Back from Haiti

Sorry for the interruption in the postings. After the last posting on Tuesday we moved to another hotel which happened to have very poor Internet connection. Wednesday thru Friday were particularly hot and humid day but the team kept the pace up. At the end, we collected data from over 150 buildings in the greater Port-au-Prince area and Leogane.
The return trip was smooth. The team was great --thank you all very much folks! We accomplished the field mission we had set for and saw a lot along the way.
One last note, for those of you interested in helping: Haiti and the Haitians still need all the help they can get.

Leogane

It took about two hours to get to Leogane from Petionville but it was worth it. Inspected about 40 buildings in five hours. The destruction in Leogane is heavier than in Port-au-Prince. There has been significant progress in cleanup and even reconstruction --they simply cannot wait for someone else to build for them. We saw a couple of disaster home complexes. I will try to post photos later on. Today we are in Port-au-Prince.

Day #2 passed well. We drive around, find a good spot to stop and spread for an hour or so to find and inspect buildings. The group has documented over 50 buildings so far. We will scout Leogane area today. Expect to see much higher level of damage. Orevwa.

Bonjou de Ayiti. We are back in Haiti! Yesterday (25 June 2010), a team of 10 of us from Purdue, U Kansas, and U Washington in Seattle arrived in Port-au-Prince to inspect buildings and collect data.
Compared to early March 2010, life on the street appears to be less hectic -airport is more orderly; traffic is better with much fewer "international"s. But I doubt if life is any easier for the Haitian folks. Major collapses (not common folks') have been removed but if you have not been here soon after the earthquake you may not be able tell that the difference. The city still looks like a major disaster area. Heaps --and sometimes, hills-- of debris are still around. (Side info: president of a church in Delmas 103 area told us that it cost about $70 to get rid of a truck-load of debris these days.) In summary: for Haitians, the earthquake disaster of 12 January 2010 is still very much on-going.
While driving around the city we did not see any new housing construction for the folks who lost their homes.
On the technical side: we inspected and took measurements from about 15 buildings. The group split into four smaller teams but stayed together to sweep survey school complexes and other buildings we can inspect quickly. We have Roby and Steeve --two recent CE graduates of State University of Haiti; fantastically helpful guys; they are heading to Purdue for grad school-- and Val --a smart Haitian youngster who has one more year to study to get his high-school diploma; being the sole survivor from his family, he scrambling to live in his tent while dreaming of getting his degree and going to language school to improve his English. Of course everything costs money which Val does not have --Haiti is not cheap, particularly if you are Haitian. And we have Patrick --a recent Purdue CE/Structures alumnus working at a micro-finance organization in Port-au-Prince since March; a very nice fellow with amazing spirit for experience!
Tomorrow we will continue our survey in Port-au-Prince. On Monday we plan to drive to Leogane --epicenter region-- to see if there is anything left there to inspect.
Expect updates. Until then, orevwa.

Back at home. Return trip (PAP-Miami-Charlotte-Indy) was long but alright. Looking forward to visit Haiti again very soon. There is a lot more to see and, more importantly, to do on the ground.

Special thanks are due Prof. Reginald DesRoches (Georgia Tech). He has been a great recon team leader. I wished he could now rest a little bit. But not yet. First a short report and then a longer and more detailed one will be coming out in the next few weeks to a month or two. Distilling the observations from this long and extensive reconnaissance is no easy task. Godspeed to him!

I would like to end by expressing my gratitude to Professor Amr El-Nashai (UIUC), Jean-Robert Michaud (Boeing), Anna Lang (UCSD), and, especially, Amanda Lewis (UIUC) for making this trip as fruitful as it has been for me. They have been great company.

3/5 - Friday It turned out to be a very productive day. Took measurements from nine buildings; mostly from the Delmas St Louis de Gonzague boys' school complex. Damage varied between full-story collapse (see photo) to none. The stronger motion appears to have been in the approximately north-south direction.

In the afternoon, drove westward to Carrefour and Mariani. Carrefour municipality compelx has two portions. One portion has partial collapse, the other fared much better. (see photo)

In Mariani district, checked out "do-it-yourself" structures. Column cross-sections are approx. 6-in x 6-in. Cement and steel are expensive, and they seem to go with as little as possible. (forgot to note earlier that the main P-a-P port is owned by a family; they add 75% charge on everything that enters Haiti through the port. 75%!). The tailor seen in the photo is the owner of a damaged DIY structure built by her husband and son.

