EEFIT MISSION TO HAITI FOLLOWING THE MAGNITUDE 7 EARTHQUAKE OF 12 JANUARY 2010

The UK based Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) will be conducting a reconnaissance mission to the Port-Au-Prince and the surrounding areas in Haiti to study the effects of the Mw 7.0 earthquake that occurred on the 12th January 2010. The purpose of this mission is to gain insight into how buildings and infrastructure performed during this earthquake and the consequent effect on the local community. To do this a team of four people will spend approximately 5 days in the field collecting data. It is anticipated that th Haiti mission is going to be very different to the other EEFIT missions due to conditions on the ground. The team was therefore limited to four members and extensive pre-mission planning is being carried out. On the return of the team members, the field data will be analysed using novel disaster management tools that will be developed as part of the project and the findings disseminated to both researchers and professional engineers. This grant application seeks financial assistance for the three academic members of the EEFIT group to participate in this mission.

The Haiti earthquake of 12th January 2010 resulted in a very large number of casualties (>220,000). In the case of this earthquake, the affected area is large, the devastation caused so great and the people affected so vulnerable. With large amount of reconstruction being planned even the smallest measures to reduce the impact will have an enormous effect on the performance of civil engineering structures in future earthquakes. Progress in earthquake mitigation is mainly achieved by informing researchers of gaps in our earthquake engineering knowledge, informing designers of the flaws in existing design practices, informing disaster management planners and policy makers of how to ensure safer systems, and teaching local communities how they can best prepare for the next event. All will benefit from the research; however in the longer term it is the world's most vulnerable communities that will see the greatest impact. The field observations will serve as guidance to the improvement of building codes in both the affected region and to seismic zones in general. They will be particular important for informing the reconstruction process and will have a direct impact on the future resilience of the local community. An important part of EEFITs work is the training of people in both field collection techniques and practical aspects of earthquake engineering design. In Britain, there is an excellent and active earthquake engineering community; however, it can be difficult for young researchers and engineers to gain practical experience in this important discipline. Haiti mission is rather unusual in the sense that the number of team members is limited due to conditions on the ground. However, all the team members will gain from the experience of thismission and from the data collected in the field and damage assessments that are made. This will in turn be of great benefit to the earthquake engineering community in general.