Haiti Earthquake - Lessons Learned For Reducing Risks

The Earthquake

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Caribbean island nation of Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, the most remarkable earthquake to hit Haiti in roughly 200 years. The epicenter was 15 miles southwest of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, at a depth of 6.2 miles below the ground surface. The event occurred on the Enriquillo-Plantain garden fault system in southern Haiti which is an east-west trending left-lateral strike slip fault. This fault system has not generated a major earthquake in new decades although it may be the likely source of historical large earthquakes in 1860, 1770, 1761, 1751, 1684, 1673, and 1618. The earthquake was felt throughout Haiti, the Dominican Republic, southeastern Cuba, eastern Jamaica, and in parts of Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. However, because the earthquake source was shallow, the intensity of shaking was stronger and more localized at the region along the fault.

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Casualties

There is no way of knowing the death toll or causalities (injuries and fatalities) after few weeks of such a catastrophic earthquake. However, the death toll rises up to 230,000 as of February 9th according to Usa Today. One third of the Haiti's 9 million habitancy needed urgency aid according to the International Federation of the Red Cross. Many hundred thousands are still homeless and sleeping in the streets. This put Haiti earthquake as one of the deadliest quakes in the last four decades. The newest of such catastrophic quakes was the May 12, 2008 magnitude 7.9 Sichuan earthquake in China which is considered to be the third deadliest quake. according to the Us Geological eye on Sichuan earthquake; at least 69,195 habitancy killed, 374,177 injured and 18,392 missing and presumed dead. More than 45.5 million habitancy in 10 provinces and regions were affected. At least 15 million habitancy were evacuated from their homes and more than 5 million were left homeless.

Buildings Damage

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere with more than 80% of its habitancy lives below the poverty line. The earthquake caused severe damage and destruction in the Port-au-Prince area which is densely populated. Haiti's President issued a desperate petition for international aid following the earthquake stating that the tremor was catastrophic and is un­imaginable, and that the Parliament, the tax office, schools, and hospitals have collapsed. Other collapsed or severely damaged structure contain the Un peacekeeping mission, the presidential palace, the national cathedral, and the main prison. Haiti most likely does not have a building code where substandard design, inadequate materials, and shoddy building practices contributed to the collapse of buildings. Even newer building has been advanced to withstand the vertical loads of hurricanes but not the lateral loads of earthquakes. The load path, and the engineering construct and connection detailing concepts for hurricanes and earthquakes are completely different. Many structure collapsed just like pancakes as builders put the reinforced concrete roof on top of low-grade bricks, building blocks, or thin columns. Other nonductile reinforced concrete structure collapsed because builders or owners were trying to cut costs by skimping on cement, adding immoderate water, and reducing the whole of reinforcing steel.

Lessons Learned

The situation would absolutely be distinct if a similar earthquake hits the United States where structural engineers construct structure to resist earthquake lateral military according to the current stringent building construct codes. In the meantime, the local governments inflict good building practices. However, there are still many lessons that can be learned from Haiti earthquake, the most prominent are:

Earthquake awareness should be in everyone's mind. Haitians did not caress a large earthquake since 1860 and it seems they did not even know that they live on or close to a historically active fault system. In the United States, raising public earthquake awareness in the Central and Eastern United States shall be encouraged for many active seismic regions that experienced large historical earthquakes and has the inherent to construct moderate-to-large time to come earthquakes. Those regions include, but not puny to:

The New Madrid Seismic Zone in southeastern Missouri where three of the largest historical earthquakes of magnitude 7.0-8.0 occurred in the winter of 1811-1812; on December 16, 1811; on January 23, 1812; and on February 7, 1812. The region of inherent impact due to earthquake operation in this zone is comprised of eight states: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. The Wabash Valley Seismic Zone along Illinois - Indiana border which is capable of generating a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that has the inherent to impact three states: Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. The Charleston Area in South Carolina that was hit on August 31, 1886 by one of the largest earthquakes in United States history.
Building execution in Haiti earthquake was very poor along with unreinforced masonry and nonductile reinforced concrete buildings. Although those two types of building are no longer allowed to be built in California, however, many of these structure still exist and are not retrofitted. In addition, structure constructed, remodeled, or retrofitted before the 1980's in active seismic regions of the United States are more likely to suffer earthquake damage because they do not have enough reinforcement in the concrete walls or masonry walls, or were not constructed according to contemporary building codes. Other issues may exist such as unbraced soft story, unbraced basement or crawl space, or inadequate foundations anchorage.

Earthquake preparedness seems absent in Haiti earthquake whether from the government side which may only be implicated with hurricanes or from individuals who cannot afford even buying and maintaining urgency supplies because of the level of poverty. While the second each year Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill, Californians were reminded to put in order a personal survival kit for each house member and a household urgency kit, and to stockpile urgency food and water for 1-2 weeks to be prepared for the next clear earthquake. In fact, anything who lives in an active seismic region in the United States and colse to the globe should have an earthquake preparedness plan.

How can Individuals cut Earthquake Risks?

If your home is constructed before the 1980's, you probably need to retrofit it, especially if it is close to an active fault (15 miles or less). Seismic retrofitting measures ensure the structural integrity of your home to withstand earthquakes with puny structural damage. Retrofitting is your own decision at your own risk according to your financial situation as it may be costly. However, it may be addressed one step at a time. The best return on the venture of retrofitting efforts is to initially address the foundations issues followed by bracing the cripple walls, then bracing the soft story, and ending with bracing or anchoring the masonry chimney.

You should mitigate the contents of your home whether you retrofit it or not. Earthquake mitigation measures are straightforward techniques taken to derive non-structural elements and contents of your home to the studs of the interior walls, in order to cut the risk to lives and investments, using reasonable hardware tools and materials found in hardware shop and home centers. Items in the stable should also be secured to cut damage to vehicles. Self-mitigation techniques can be undertaken by homeowners as they are straightforward to illustrate and need no special expertise, materials or tools to implement.

Concluding Remarks

Earthquake awareness and preparedness are key elements for anything who lives in an earthquake country. The Us Geological eye website is a great source of earthquake-related data by Country/Region. Haiti earthquake serves as a reminder for habitancy to review, update, or construct their own earthquake preparedness plan. urgency food and water for 1-2 weeks shall be maintained at any time along with personal survival kits and a household urgency kit. The benefits of seismic retrofitting and mitigation go well beyond being simply reducing financial losses. It will make your home safer and help in returning your house much more quickly back to their normal life style.

Haiti Earthquake - Lessons Learned For Reducing Risks