Peter Haas: Haiti's disaster of engineering

Translator: Alisa Xholi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

I learned about the Haiti earthquake by Skype.

U informova mbi termetin ne Haiti ndermjet Skype.

My wife sent me a message,

Bashkeshortja ime me dergoi nje mezash,

"Whoa, earthquake,"

"Uou, termet,"

and then disappeared for 25 minutes.

dhe pastaj u zhduk per 25 minuta.

It was 25 minutes of absolute terror

Ishin 25 minuta terrori

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

qe mijera njerez ne Sh.B.A ndjene.

I was afraid of a tsunami;

Kisha frike mos ndodhte cunami;

what I didn't realize

ajo cka nuk mendova

was there was a greater terror in Haiti,

ishte se kishte nje tjeter terror me te madh ne Haiti,

and that was building collapse.

dhe kjo ishte shembja e ndertesave.

We've all seen the photos

Te gjithe i kemi pare fotografite

of the collapsed buildings in Haiti.

te ndertesave te prishura ne Haiti.

These are shots my wife took

Keto jane pamje qe ka fotografuar bashkeshkortja ime

a couple days after the quake,

disa dite pas termetit,

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

ndersa une isha duke vajtur ne D.R ne vend.

This is the national palace --

Ky eshte pallati kombetar --

the equivalent of the White House.

ekuivalenti i Shtepise se Bardhe,

This is the largest supermarket in the Caribbean

Ky eshte supermarketi me i madh ne Karaibe

at peak shopping time.

ne kulmin e pazarit.

This is a nurses' college --

Ky eshte nje kolegj per infermieri

there are 300 nurses studying.

jane 300 infermiere qe studiojne.

The general hospital right next door

Spital qendror ngjitur

emerged largely unscathed.

qe shfaqet kryesisht i pademtuar.

This is the Ministry of Economics and Finance.

Kjo eshte Ministria e Ekonomise dhe Financave.

We have all heard

Te gjithe kemi degjuar

about the tremendous human loss

mbi humbjen e madhe njerezore

in the earthquake in Haiti,

ne termetin e Haitit,

but we haven't heard enough

por nuk kemi degjuar mjaftueshem

about why all those lives were lost.

se pse humben kaq shume jete.

We haven't heard about

Nuk kemi degjuar

why the buildings failed.

se pse deshtuan ndertesat.

After all, it was the buildings,

Ne fund te fundit ishin ndertesat,

not the earthquake,

dhe jo termeti,

that killed 220,000 people,

qe vrane 220.000 njerez

that injured 330,000,

qe plagosen 330.000

that displaced 1.3 million people,

qe zhvendosen 1.3 milion njerez,

that cut off food

qe prene ushqimin

and water and supplies

ujin dhe furnizimet

for an entire nation.

per nje komb te tere.

This is the largest metropolitan-area disaster

Kjo eshte katastrofa me e madhe ne nje zone metropolitane

in decades,

per dekada,

and it was not a natural disaster --

dhe nuk ishte nje katastrofe natyrale --

it was a disaster of engineering.

ishte nje katastrofe e inxhinierise.

AIDG has worked in Haiti

AIDG po punon ne Haiti

since 2007,

qe prej 2007,

providing engineering and business support

duke i siguruar mbeshtetje inxhinierike dhe biznesi

to small businesses.

ne bizneset e vogla.

And after the quake, we started bringing in earthquake engineers

Dhe pas termetit, filluam te sjellim inxhiniera mbi termete

to figure out why the buildings collapsed,

per te zbuluar se pse shembeshin ndertesat,

to examine what was safe and what wasn't.

per te ekzaminuar cfare eshte e sigurte dhe cfare jo.

Working with MINUSTAH,

Duke punuar me MINUSTAH,

which is the U.N. mission in Haiti,

i cili eshte misioni i K.B ne Haiti,

with the Ministry of Public Works,

me Ministrine e Puneve Publike,

with different NGOs,

me OJQ te ndryshme,

we inspected over 1,500 buildings.

inspektuam perreth 1.500 ndertesa.

We inspected schools

Inspektuam shkolla

and private residencies.

dhe rezidenca private.

