After shock

The aftermath of last month’s Haiti earthquake appalled the world. The 7-magnitude tremor on 12 January, and its subsequent aftershocks, caused widespread damage in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and its surroundings. As The Engineer went to press, some 20,000 commercial buildings and 225,000 residential buildings were believed to have been destroyed, while the death toll exceeded 200,000.

What role can engineering play in earthquakes? It is quite obvious that it can help. Earthquakes of similar magnitudes in richer countries, where there are resources that can be devoted to seismic monitoring and earthquake-resistant buildings, generally see much lower death tolls, typically in the hundreds or lower. Engineering in poorer countries is a quite different matter, however.

RedR, an organisation that sends engineers into disaster zones to assist with humanitarian efforts and reconstruction, has a great deal of first-hand experience. Rumana Kabir, a RedR specialist in post-earthquake reconstruction, said that much of the problem is due to a lack of building codes or, where they do exist, a lack of enforcement. Read our 2008 interview with RedR chairman Robert Hodgson here.