech)

Prof. Scott Olson (geotechnical engineer, University of Illinois)

Prof. Glenn Rix (geotechnical engineer, Georgia Tech, travelling with EERI/USACE team)

Mr. Oscar Suncar (geotechnical engineer, University of Texas)

Mr. Donald Wells (engineering geologist, AMEC/Geomatrix).

These engineers and scientists will work with teams organized by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), ASCE TCLEE, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center, and others. Information on GEER is available at http://www.geerassociation.org/