We inspected medical centers

Inspektuam qendra mjekesore

and food warehouses.

si dhe magazina ushqimi.

We inspected government buildings.

Inspektuam ndertesa qeveritare.

This is the Ministry of Justice.

Kjo eshte Ministria e Drejtesise.

Behind that door

Pas asaj dere

is the National Judicial Archives.

ndodhet Arkiva Gjyqesore Kombetare.

The fellow in the door, Andre Filitrault --

Personi tek dera, Andre Filitrault--

who's the director

i cili eshte drejtori

of the Center for Interdisciplinary Earthquake Engineering Research

i Qendres se Kerkimeve Nderdisiplinore per Inxhinierine e Termeteve

at the University of Buffalo --

ne Universitetin e Bufalos --

was examining it to see if it was safe

po e ekzaminonte ate per te pare nese ishte e sigurte

to recover the archives.

per te rikuperuar arkivat.

Andre told me,

Andre me tha,

after seeing these buildings fail

pasi kemi pare keto ndertesa te deshtojne

again and again in the same way,

perseri dhe perseri ne te njejten menyre,

that there is no new research here.

se ketu nuk ka kerkime.

There is nothing here that we don't know.

Nuk ka asgje ketu qe ne nuk e dime.

The failure points were the same:

Pikat e deshtimit ishin te njejta:

walls and slabs not tied properly into columns --

muret dhe traret nuk ishin te lidhura ne menyren e duhur me kollonat--

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

ky eshte nje tra catie qe varet jashte nderteses--

cantilevered structures,

struktura te konsole,

or structures that were asymmetric,

ose struktura asimetrike,

that shook violently and came down,

qe tronditeshin ashper dhe binin,

poor building materials,

materiale ndertimi te varfra,

not enough concrete,

me beton te pamjaftueshem,

not enough compression in the blocks,

me pak ngjeshje neper blloqe,

rebar that was smooth,

armatura te buta,

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

armatura te cilat ishin te ekspozuara ndaj kohes dhe ishin ndryshkur.

Now there's a solution

Dhe ka nje zgjidhje

to all these problems.

per te gjitha keto probleme.

And we know how to build properly.

Dhe ne dime si te ndertojme sic duhet.

The proof of this came in Chile,

Kjo u provua ne Kili,

almost a month later,

pak a shume nje muaj me vone,

when 8.8 magnitude earthquake

kur nje termet me magnitute 8.8

hit Chile.

ndodhi ne Kili.

That is 500 times

Ajo eshte 500 here me shume

the power of the 7.0

se fuqia e 7.0

that hit Port-au-Prince --

qe ndodhi ne Port-au-Prince--

500 times the power,

500 here me fuqi me te madhe,

yet only under a thousand casualties.

por me vetem nen nje mije viktima.

Adjusted for population density,

E pershtatur per dendesine e popullsise,

that is less than one percent

qe eshte me pak se nje perqind

of the impact of the Haitian quake.

te impaktit qe pati termeti i Haitit.

What was the difference

Cila ishte diferenca

between Chile and Haiti?

midis Kilit dhe Haitit?

Seismic standards

Standarte sizmike

and confined masonry,

dhe murature te izoluar,

where the building acts as a whole --

ku ndertesat funksionojne si nje e tere--

walls and columns

muret dhe kolonat

and roofs and slabs

catite dhe pllakat

tied together to support each other --

lidhenin bashke per te suportuar njera tjetren--

instead of breaking off into separate members and failing.

ne vend qe te ndaheshin ne pjese dhe te rrezoheshin.

If you look at this building in Chile,

Nese mund te shihni kete ndertesen ne Kili,

it's ripped in half,

eshte e ndare ne mes,

but it's not a pile of rubble.

por nuk eshte nje grumbull rrenojash.

Chileans have been building with confined masonry

Kilianet kane ndertuar me murature te izoluar

for decades.

per dekada.

Right now, AIDG is working with KPFF Consulting Engineers,

Momentalisht, AIDG eshte duke punuar me Inxhinierat Konsultues te KPFF,

Architecture for Humanity,

Arkitekture per Humanitetin,

to bring more confined masonry training

per te nxitur trajnimin mbi muraturen e izoluar

into Haiti.

ne Haiti.

