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May 13, 2022July 22, 2022

A Disaster Week in Haiti

This post is part of a series called Miyamoto in Haiti
Show More Posts
  • The 2010 Haiti Earthquake, Part 1
  • The 2010 Haiti Earthquake, Part 2
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: The Presidential Palace, A Fractured Haitian Icon
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: Damage Assessment of the Japanese Embassy
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: The Well-Oiled Relief Machine Rolling Through Haiti
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: Inside a Heavily Damaged Building
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: Visiting The Citadel
  • Thirty Months in Haiti, Part 1
  • Thirty Months in Haiti, Part 2
  • Thirty Months in Haiti, Part 3
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: A Morning and Afternoon of Hopeful Rebuilding
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: School Rebuilding and Construction Continues
  • Trente mois en Haïti, 1eme partie
  • Trente mois en Haïti, 2eme partie
  • Trente mois en Haïti, 3eme partie
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: Visiting a Remote School Construction Site Near Cap-Haïtien
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: Self-Sustaining Relief
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: Love it or Hate it? Love it!
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: Lycee de Cite Soleil Rehabilitation Project
  • Miyamoto in Haiti: The Hopeful Road to Recovery
  • A Day in the Haiti Disaster Zone
  • Kidnappers & Disaster
  • A Disaster Week in Haiti

1:40 PM, Tuesday, February 1, 2022

I am four-wheel driving on a muddy dirt road in the middle of a green tobacco field in the south of Haiti, near Les Cayes. It’s the middle of winter, but here it’s hot and humid, and my back is cramped and sore from the prolonged rocking motion.

I am trying to rendezvous with Felipe, who is a country director of the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS). Our team and UNOPS have teamed up to assist and operate 520 Haitian engineers from the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications (MTPTC) in a massive damage assessment project, the largest of which the world has ever seen. Our goal is to assess, categorize and repair 180,000 earthquake-damaged buildings in five months. During this four-month period, we have already assessed 130,000 structures and spoken to more than one million people who were affected by the disaster.

We need to know exactly what happened last August during the magnitude 7.2 earthquake, the solutions needed and the cost to address the damage. At the head of this project are Haitians leading and managing the effort with a minimal number of foreigners. Both UNOPS and our team are composed of nationals. This is, by leaps and bounds, the opposite of the 2010 earthquake reconstruction project. Haiti is struggling with many issues, but as far as engineering is concerned, there have been remarkable advancements.

At the same time, the leadership showcased by Felipe cannot be ignored. A typical UNOPS emergency response type, a 40-something-year-old with black, long hair and a confident smile. He is originally from Colombia but has lived in Haiti for well over a decade. He is married to a Haitian woman, and they are both proud parents of a beautiful five-year-old boy. I met Felipe a while back just after the 2010 earthquake during the  Reconstruction Program. Even back then, he was very given to humanitarian assistance. We met many nights, holding strategic sessions over bottles of Prestige, Haiti’s national beer. He’s a thinker, able to dissect any issue into its most minute details, but he is also a man of action, able to make decisions at a moment’s notice. This week, he decided to resign his position and become a full-time husband and father. I know this is a very difficult decision for him, especially now at the top of his game, but he is making the right decision. I wish I had done the same 10 years ago for my kids.

I finally arrive at the rendezvous point, in front of a half-damaged yet firm-looking house made of rocks and wood, where I meet our trusted engineers and the UNOPS team. It’s so nice to see Beverly, our Haitian chief engineer, and the rest of the team. They have done a remarkable job under very difficult conditions. Then, Felipe steps out of the house, wearing his trademark smile. The team had been assessing the house, and Felipe was now talking with the owner, an older local man with a sharp jaw shadowed by a straw hat. The owner confides in Felipe his appreciation for what they are doing. His face is rugged—marked and chiseled over years of working under the scorching sun. He gathers some dried tobacco leaves from the drying room and deftly rolls a small cigar for us. Felipe and I take turns smoking it. I am not a cigar smoker, but this is probably the best thing I have ever smoked.

3:05 PM, Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Beverly and I are in an extremely remote coastline in the Nippes Department. A beautiful blue sea crowned by a similarly blue sky speckled with wild thunderhead clouds.

MTPTC has five engineering divisions deployed in Nippes, which are composed of 100 people, give or take. Beverly and I go division by division checking on their progress. Their activities are monitored remotely, and GIS mapping is done every day; however, it is critical that we meet with the teams in person—they have not seen their families in several months and work six days a week in unfamiliar places. Today, we are visiting Division 19, which is assessing damaged houses in the middle of a thick banana tree jungle.

