Many earthquake deaths are avoidable. Consider these numbers. US quakes in the last century were of greater magnitude but far smaller loss of life. This is because of taking care in city planning and construction to make buildings safer. Consider these facts:
The Big San Francisco Quake of 1906, occurring on 18 April 1906, with a magnitude of 7.9 had about 3,000 fatalities. The number of dead includes those dying of subsequent fires and those in the entire Bay Area.
The Great Alaska Quake of 27 March 1964 was a magnitude 9.2 (more than a hundred times more powerful than the recent Haitian quake). There were 131 deaths, most from tsunamis, and the damage was over $2 billion in today’s dollars.
The Loma Prieta or World Series Quake, which had a magnitude of 7.1 and occurred on 17 Oct 1989, had 67 fatalities and caused $2 billion in damages.
The 26 Dec 2003 quake in Bam, Iran, was a 6.6 magnitude and had 26,271 fatalities.
The 12 January 2010 Quake in Port-au-Prince Haiti was a magnitude 7.0. Current bodies counted are 170,000. Damage totals are not yet available.
The loss of life in Haiti, as in Bam, Iran, was due to cement-slab construction methods. Engineers know how to make construction safe. To avoid future tragedies, several pieces need to be in place. One, construction standards need to be set to avoid earthquake damages and other foreseeable risks. Two, construction practices need to be upgraded so that buildings are actually made safe. Three, engineers, architects, builders and construction workers need to have the education required so that they can build safe buildings. Four, countries and peoples need to learn from each other.
It has been painful for the US to acknowledge the superiority of Japan in earthquake damage avoidance, yet US architects and engineers studied what the Japanese had learned from painful experience and used that knowledge to avoid preventable deaths here. Similarly, those in Haiti could have seen that quakes were possible in their country. They could have avoided many of the deaths that have recently occurred. Yet it would seem that (as is true in many places) Haitians felt it could not happen there.
The press emphasizes what a poor country Haiti is. Yet what the press is not saying is that the middle class was the primary victim of the quake. The poorest Haitians, living in shanties, did not have tons of construction raining down upon them. It was the middle class that suffered. They could have had better construction.
Engineers have analyzed which buildings failed and which survived the 1906 San Francisco Quake. It turns out that almost all one-to-three storey wood frame buildings survived. (Because they can flex a bit in a quake.) Many of those buildings are still standing and in use.
Knowledge of how to do construction is not state secrets. There is information available to architects and engineers if they only look for it. It is time for building standards everywhere to be set for the safety of the occupants.
Moving away from building standards and building practices to culture, keeping people safe is a universal human value. No one “deserves” unsafe buildings.
Since there has been a large demolition project in Haiti, courtesy of Mother Nature, there is an opportunity for urban planning and thoughtful new endeavors which will serve all Haitians. May it be so!
