Engineer Joins PADF on the Ground

Kit Miyamoto assesses buildings for reconstruction

By Julie Hyman

Washington, D.C., January 22, 2010 – Many buildings in downtown Port-au-Prince are mere piles of rubble. Others are severely damaged, and the ones that are not remain vacant as victims and relief workers alike fear the possibility that they may collapse at any time. 
 
If structural earthquake engineer Kit Miyamoto has anything to do with it, however, everyone will be comfortably inside the safe buildings as quickly as possible.
 
“Right now, people are trying to escape from this country but we’re going in,” he says from Port-au-Prince. “When I’m at disaster sites, I feel like I’m in my element.”  Miyamoto pauses for a moment and then with a laugh adds: “Some people may think that’s crazy.”
 
Miyamoto -- who has worked with post-earthquake assessments in China, Japan, Indonesia and the United States -- is in Haiti with the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) to inspect damaged buildings and make recommendations as Haiti begins the tough task of reconstruction.

Miyamoto (who volunteered his time to PADF and paid his own expenses) will inspect about 10 buildings per day.

Miyamoto loves his work, explaining that his experience comes from years of training in laboratories and on the ground.  He uses a rapid screening process called Applied Technology Council 20 to assess each and every fracture in damaged buildings.
 
“I walk through the building and identify the cracks.  I see if that crack is going to cause further failures, what kind of fix they have to do before it’s occupied, or what kind of fix they can do right now so they can occupy it,” he explains. “It’s kind of risk management in a sense.”

When the assessment is complete, color-coded tags mark the safety level of each facility.

This is “very important because people are afraid to go into buildings while some portions may actually be okay,” says Louis Alexander, PADF’s senior program director. Miyamoto’s work “will help everyone reestablish operations and ensure safety.”
 
In addition to building assessment, Miyamoto will also collect data from Haiti’s most damaged areas to determine what should and should not be done in the future. This information will be valuable in improving the construction of other structures worldwide, and will ensure that a disaster of this magnitude does not happen again.

Miyamoto will inspect a wide range of buildings, with an emphasis on structures that are vital to the relief and recovery effort in the capital. All PADF facilities and partner facilities will be inspected by Miyamoto, including the World Bank and the U.N., to determine whether or not these buildings are safe.
 
“I just did a walk-through of the PADF office (in Port-au-Prince) and it has been damaged,” he explains.  “As I walked through, I identified that they could still occupy almost 90 percent of the area. If they aren’t able to use the office, or they don’t know if they can, then it’s going to definitely make their relief efforts much more difficult. So allowing them to do their work is saving lives.”