Peter Haas: Haiti's disaster of engineering

Translator: Ed Maximus Reviewer: Jane Average

I learned about the Haiti earthquake by Skype.

Mwen aprann de tranbleman de tè an Ayiti a sou Skype

My wife sent me a message,

Madanm mwen te voye yon mesaj pou mwen.

"Whoa, earthquake,"

“Woy, tranbleman tè"

and then disappeared for 25 minutes.

epi’l disparèt pou 25 minit

It was 25 minutes of absolute terror

Se te 25 minit nan panik absoli

that thousands of people across the U.S. felt.

ke milyè de moun nan Etazini te santi

I was afraid of a tsunami;

M te pè de tsounami.

what I didn't realize

S'am pa te reyalize

was there was a greater terror in Haiti,

se te gen yon pi gran panik an Ayiti

and that was building collapse.

epi kay yo t’ap kraze

We've all seen the photos

Nou tout wè foto

of the collapsed buildings in Haiti.

kay kraze yo an Ayiti.

These are shots my wife took

Sa yo se foto madanm mwen pran

a couple days after the quake,

de twa jou apre tranbleman de tè a

while I was making my way through the D.R. into the country.

lè'm t’ap pase pa D.R. pou’m antre nan peyi a.

This is the national palace --

Sa se Palè Nasyonal la,

the equivalent of the White House.

Ekivalan de palè blanch Ameriken an

This is the largest supermarket in the Caribbean

Sa se pi gwo mache nan Karayib la

at peak shopping time.

gen anpil moun k’ap achte.

This is a nurses' college --

Sa se yon kolèj pou enfimyè.

there are 300 nurses studying.

Gen 300 enfimyè k’ap etidye.

The general hospital right next door

general la ki bò kote’l la

emerged largely unscathed.

general la ki bò kote’l la.

This is the Ministry of Economics and Finance.

Sa se Ministè Ekonomi ak Finans la.

We have all heard

Nou tout tande

about the tremendous human loss

anpil moun ki mouri

in the earthquake in Haiti,

nan tranbleman tè an Ayiti a,

but we haven't heard enough

men nou pa tande anpil

about why all those lives were lost.

de poukisa la vi moun sa yo te pèdi.

We haven't heard about

Nou pa tande de

why the buildings failed.

poukisa kay yo kraze.

After all, it was the buildings,

Apre tout bagay, se te kay yo,

not the earthquake,

se pa te tranbleman tè a

that killed 220,000 people,

ki tiye 220,000 moun

that injured 330,000,

blese 330,000,

that displaced 1.3 million people,

deplase 1.3 milyon moun

that cut off food

ki koupe manje

and water and supplies

ak dlo ak provizyon

for an entire nation.

pou tout on peyi

This is the largest metropolitan-area disaster

Sa se pi gran dezas nan zòn metwopoliten

in decades,

nan deseni.

and it was not a natural disaster --

Epi li pa te yon dezas natirèl.

it was a disaster of engineering.

Se te yon dezas de jeni.

AIDG has worked in Haiti

AIDG ap travay an Ayiti

since 2007,

depi 2007,

providing engineering and business support

bay sipò biznis ak jeni

to small businesses.

pou ti biznis yo.

And after the quake, we started bringing in earthquake engineers

Apre tranbleman tè ta, nou kòmanse vini ak enjenyè ki spesyalize nan tranbleman tè

to figure out why the buildings collapsed,

pou yo ka chèche konnen ki sa ki fè kay yo tonbe,

to examine what was safe and what wasn't.

pou yo ekzamine ki sa ki san danje, ki sa ki gen danje.

Working with MINUSTAH,

Pandan n’ap travay ak MINUSTAH,

which is the U.N. mission in Haiti,

ki se mission ONU in Ayiti,

with the Ministry of Public Works,

ansanm ak Ministè Travay Piblik,

with different NGOs,

avèk diferan NGO,

we inspected over 1,500 buildings.

nou enspèkte 1500 kay.

We inspected schools

Nou inspèkte lekòl

and private residencies.

ansanm ak kay prive.

