USGS/EERI January Advance Team Report Now Available
February 19, 2010 by admin
Filed under EERI Activities, Reports From The Field
The USGS/EERI advance reconnaissance team that traveled to Haiti in late January has finished their report. It is available for download here: USGS_EERI_HAITI_V1.1 (9 MB PDF)
Great report – on page 18, though, the badly damaged building across the road from the new digicel building is actual the Hopital de Turgeau, which was completed, I think, in 2008. I have a picture of the building before the quake – the damage is even more stunning if one considers that this was probably the newest major healthcare facility in Haiti. I also have pictures of the digicel building under construction if those would be of interest, and can help EERI team members get access if they wish – please contact me directly at the above email address.
Dear Mr. Young,
Thank you for catching the incorrect labeling of the Hospital, and for sharing with us your photos.
Version 1.1 of the report, which was issued yesterday (Feb. 23rd), identifies this building as the Turgeau Hospital.
Marc
It appears from photographs that the collapse of exterior masonry walls (brick, concrete block, etc.) was almost always to the outside of the structure, rather than inside the structure. Debris piles seem always in that position. Is this because of buttressing and possible movement by internal walls that deflect collapse outwards?
In looking at exterior debris accumulations around buildings, are there preferred sides of larger accumulations (and destruction) that might infer preferred ground motion, which, in turn, might suggest surface-wave direction that triggered damage?