Call for survey of school buildings to assess earthquake vulnerability

posted on: Feb 3 2010 9:3 by Royston. Viewed 427 times.


The president of the Dominican Association of Teachers (ADP), Radhames Camacho, suggested that the Ministry of Education should initiate a program to assess school buildings for vulnerability to earthquakes. The results of this survey would indicate buildings which should be repaired or, if necessary, demolished.

Referring to a report by the Intec University  on the high percentage of school buildings that show seismic vulnerability in the country, Camacho said that the study should be delivered as soon as possible for consideration by the Central Government, the Ministry of Education, Emergency Operations Committee (COE) and the Civil Defense.

He added that school buildings have a number of uses in the community. Apart from education,  80% of  schools are used as venues for medical conferences, religious purposes, sports and  meeting places for associations of parents and friends of the schools.

Intec researcher, Eric Hernandez, led an assessment of 61 schools among other structures in the National District,. According to the results, nearly 75% of school buildings evaluated are seismically vulnerable and susceptible to damage if hit by an earthquake similar to the recent one in Haiti.

Schools were evaluated in the National District, Santo Domingo East, West, North and Los Alcarrizos. The report was presented at the International Conference on Earthquake Resistant Engineering in Santiago de los Caballeros.

Because of the similarity of school structures, it is possible to extrapolate the numbers for schools in other provinces. Hernandez recalled, in an earlier interview, that after the earthquake in Puerto Plata, in 2003, the only completely collapsed buildings were schools, which gives an idea of the seriousness of the problem.

Talking on this subject, the President of the ADP suggested, on the radio program "Education, Health and Development", that the Ministry of Education should seek, in conjunction with ADP, to create mobile classrooms. This would allow teaching to continue concurrently with the construction and repair of schools in poor condition.

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