We inspected medical centers

Nou inspèkte sant medical

and food warehouses.

ak depo manje.

We inspected government buildings.

Nou enspèkte ofis gouvènman yo.

This is the Ministry of Justice.

Sa se Ministè Jistis.

Behind that door

Dèyè pòt sa

is the National Judicial Archives.

se Achiv Jistis Nasyonal la.

The fellow in the door, Andre Filitrault --

Kanmarad ki nan pòt la, Andre Filitrault,

who's the director

se direktè

of the Center for Interdisciplinary Earthquake Engineering Research

Sant pou Rechèch Entèdisiplinè de Tranbleman de Tè

at the University of Buffalo --

nan Univèsite de Buffalo

was examining it to see if it was safe

t’ap ekzamine’l pou’l wè si p’at gen danje

to recover the archives.

pou ka sove achiv la.

Andre told me,

Andre di’m,

after seeing these buildings fail

apre’l wè kay sa yo tonbe

again and again in the same way,

menm jan chak fwa

that there is no new research here.

pa gen nouvo rechèch.

There is nothing here that we don't know.

Pa gen anyen la nou pa konnen.

The failure points were the same:

Pwen echèk la toujou menm kote –

walls and slabs not tied properly into columns --

mi ak beton yo pa mare byen nan kolòn yo--

that's a roof slab hanging off the building --

sa se yon twati siman ki pandye sou bò kay la –

cantilevered structures,

eskriti kite sipòte yon sèl kote,

or structures that were asymmetric,

eskriti ki pa te simetrik,

that shook violently and came down,

ki souke trè vyolan epi ki tonbe,

poor building materials,

move materyèl konstriksyon,

not enough concrete,

pa ase siman,

not enough compression in the blocks,

pa ase konpresyon nan blòk yo,

rebar that was smooth,

fè reyanfòsman ki te two lis,

rebar that was exposed to the weather and had rusted away.

fè reyanfòsman ki te ekspoze nan move tan epi ki rouye.

Now there's a solution

Konnye a gen yon solisyon

to all these problems.

pou tout pwoblèm say o.

And we know how to build properly.

Epi nou konnen kòman pou nou bati byen.

The proof of this came in Chile,

Prèv sa soti Chili,

almost a month later,

prèske yon mwa apre,

when 8.8 magnitude earthquake

lè tranbleman de tè de 8.8 mayitid a

hit Chile.

frape Chili.

That is 500 times

Sa se 500 fwa

the power of the 7.0

pi pisan ke 7.0

that hit Port-au-Prince --

ki frape Port-au-Prince

500 times the power,

500 fwa pi pisan,

yet only under a thousand casualties.

epi sèl mwens ke mil mouri.

Adjusted for population density,

Ajiste pou popilasyon dansite,

that is less than one percent

sa se mwens ke yon pousan

of the impact of the Haitian quake.

enpak tranbleman tè Ayiti a.

What was the difference

Se ki diferans

between Chile and Haiti?

antre Chili ak Ayiti?

Seismic standards

Estanda sismik

and confined masonry,

ak masonnen fèmen,

where the building acts as a whole --

kote kay yo aji ansanm –

walls and columns

mi ak kolòn,

and roofs and slabs

avèk twati ak beton

tied together to support each other --

mare ansanm pou yo ka sipòte yo chak,

instead of breaking off into separate members and failing.

autan ke yo kraze an moso manb epi tonbe.

If you look at this building in Chile,

Si’w gade kay san an Chili,

it's ripped in half,

li rache an mwatwe,

but it's not a pile of rubble.

men li pa yon pil blòk kraze.

Chileans have been building with confined masonry

Moun Chili yo t’ap bati ak masonnen fèmen

for decades.

pou deseni.

Right now, AIDG is working with KPFF Consulting Engineers,

Konnye a, AIDG ap travay ak KPFF Consulting Engineers,

Architecture for Humanity,

Architecture for Humanity,

to bring more confined masonry training

pou pote plis entrenman masonnen fèmen

into Haiti.

an Ayiti.

