HAITI’S ROCK AND SOIL ENGINEERING
Figure 2. Madan Sara vegetable and snack vendors, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, September 2013
Figure 1. Location map of the Republic of Haiti (Note the Dominican Republic adjoins Haiti to the east). Source: CIA WorldFact Book, Haiti, 2020.
Haiti suffers from high winds, excessive rainfall, high humidity, and frequent floods. Its young soils on steep slopes erode easily, and excessive rain or earthquake shaking causes large slides that block roads and bury structures. Its volcanically-derived swelling soils threaten pavements, side- walks, and buildings. Because much of its bedrock is karstic cavernous limestone, sinkholes are common and structures are threatened by collapse into underlying solution cavities. As an island nation, Haiti also is burdened by rising sea lev- els, seawater intrusion, and salination of coastal and nearby riverine soils and groundwater.
Agriculture, as in most developing countries, employs most of Haiti’s people. However, it is severely limited in productivity because of deforestation and soil erosion, adulterated seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. Overproduction of competing staple vegetable crops with no access to cold storage leads to gluts and wastage at harvest times, and to harvesting before crops are ripe in order to pay production costs. Output is also severely limited by flooded non-all-weather roads, and damage to pro- duce caused by inadequate farm-to-market packaging during transit on these poor roads. Furthermore, tenant and squatting farmers are unable to make agricultural investments and com- mercial scams are rife in agriculture and agricultural finance. There is an inefficient vegetable distribution system through poorly financed “Madan Sara”, or street saleswomen, who often have daily working capital less than $25. Thus, truck vegetables frequently arrive at markets bruised, and mangoes often arrive mashed, because of the poor packing and rutted roads mentioned above.
Figure 2 shows several Madan Sara vendors.
My surveys, interviews, discussions, and observations in 2008 and 2013 found that most Haitians live in non- engineered, multi-generational, non-air conditioned, poorly constructed, hollow-concrete block and/or poorly constructed
www.aipg.org
Figure 3. Typical small-business shack, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, September 2013
These natural environmental challenges are exacerbated by Haiti’s poverty and poor governance. Poverty and governance
Jul.Aug.Sep 2021 • TPG 13
wooden homes. Their offices are not much better. These struc- tures are susceptible to earthquake-tremor and hurricane- wind damage, settling, and failure. The non-rebar reinforced concrete (nRRC) structures frequently fail during tectonic events while rebar-reinforced concreted (RRC) structures are more likely to withstand tremors and wind.
These non-engineered buildings, shacks, emergency hous- ing, and temporary shacks are prone to tilt, bulge, sink, or collapse. Haitian architects, engineers, and construction managers know their structures would be best served with RRC walls for safety and security, but the costs in such a poor country often preclude these sound construction practices.
As in many poor tropical countries, most Haitians spend much of their time outdoors engaged in non-economic activi- ties, which saves many Haitians from death and serious injury when structures fail.
Figure 3 shows a typical Haitian small business shack structure.
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