A year and a half ago, the earthquake in Haiti crippled the already troubled nation’s infrastructure. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake displaced over 3 million residents and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings – both commercial and residential - in the main capital of Port-Au-Prince, as well as its surrounding towns.
Sustainability entails making long-term use of our natural resources without leaving a major carbon footprint. It permeates all aspects of infrastructure design, construction and maintenance throughout the life of the structure. Even the life of the building matters.
Disaster resilience ensures that a community can take the “punch” of a disaster and recover quickly. The lack thereof can have dire effects on a region’s destiny. History has taught valuable lessons about the long-term effects of disasters. The effects of disasters can ...
In our latest edition of Perspectives May 2010, we look at:
What Hospitals Can Do in the Face of SB 1953 Mandates and the Capital Crunch While hospitals play an important role in preserving lives and welfare regardless of a patient's ability to pay, hospitals themselves are struggling to pay for necessary seismic retrofits and non-structural upgrades to remain in service following a major natural disaster. California's hospitals are facing unprecedented challenges in meeting Senate Bill 1953’s seismic safety mandates, which ...
Two major earthquakes rocked different regions of the world in 2009, and Degenkolb Engineers was on the front lines for both, sending reconnaissance teams to L’Aquila, Italy and Padang, Indonesia to better understand building performance after an earthquake. Observing the aftermath of an earthquake provides a valuable opportunity to see and feel the impact of severe earthquakes and to define and discuss how to better achieve disaster resilience and seismic safety. In April, L’Aquila, a thirteenth century city, ...