This is Xantus Daniel;

Sa se Xantus Daniel.

he's a mason,

Li se yon mason,

just a general construction worker, not a foreman,

jusk yon travayè konstriksyon jeneral, li pa yon kontremèt,

who took one of our trainings.

ki pran yonn nan entrenman nou yo.

On his last job he was working with his boss,

Nan travay pase li ya, li t’ap travay ansanm avèk boss li,

and they started pouring the columns wrong.

epi yo t’ap kòmanse vide siman nan kolòn nan mal.

He took his boss aside,

Li pran boss li akote pou'l pale avèk li,

and he showed him the materials on confined masonry.

epi li montre’l materyel masonnen fèmen yo.

He showed him, "You know, we don't have to do this wrong.

Li montre’l, “Ou konnen, nou pa bezwen fè sa mal.

It won't cost us any more

Li p’ap koute nou pi chè

to do it the right way."

pou nou fèl byen.”

And they redid that building.

Epi yo refè kay la.

They tied the rebar right,

Yo mare fè poto yo byen.

they poured the columns right,

Yo vide siman nan kolòn nan byen.

and that building will be safe.

Epi kay sa ap vinn san danje.

And every building

Epi tout lòt kay

that they build going forward

yo bati aprè sa

will be safe.

ap vinn san danje.

To make sure these buildings are safe,

Pou asire ke kay sa yo san danje,

it's not going to take policy --

li pa’p pran lwa,

it's going to take reaching out

l’ap pran chèche pale

to the masons on the ground

ak mason yo ki a tè a,

and helping them learn the proper techniques.

epi ede yo aprann bon teknik.

Now there are many groups doing this.

Konnye a gen anpil group k’ap fè sa.

And the fellow in the vest there,

Kanmarad ki gen vès sou li a,

Craig Toten,

Craig Toten,

he has pushed forward

t’ap pouse devan

to get documentation out to all the groups that are doing this.

mete dokiman deyò pou tout moun k’ap fè sa.

Through Haiti Rewired,

Atravè Haiti Rewired,

through Build Change, Architecture for Humanity,

atravè Build Change, Architecture for Humanity,

AIDG,

AIDG,

there is the possibility

gen yen posibilite

to reach out

pou chèch pale

to 30,000 -- 40,000 masons

ak 30000, 40000 mason

across the country

atravè peyi a

and create a movement of proper building.

epi kreye yon movman pou bati byen.

If you reach out to the people on the ground

Si’w lonje men’w ba moun yo ki sou tè a

in this collaborative way

nan mwayen kolaboratif sa

it's extremely affordable.

li ekstrèmman abòdab.

For the billions spent on reconstruction,

Pou tout milya k’ap depanse nan rekonstwiksyon an,

you can train masons

ou ka antrene mason

for dollars on every house

pou dola sou chak kay

that they end up building over their lifetime.

yo vinn bati pandan y’ap viv.

Ultimately, there are two ways

Finalman, gen 2 mwayen

that you can rebuild Haiti;

ke ou ka rekonstwi Ayiti,

the way at the top

mwayen ki kòmanse anwo a

is the way that Haiti's been building for decades.

se mwayen sa Ayiti te konstwi pou deseni.

The way at the top

Mwayen sa a

is a poorly constructed building

se yon kay ki konstwi mal

that will fail.

ki pral kraze.

The way at the bottom is a confined masonry building,

Mwayen anba a se yon kay ki konstwi ak masonnen fèmen,

where the walls are tied together,

kote mi yo mare ansanm,

the building is symmetric,

kay la an simetri,

and it will stand up to an earthquake.

epi ka kanpe devan yon tranbleman tè.

For all the disaster,

Pou tout dezas,

there is an opportunity here

gen yon opòtinite la

to build better houses

pou konstwi bi bon kay

for the next generation,

pou lòt jenerasyon an,

so that when the next earthquake hits,

pou lè yon lòt tranbleman tè pase,

it is a disaster --

li t’ap yon dezas

but not a tragedy.

otan ke yon trajedi.

(Applause)

(Aplodisman)