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Researchers from the Resilient Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RISE) group at the University of Colorado Boulder recently teamed up with local experts, academics, and volunteers in Haiti to capture perishable data on the geotechnical hazards resulting from the 2021 Nippes earthquake.

Their findings and perspectives have been published in  – created in coordination with other institutions – that notes several key principles to holistically improve recovery and mitigation activity around disasters in the country going forward. 

These recommendations include the need for a better pre-disaster network and capacity building among governments, private sector stakeholders, nongovernmental organizations, and other community partners – all of which will be useful to emergency management, social sciences, and civil engineering researchers in the future.

During the first phase of reconnaissance for this project, the team collected preliminary data as they investigated ground shaking characteristics, seismically induced landslides, and seismic damage to infrastructure such as bridges and highways. Additionally, the team examined whether there were surface fault ruptures and the effects of liquefaction or cyclic softening. 

They also gathered information on the social, economic and political context of the earthquake, as well as other parallel crises facing Haiti. The researchers’ overall goal was to understand how multiple disasters and the current socio-economic environment of the country relates to their ongoing geotechnical and seismological vulnerability.

RISE Director Shideh Dashti, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, said the U.S. based team struggled to access reliable information on the engineering and social aspects of the earthquake because of unsafe conditions and travel restrictions following this disaster. Because of that dynamic, her team worked remotely with those on the ground in Haiti to collect the time sensitive information that would provide a holistic and dynamic picture of the current situation.

“The most significant challenge was connecting with local experts and students and providing them with sufficient resources to travel to the affected sites and collect data reliably,” Dashti said. “We were fortunate to collaborate with incredibly talented and resourceful individuals at the University of Haiti, who helped us identify the key sites for investigation and were willing to travel to the affected regions, despite real safety and security concerns. Our team in the U.S. simultaneously used remote data, hazard maps, and satellite imagery from a variety of sources nationally and internationally to identify areas of concern for additional survey.” 

Funding for this work came from the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association – a National Science Foundation group that heads up post-disaster geotechnical engineering reconnaissance efforts around the world. Dashti is a co-principal investigator and steering committee member of GEER.

Dashti said the RISE Interdisciplinary Research Theme provided a solid model for this kind of post-disaster investigation going forward. Created in 2020, the theme explores holistic actions to address the many drivers of urban disaster risk worldwide, while simultaneously addressing environmental sustainability and social equity challenges with research expertise on ���������� Boulder’s campus in disaster resilience, sustainable design and social justice.

“We are one of the only active, large scale research efforts right now that brings together all these disciplines and perspectives,” Dashti said. “There is much to learn and the lessons are applicable to many regions within the U.S. as well, which is dealing with similar geological, seismic or socio-economic conditions.”