Doing our rounds, we spot a rock house that looks newer than its neighbors. It is tagged “red”: badly damaged. The residents tell me that it was built by a large American nonprofit organization a few years ago.  I see tons of termite damage on imported American 2x4s in the rock-filled wall. Traditional construction uses fast-growing local wood. This wood is much harder and termite resistant than imported wood.

 

9:30 AM, Friday, February 4, 2022

We are driving through a bustling market in downtown Les Cayes to meet Consuelo. She is an occupational therapist who runs a small nonprofit called “Fondation Tous Ensemble” or “Rehabilitation Center” in the middle of this earthquake-damaged town. Her clinic was badly damaged in the earthquake and she’s been operating out of a makeshift tent ever since. Her seven-staff clinic often serves up to 60 patients a day.

“Many are victims from the earthquake,”-she says.

“They suffered broken limbs; and for many, their bones fused unevenly because of erroneous treatments. Kit, you know this as well as I do, being disabled here is the closest thing to a death sentence. We serve the entire south. We have the only rehabilitation center in the area. We need to help these people, but we need to repair our clinic to do so.”

Her annual budget, which is composed of hundreds of small donations, is only $100k. Our estimates say that the repair and strengthening costs for her two-story heritage house clinic will amount to $70k, a good chunk of the clinic’s budget.

“I raised an additional $50k for the repairs but we still fall short of budget,”-she says

There is only one clear solution to this. Without needing to ponder it, I reply, “We will activate our nonprofit Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief to deal with the rest.”

Miyamoto Relief goes where the need is critical, money is never a question.

5:30 PM, Sunday, February 6th, 2022

I am with Beverly, Jacques (another one of our Haitian engineer managers), Canes (my driver and guide for the last 10 years) and Abbey (an American medical doctor who lends her services in a nearby maternity clinic, the only one in the south—she’s working with our team to reconstruct collapsed houses for the maternity clinic’s staff) by the sea, enjoying our free Sunday afternoon.

We are standing in a line, shoulder to shoulder, staring at this unbelievably orange sunset as it showers its glow over this wild, empty beach, nary a soul other than ours treading its sand. The waves are gentle caresses in my ears, and the Caribbean ocean breeze soothes my skin. Haiti is beautiful, wild, mysterious, and full of adventures. There is rarely a time when things just stop; but now, right this moment, we quieten our voices. We listen to the rise and fall of the waves, leaving tracks of wetted sand, and we watch the hazy orange sun as it lies to rest beyond the Caribbean Sea.

Kit Miyamoto
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Kit Miyamoto

As CEO of the structural engineering company Miyamoto International, Kit is dedicated to making the world a better place. In Kit's words: our responsibility as engineers is to make buildings safer by sharing what we know around the world. Join his journey to make the world a better, safer place.

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Congrats to our recently promoted Miyamoto Princip Congrats to our recently promoted Miyamoto Principals and Associate Principals. Thank you for all that you do to make the world a better, safer place.

#Miyamoto #MiyamotoInternational #Promotion #ThankYou
A powerful earthquake has struck regions of #Afgha A powerful earthquake has struck regions of #Afghanistan, #Pakistan, and #India. The epicenter was around the mountainous city of Jurm in northeastern #Afghanistan, near the border with #Pakistan with a magnitude of at least M6.5 on the Richter scale.

The region and near vicinities must be prepared for aftershocks, usually smaller than the main earthquake but can still cause damage or collapse already damaged buildings. In the case of an aftershock:

✔️If you are indoors, quickly move to a sturdy desk or table and take cover. Stay away from outside walls and anything that could fall on you.
✔️If you are outside, move away from buildings and trees. Find an open area and stay there until the shaking stops.
✔️If you are traveling by vehicle, stop in a clear location, and stay inside the vehicle until the shaking stops. Avoid stopping near buildings, trees, walls, or anything that can fall on you.
✔️If available, follow any instructions or guidance from local authorities and emergency services.

