Haiti earthquake and collapse of the UN building

Sympathy must be provided to the people of Haiti along with abundant tangible support in the wake of the earthquake that struck a few days ago. Even without the force of earthquakes, however, the collapse of buildings is almost a daily event in some parts of the world. A reminder of this was that of a building collapse of a school in Haiti about a year ago. This is a further reminder of the problems facing many third world countries in which political and social norms are not serving their people well.

Extralegal capital in the form of shanty towns, squatter developments and illegal buildings is a large part of economies of some countries. Some of the following characteristics of these economies include:
• Houses built on land with inadequately recorded ownership
• Lack of property rights
• Lack of enforceable transactions on property rights
• Unincorporated business with undefined liability
• Non-compliance of building with building codes
• Illegal buildings
• Corruption at national and local government levels
Haiti appears to have some of these characteristics. Irrational adherence to outdated traditions, a disregard for any building codes that may exist, and dense populations of people all trying to compete for limited resources and opportunities, are just some of the reasons for the problem in many countries.

Haiti is a relatively small land-mass attempting to support more than nine million people. A plundering of resources by deforestation is one characteristic of this society. It is typical of many countries where too many people are trying to eke out a living on impoverished land where there are increasingly diminishing resources.

As with many other poor countries, the resource base is simply inadequate to fulfil the needs of most people and this leads to building structures for shelter (or in the collapse of about a year ago, a school) using the most rudimentary methods and with minimal use of materials. Moderate to severe earthquakes, such as that which occurred last week in Haiti, serve as a further reminder of the frailty of the building stock in Haiti and in many other parts of the world.

The pressure on the planet is well understood to be leading to increasing shortages of food and water. While building technology and construction knowledge using rational engineering principles should be accessible to people anywhere in the world, perpetual poverty in some countries and diminishing access to appropriate building materials is going to lead to many more building failures and loss of life in the future.

Our sympathies are also due to those injured in and to the families of the UN who perished in the collapse of the UN building. It does, however, beg the question as to what due diligence the UN carried out in relation to the design and construction and/or the purchase of the UN building before they took occupancy. Did the UN occupy a building that was not up to standard, given that they of all agencies would be the best placed to ensure the least risk to those working in and using the UN building? Will the UN ensure that their building is replaced to appropriate design and construction standards? Who will ensure such improvements to the rebuilding of the buildings and infrastructure in general in Haiti?

The following are some further relevant blog articles:

http://bildingblocks.blogspot.com/2008/11/building-collapse-in-haiti.html

http://bildingblocks.blogspot.com/2009/04/earthquake-in-laquila-italy-april-2009.html

http://bildingblocks.blogspot.com/2008/10/earthquake-in-pakistan-october-2008.html

Much has been reported on this catastrophic event in Haiti including the following CNN article:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-381544