A note from Jennifer Goupil, P.E., editor of Structural Engineering & Design:
In the weeks following the magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 13, we have received reports from many organizations about what they are doing and what they need to continue to provide aid to the people of Haiti. We have also received requests from many engineering professionals who would like to contribute to the relief and rebuilding efforts.
This special section includes accounts from individuals and firms, and information on engineering and humanitarian efforts underway information for organizations. To ensure your personal safety and to ensure you are contributing to the relief efforts most effectively, please only volunteer with an organized group that is operating legally and working through proper diplomatic channels. Thank you to Charlene Hails, P.E., S.E., and Project Manager with MRP Engineering , LLC, for contributing many of the following resources.
Please contact Jennifer Goupil, P.E., with more resources or firm reports at jgoupil@stagnitomedia.com.
To maximize contributions made by Gannett Fleming employees, the firm offered a dollar for dollar matching contribution to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development fund. With the firm’s match, Gannett Fleming employees donated a total of $153,796.
The American Red Cross is working with its partners in the global Red Cross and Red Crescent network, including the Haitian Red Cross, and other partners to assist those affected by this disaster. Gannett Fleming’s contribution to the American Red Cross will support emergency relief and recovery efforts to help those people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.
FEB. 11, 2010 -- "In a crisis of this magnitude and complexity, Haiti really needs people with the skills and experience necessary to lift her up from the rubble and then set her on a course for sustainable development.
Geotechnical, water resources, structural engineers, surveyors, architects... the list of technical needs goes on and on. More importantly, however, Haiti needs people who understand how to help without creating dependence.
For example, we've had lots of well-meaning volunteers (many of whom have never stepped outside the U.S.) offer us their latest product of pre-fabricated homes that can be shipped down to Port au Prince, unloaded off a ship, and plopped on the ground. Instant shelter! Great idea, right? Actually, that does nothing for the Haitian people except foster an unhealthy dependence on the developed world, inflate their own material costs, and stimulate our economy at the expense of Haiti's.
Now we've placed something into a Haitian's hands that they don't have the know-how or the materials to fix and that probably doesn't correlate to their culture. Think like a Haitian: if I can get everything I need for free -- shelter, food, water, etc. -- then what incentive do I have to earn a living? What incentive do I have to take care of that in which in which I've invested nothing? To be sure, there are great emergency needs right now that we need to be excessively generous in meeting. But very soon, those emergency needs will be met and we'll need to start looking for permanent solutions that stimulate Haiti's economy, that restore her environmental beauty and resources, and that set her people on a track for independent livelihood.
For civil engineers, that translates into coming prepared to TRAIN, versus do. We need to walk alongside Haitians versus blazing our own trail. We need to lay down our need to feel good about ourselves and take up the burden of truly helping the Haitian people."
>>Mark Pierepiekarz, P.E., S.E., President of MRP Engineering, LLC, (www.mrpengineering.com/haiti.htm) This site contains MRP team member accounts of their recent trip to Haiti, along with many images.
The dilemma in assessing the medical facilities is in trying to determine which is more dangerous, having patients outside in the elements or inside damaged buildings. It is not unusual to do an assessment with injured children around you or surgery going on, which makes the decision process more difficult."
WHO: Curt Edwards, P.E., F.ASCE, Team Leader, Psomas Alex Pierre Augustin, E.I.T., State of California Don Ballantyne, P.E., MMI Engineering Bill Bruin, P.E., Halcrow, Inc. Rick Carter, State of Oregon Stu Werner, P.E., Seismic Systems and Engineering Consultants Brucely Joseph, URS Corporation Aimee Lavarnway, Shannon & Wilson Nason McCullough, P.E., CH2M Hill Mark Pickett, Ph.D., P.E., University of Toledo Dave Plum, P.E.
WHEN: February 28 to March 6, 2010
WHY: As part of its disaster response procedure, ASCE forms technical teams to study infrastructure damage caused by natural or man-made disasters. Such studies are conducted so that engineers may learn from the disaster, and perhaps more importantly, so that those lessons learned may be documented to inform future actions. ASCE has participated in more than a dozen assessments in the last decade, including studies of the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001; earthquake assessments in Italy, China, Peru, Japan, Sumatra-Andaman, Algeria, Alaska and California; and assessments following hurricanes Katrina and Ike.
For additional information on the team and its work, please visit http://content.asce.org/TCLEE/Haiti2010.html.
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