یوې زورورې زلزلې د #افغانستان، #پاکستان او #هند سیمې ولړزولې. د زلزلې مرکز د #افغانستان په شمال ختیځ کې د جرم د غرني ښار په شاوخوا کې د #پاکستان پولې ته نږدې و.
سیمه او نږدې ځایونه باید د وروسته شاکونو لپاره چمتو وي ، معمولا د اصلي زلزلې څخه کوچني مګر لاهم د زیان لامل کیدی شي یا دمخه زیانمن شوي ودانیو سقوط. د وروسته شاک په قضیه کې:
⁇  که تاسو په کور کې یاست ، ژر تر ژره یو قوي میز یا میز ته لاړشئ او پوښ یې واخلئ. د بهر دیوالونو او هر هغه څه څخه لرې اوسئ چې تاسو باندې راوتلی شي.
 که تاسو بهر یاست ، له ودانیو او ونو څخه لرې شئ. یوه خلاصه سیمه ومومئ او هلته پاتې شئ تر هغه چې ټکان ودریږي.
که تاسو د موټر په واسطه سفر کوئ ، په روښانه موقعیت کې ودریږئ ، او د موټر دننه پاتې شئ تر هغه چې ټکان ودریږي. ودانیو ، ونو ، دیوالونو ، یا هر هغه څه ته نږدې کیدو څخه مخنیوی وکړئ چې تاسو باندې راوتلی شي.
که شتون ولري ، د ځایی چارواکو او عاجل خدماتو څخه لارښوونې یا لارښوونې تعقیب کړئ.

 #earthquake
As per #earthquake regulations, it is essential to As per #earthquake regulations, it is essential to make sure you have a good connection to prevent dislodging. However, in this scenario, the building’s connections were not secured correctly, leading to its inevitable collapse.

It is imperative to recognize that even the most minor details, such as securing the connections accurately, can have a significant impact on the safety of a building. Such precautions do not entail significant expenses but can make a vital difference in life-threatening situations. Tragically, it often takes a calamity like this to raise awareness of the criticality of adhering to appropriate #structural #engineering guidelines.

Tap the link in our bio to learn more about how #structuralengineering can save lives.
Massive destruction of civilian infrastructure has Massive destruction of civilian infrastructure has left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians in damaged homes or buildings.

Last week’s missile attack across #Ukraine resulted in more loss of life, homelessness, destruction, and damage to private homes. As reported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in Lviv oblast, the village of Velyka Vilshanytsya was severely impacted, including loss of life and damage to some 21 homes.

600 Km east Miyamoto International Ukraine was in #Bucha & #Irpyn inspecting houses and apartments repaired after war damages.

Preparations for the country’s reconstruction should not be on hold. The right time to support #Ukraine’s recovery is now, so the full reconstruction can #start right the next day Russian hostilities #end.

Civilians are #NotATarget #StandWithUkraine
Announcing the #Expansion of #Miyamoto Capacity: # Announcing the #Expansion of #Miyamoto Capacity: #Urban #Resilience & #Rehabilitation!

Our #MiyamotoInternational team possesses deep experience in urban resilience, #urbanplanning, and rehabilitation, including using nature-based solutions and sustainable materials. Moreover, our experience in participatory planning processes and capacity building, ranging from community engagements in informal settlements to engaging hand-in-hand with high-level officials and #government entities, brings a pragmatic and cutting-edge cross-disciplinary and integrated approach to #sustainability and resilience.

We work through a system-based approach that acknowledges entire ecosystems, enhances #community #development (participation and co-creation with communities), tackles risk mitigation, reinforces the #ecology (including the integration of NBS), and fosters local #economic development. We bring a vast international experience and the ability to integrate and address a deep understanding of local context, needs, and potentials.

Some of our principles include:

✔️Aligning with current planning standards
✔️Integrated planning strategies
✔️Addressing multiple scales + systems-based approach
✔️Focus on community development + local governance
✔️Urban Design and Placemaking
✔️Equity and inclusion

Learn more at the link in our bio!
Today, on International Women's Day, we take a mom Today, on International Women's Day, we take a moment to recognize and celebrate the incredible women working at Miyamoto International and at the companies and organizations we continuously collaborate with to make the world safer. We are proud to be part of an industry that increasingly recognizes the value of diversity and inclusion, and we are grateful for the talented and dedicated women who are helping to lead the way.

From #engineers who are designing buildings and infrastructure that will stand the test of time to the local office staff working hard behind the scenes to keep our projects on track, women in all roles significantly impact our industry. Their contributions are essential to the success of our projects and the strength and #resilience of the communities we serve.

At Miyamoto International, we support and empower #women in all roles. We believe #diversity and #inclusion are essential ingredients for success. By embracing different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, we can solve complex problems, innovate new solutions, and create a more equitable and #sustainable future for all.

So today and always, we thank all the amazing women who are part of our team and the wider Miyamoto International family. Your hard work, talent, and dedication are truly inspiring, and we are proud to stand alongside you as we work to build a safer, stronger, and more resilient world for all.
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