The day ended with a very nice dinner and great company at the Jadottes.

Packing will be easier. MIA flight is at 1:15PM on Saturday.

3/4 - Thursday. The day started with a breakfast meeting with faculty from the Faculty of Sciences (includes civil engineering) of the State University of Haiti. There is only one state university here and they accept very small number of students; about 20 per year to the Faculty of Sciences. I am told most of the students choose civil or mechanical engineering. It was a most productive meeting. We saw a series of very details map of fault zones (beyond and above what is available online or published so far). Prof. Yves Fritz Joseph, General Director of the National Laboratory for Buildings and Construction (LNBTP) and geotechnical engineering faculty at the SUH, said they will be publishing a new report in a week or so. Had a ~1.5 hr discussion with Profs. Janin Jadotte, Jean Raoul Momplaisir, and Christian Rousseau. We are hoping to collaborate closely. Invited them and their students to join our field investigation. Students are either displaced or staying with their families out of town. School is closed (Faculty of Sciences campus is damaged). They are trying to restart education in May. We asked how we could help. Apparently they are in great need of books (technical and scientific, textbooks). Please send me an email at ayhan@purdue.edu if you are interested in providing financial support or books. As of now, I do not know how large amounts of books could be shipped to Haiti (cargo lines are used mainly for humanitarian aid).

After the meeting we drove around the Petionville area to find structures with unfinished walls. Stopped at the nursing school of University of Notre Dame (one of three campuses) and checked out two buildings. Measured one. Saw a multi-story new-looking building across a small banana grove. Checked it out and measured. Infill walls at the ground story were damaged. Center-line columns are enlarged. Took measurements. Then on to Digicel complex to measure the structural elements and overall dimensions (see the photo showing series of columns failed in shear).

It was mid-afternoon already. Took measurement from a totaled "do-it-yourself" building (see photo).

The last task was to go to one of the "slum" cities. Incredible amount of destruction. Clean-up crew was hard at work (USAID pays them $5 each and serves two meals a day; that is about four times Haitians earn on average). Most of the crew members are/were living in the area. They also act as the recovery crew (saw two body bags waiting for pick-up). Took lots of panoramic shots.

Tomorrow will be the last day in the field. We are hoping to take measurements in 3-5 buildings (schools, if possible). We are invited to Prof. Jadotte's house in the evening. I will try to post at night/early Saturday morning. If lines are not working, will post after I get back to the States. Flying to Miami on Saturday early afternoon and back in West Lafayette around midnight.

Visited UNDP and UN Annex site first. Top three stories of the 5-story Annex Building had collapsed (see photos). They are going to salvage the remaining stories.

Then, made a quick visit to the Hotel Montana. Recovery operations are ongoing, possibly for another two weeks. Photo shows the shops area of the hotel.

Passed by the recently built U.S. Embassy. Did not try to go in. All looks fine.

In the afternoon, visited the Bureau of Mines and Energy. Had a long and good meeting with the General Director Mr. Dieuseul Anglade, Scientific Advisor Mr. Claude Preptit, and Technical Consultant Mr. Louis Pierre. They are gearing up to work with a French group to develop surface soil maps.

Stopped by Val's tent. He proudly showed his quarters. (see photo)

Surveyed and collected data on a nearby school; 3-story, first story collapsed. RC moment resistant frame with hollow concrete block infills. (see photo)

03/02 Met with AHEC (Association Haitienne des Entreprises de Construction) folks. Very concerned but calm group of engineers and architects. They asked if faculty from the USA could come and teach earthquake engineering in Haiti, several weeks or a semester at a time.

Photo on the left show "random houses" appearing on government property since mid-1980s.

AHEC folks told us that the building permits used to be issued by the Ministry of Public Works; but since about 2000, municipalities are given the right to issue permits (sounds very familiar). Which one cares about "long term" consequences more? Municipilities or the State?

We visited several hospitals -- difficult places to inspect. If they are in bad shape, not easy to go around and sanitation is an issue. If they are in good shape, there are patients and access is limited.

