SPACE-AGE
VIBRATION CONTROL FOR
ANCIENT
CATHEDRAL IN HAÏTI
JACMEL, HAÏTI - In the heart of town
and hedged in by buzzing market
streets stands the 18th-century
Jacmel Cathedral St-Philippe and St-
Jacques, a ghost of its former self.
Since the earthquake, the Cathedral
has not been in use. The damage
caused by the magnitude-7.0 quake
in 2010 is clearly visible. Large cracks
line the walls leaving the overall struc-
tural integrity of the historic building
severely compromised.
“We can no longer hold our service
in the Cathedral due to really bad
building damage,” said Ms. Mirlene
Vivens, a representative of the
Committee for the Restoration of the
Cathedral. The spaces we use today
for Mass are inappropriate, crowded
and uncomfortable.”
Mass is held in a number of small
rooms in buildings surrounding the
cathedral. Queues of people wait
patiently to be seated, but many are
not able to attend for lack of space.
“The community does not have much
and therefore cannot contribute a lot
to the restoration of the Cathedral,”
Ms. Vivens told us during a visit to the
Cathedral in February. Hope for the
Cathedral’s restoration came months
later, when committee members, as
Ms. Vivens said: “Finally, got in touch
with PROCHE.”
With the support of the Catholic
Church, the Partnership for Church
Reconstruction in Haïti (PROCHE)
is leading the program to restore the
Jacmel Cathedral. PROCHE is the
Church’s construction unit overseeing
church rebuilding in Haïti.
The goal is to restore and seismi-
cally strengthen the 200-year-old
Cathedral to ensure a reduced risk
to life and earthquake damage or
collapse – while also safeguarding
the historic integrity and authenticity
of the buildings.
“During an earthquake, the walls of
ancient buildings are too weak to
withstand the seismic movement of
the ground and thus tend to fall off,
leading to total building collapse,”
explained Dr. Kit Miyamoto of the
structural engineering firm, Miyamoto
International. “We thought about add-
ing more shear walls or exterior brac-
ing, but we knew that would ruin the
historical architecture of the building.
Instead, we are going to install base
isolation—putting the building on
rollers so that when the earth moves,
the building doesn’t.”
A structure built directly on the
ground will move with an earth-
quake’s motion and can bear exten-
sive damage as a result. However, by
separating the building – or isolating
it – from the ground on flexible bear-
ings or pads known as base isola-
tors, it will only move a little or not at
all during an earthquake. This is the
same technology used in high rise
buildings in Tokyo and San Francisco
and is truly the newest seismic
technology.
The Jacmel Cathedral will be the
first building in Haïti engineered
with base isolators. This will protect
the structure against the movement
generated by earthquakes and serve
as a model for how to build earth-
quake-resistant buildings.
Professor Akiri Wada, one of the most
prominent researchers in seismic
design of buildings in Japan and
known for shaping engineering prac-
tices globally, traveled from Japan to
Haïti last month on the invitation of
PROCHE to peer review Miyamoto
International’s design plans for the
Cathedral’s reconstruction – and
approved.
“The engineering of the Cathedral
has been a truly multi-national effort,”
Dr. Miyamoto proudly announced.
“Miyamoto Italy engineered the
strengthening of the superstructure,
Miyamoto’s California office de-
signed the base isolation system,
and Miyamoto Haïti will manage and
supervise the reconstruction of the
Cathedral. We’re proud to provide
engineering and construction man-
agement services to this important
project and work in partnership with
PROCHE to rebuild and seismically
protect Haïti’s heritage.”
