Discover - Science

Tuesday, 9 March 2010


Engineers help Haiti find building solutions that could prevent people from dying in future earthquakes.

Engineers help Haiti find building solutions that could prevent people from dying in future earthquakes.

A group of engineers has been investigating the effects of the Haiti earthquake, and has made suggestions for things that could help in the future.

At least 217,000 people died during and after the quake. The report says that many of these lives could have been saved if buildings had been designed and built with earthquakes in mind.

In one town, Léogâne, the engineers found that more than 90% of buildings had collapsed or needed major repair work.

Team leader Marc Eberhard of the University of Washington says that most earthquakes look worse on TV. However, he said the Haiti quake was much worse in real life.


Since there were no monitoring stations near Haiti, scientists don’t know exactly where the quake started. The team installed equipment to measure aftershocks and hopefully locate where the main fault is.

 

Please leave your comments below and tell us if you think money raised for Haiti victims should go into building better homes.

 

Also, answer our poll and let us know if your school has raised money for Haiti.





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  • kieran (Age 7) wrote on Sunday, 14 March 2010 @ 06:10

    yes i think money should be used for stronger homes