This is Xantus Daniel;

Ky eshte Xantus Daniel;

he's a mason,

ai eshte nje murator,

just a general construction worker, not a foreman,

nje punetor i thjesht ndertimi, jo pergjegjes,

who took one of our trainings.

i cili ndoqi nje nga trajnimet tona.

On his last job he was working with his boss,

Ne punen e tij te fundit ishte duke punuar me shefin e tij,

and they started pouring the columns wrong.

ku ata filluan te benin derdhjen e kollonave gabim.

He took his boss aside,

Ai e mori shefin e tij vecmas,

and he showed him the materials on confined masonry.

dhe i tregoi materialet mbi muraturen e izoluar.

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

Ai i tregoi, "Nuk kemi pse e bejme kete gabim.

It won't cost us any more

Nuk do na kushtoj me shume

to do it the right way."

per ta bere ne menyren e duhur."

And they redid that building.

Dhe ata e ribene ate ndertese.

They tied the rebar right,

E lidhen armaturen ne menyren e duhur,

they poured the columns right,

e bene derdhjen e kollonave ne menyren e duhur,

and that building will be safe.

dhe ajo ndertese ishte e sigurte.

And every building

Dhe cdo ndertese

that they build going forward

qe do ndertojne ne vazhdim

will be safe.

do jete e sigurte.

To make sure these buildings are safe,

Per tu siguruar qe keto ndertesa jane te sigurta,

it's not going to take policy --

nuk do duhet politike--

it's going to take reaching out

Do duhet te arrijme

to the masons on the ground

te ulim muratoret ne toke

and helping them learn the proper techniques.

dhe ti ndihmojme te mesojne teknikat e duhura.

Now there are many groups doing this.

Ekzistojne shume grupe qe e bejne kete.

And the fellow in the vest there,

Dhe ky personi me jelek,

Craig Toten,

Craig Toten,

he has pushed forward

ai e ka shtyre perpara

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

per te dorezuar dokumentacionin neper grupe qe e bejne kete.

Through Haiti Rewired,

Permes Haitit te Instalimeve te reja elektrike

through Build Change, Architecture for Humanity,

permes Ndryshimit te Ndertimit, Arkitektures dhe Humanitetit,

AIDG,

AIDG,

there is the possibility

ekziston mundesia

to reach out

per te arritur

to 30,000 -- 40,000 masons

30.000 -- 40.000 muratore

across the country

neper gjithe shtetin

and create a movement of proper building.

dhe te krijojme nje levizje per ndertimin e duhur.

If you reach out to the people on the ground

Nese arrini tek njerezit ne terren

in this collaborative way

ne kete menyre bashkepunimi

it's extremely affordable.

eshte shume e perballueshme.

For the billions spent on reconstruction,

Per miliardat qe shpenzohen ne rikonstruksion,

you can train masons

mund te trajnoni muratore

for dollars on every house

per disa dollare ne cdo shtepi

that they end up building over their lifetime.

qe ata perfundojne te ndertojne gjate jetes tyre.

Ultimately, there are two ways

Perfundimisht, ka dy menyra

that you can rebuild Haiti;

per te rindertuar Haitin;

the way at the top

menyra ketu siper

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

eshte menyra qe Haiti po nderton per dekada.

The way at the top

Menyra ketu siper

is a poorly constructed building

eshte nje ndertese e ndertuar dobet

that will fail.

qe do shkatarrohet.

The way at the bottom is a confined masonry building,

Menyra ketu poshte eshte ndertimi me murature te izoluar,

where the walls are tied together,

ku muret jane te lidhura bashke,

the building is symmetric,

ndertesa eshte simetrike,

and it will stand up to an earthquake.

dhe do t'i mbijetoje termetit,

For all the disaster,

Per te gjithe katastrofen,

there is an opportunity here

ekziston nje mundesi ketu

to build better houses

per te ndertuar shtepi me te mira

for the next generation,

per gjeneraten e ardhshme,

so that when the next earthquake hits,

ne menyre qe kur termeti i rradhes te godase,

it is a disaster --

eshte nje katastrofe--

but not a tragedy.

por jo tragjedi.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)