BELLEVUE, Wash. - Mark Pierepiekarz says it's easy to be overwhelmed by the sight of so many collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince. The hopeful thing, he says, is some buildings are still standing.
Pierepiekarz was asked by a client to check on the integrity of several buildings in Port-au-Prince. He wanted to know: Is the building compromised? Can it be repaired?
Pierepiekarz, owner of MRP Engineering, took several photos. Buildings with steel framing or reinforced concrete were salvageable. But most of the construction was doomed, especially single family homes built on failing hillsides.
"In general, Haitian construction consists of very weak concrete frames, in-filled with unreinforced masonry," says Pierepiekarz, a structural engineer and past President of the Seattle Chapter of the Structural Engineers Association of Washington. He warns that some one thousand mostly historic buildings in the Puget Sound area are similarly built.
"We do have some buildings that are concrete frames that were built prior to modern building codes," he says. "If not retrofitted, they could be a hazard. So we can't be complacent about the threat in our own backyard."
Pierepiekarz hopes his engineering colleagues and students will find a way to share their knowledge of quake-resistant buildings with the country of Haiti. He says there's no need to reinvent the wheel.
"They need our expertise to help repair (buildings) if repair is necessary. Or asses them to see if they're safe so (the people) can return to work and home and begin the process of getting back on their feet," he said.
He says the best thing American engineers can offer Haiti are templates -- tried and true ways -- to build affordable, quake-resistant housing.
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