Checked out couple of hotels (Oasis --under construction-- and Karibe --Union School renovated as hotel three years ago; reinforced concrete block infill walls were added. Damage is mostly limited to infill walls. Saw only one column with captive-column induced shear failure. Not critical.

Weather is hot (30+ degC) and humid (est. 85%).
We took a break at the end of the day and visited the port. Heavy damage all over. US Navy working on the port.

Taptap -- very colorful minibuses adds to the traffic fun. Whenever there is a traffic light, folks obey, most of the time.


Gotta go. We have one line to Internet and several folks waiting in line.

Today, visited all ministries and a few schools. Damage is extensive. Only one ministry complex (Ministry of Youth and Sports) is in good shape. The main building used to be the Hotel Bellevue (const. 1968 est.). The Ministry of Agriculture building (see photo on the left) did not fare well.

Tomorrow, we hope to inspect several hospitals, schools and meet with the board members of the Association of Private Builders.

On the way to Port-au-Prince

2/28 Flight from Indianapolis to Miami yesterday afternoon was good. Incredible view of Miami as the plane made a round sweep over the Atlantic to land in Miami. 2.5 from INDY to MIA, 1.0 hr wait for the luggage.

Met with Reggie DesRoches, EERI recon team leader, and most of the team members over dinner. Everybody is in good spirit.

Learnt that I will be staying in the Pacot area apartment, on Rue S Chocotte, downtown area. ASCE TCLEE team will be in the same building; so will be about half of the EERI recon team. The rest will be in another apartment in Petionville district on the east. Checkout the great street maps of Port-au-Prince at http://openstreetmap.org/ .

Had to do last minute shopping (binder broke!). Taxi driver was from Haiti! Very nice man. I write more about what he said later.

Now at the Miami International airport. Two carry-ons; camera counts as third -- otherwise everything is smooth. American Airlines plane is set to take off in an hour. I shall add updates whenever I can from PaP. I am told that Internet access should be available but intermittently. We will all see. Until then.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Justin, Steve and Walter flew out of haiti, after conducting some humanitarian work.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Walter, Justin and Steve will stay one more day to collect more data and to reinstall one of the seismographic stations.  Glenn and Marc fly home in a C-17, along with members of a search and rescue team..

Monday, February 1, 2010

Justin and Walter collected data from the four installed seismographic stations.  One of the stations needs to be relocated.  Glenn met with the GEER team at the port.  Steve and Marc visited the IDEJEN nonprofit building, the CARE-Haiti compound and the Union School, which many of the children of embassy personnel attend.


The headquarters of CARE-Haiti

The IDEJEN Building.  

 

The European Union Building

 

The Union School

Sunday January 31st, 2010

Walter chased the fault today, along with Major Dennis, but they never found any surface manifestation of the fault.  Justin, Steve, Glenn and Marc all traveled together to the South and West, visiting small towns near the epicenter.

Lai Bridge with damage to the shear keys.

Marines on patrol











Devastation in Leogane

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

Walter, Glenn and Capt. Dennis installed the fourth seismographic station.  Steve visited a school and the Killick clinic.  Justin visited eight school sites and a clinic, including a total of 20 individual structures.  Marc stayed at the embassy and wrote a lot of e-mail.




Walter and the fourth installed seismographic station.

Scenes from schools that Justin visited, a blackboard and a short-column shear failure.

Scenes from downtown taken by Steve.








A "tap-tap", the most common means of transportation around Port-au-Prince.

Steve with two Haitians.











Joint failure at Hotel Montana.

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Walter and Major Dennis identified a new site for the fourth strong-motion instrument, but the instrument blew a fuse when it was attached to the car battery.  They will return to the site tomorrow (Saturday) and try again.  Steve and Justin assessed buildings again with Army Corps engineers and will do the same tomorrow. 

Marc and Glenn flew to Cap Haitien (north Haiti) with Sgt Cruz and Pvt Dewberry to evaluate whether the port has seismic damage and the potential to serve as an alternate to the PaP port, which is closed.  The photos are from Marc and Glenn's trip.

Waiting for the helicopter.  Pvt. Dewsberry and kids.

Glenn waiting for the helicopter.

Flying over PaP to pick up a medical evacuee.














A crowded helicopter.




 








 Arriving at the Cap Haitien port.

Inspecting the port.









Returning to the embassy at sunset.