Post-Earthquake Technical Note on School Buildings (Patrick Paultre)
Summary: A structural engineer's technical note on Haitian school buildings written in the year of the 2010 earthquake — what failed and what that implied for rebuilding. The earliest document in MENFP's own infrastructure record.
Key Findings
- States the distinction the rebuilding decision turns on: seismic hazard was known but was not taken into account in sizing structures in general or schools in particular, cyclone resistance having been the only concern before 12 January 2010, and hazard must not be confused with risk, which is hazard multiplied by vulnerability.
- Puts seismic risk as very high not only in Port-au-Prince but also in Cap-Haïtien and Les Cayes, which moves the rebuilding standard from a capital-city problem to a national one.
- Sets the 2008 storm season alongside the earthquake as the reason norms are needed for both hazards: Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike affected 968 schools and 61 percent of the 217,205 pupils concerned.
- Records the earthquake toll as officially 222,750 dead, with the author noting losses that doubtless exceed 300,000, more than 300,000 injured, 1.2 million made homeless and more than 500,000 displaced.
- Cites the PDNA estimate that 4,268 establishments across all levels of education need rehabilitation or reconstruction, which is the scale the school building strategy has to work at.
- Grounds the hazard maps in the USGS work financed by USAID (Frankel et al. 2010), using peak ground acceleration with a 2 percent probability of exceedance in 50 years, a 2,500-year return period consistent with modern codes such as ASCE 7-05 and CNBC-05, and notes the map will change as new data arrive.
- Records that the last major earthquake on the septentrional fault occurred in 1842 and that the probability of an earthquake in northern Haiti is also very high.
How to cite
Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP), 2010, Post-Earthquake Technical Note on School Buildings (Patrick Paultre), https://menfp.gouv.ht/#/documents/official