When Cal Poly architectural engineering associate professor James Mwangi was chosen by the Mennonite Central Committee for a sponsored relief trip to Haiti after the 7.0 earthquake, he expected to assess buildings for two weeks, but ended up educating Haitian builders.
Mwangi is a licensed structural engineer and a volunteer certified disaster safety worker through the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA), the agency that deploys structural engineers in California during natural disasters to inspect damage.
The Structural Engineers Association of California manages the deployments for CalEMA; after the earthquake hit it advised members not to self-deploy for security reasons. Mwangi, still interested, contacted Engineers Without Borders and was then contacted by the Mennonite Central Committee.
Mwangi is registered as a structural engineer and certification by the CalEMA made him the perfect fit to decide whether the buildings should stay. Mwangi had been inspecting buildings in Haiti for three days when he attended a meeting conducted by United Nations Operations and the Haiti Government’s Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications (MTPTC), which changed his itinerary altogether.
When asked what to do to prevent the severe damage to the buildings from reoccurring, he said the architects, engineers and contractors of Haiti should be taught how to build differently to withstand natural disasters.
“Over 230,000 people lost their lives, clearly indicating that earthquakes do not kill people, but buildings kill people during earthquakes,” he said.
Mwangi explained the materials used in construction of the buildings had weak structure and very poor construction methods.
“Virtually all of the buildings are not designed by a structural engineer or architect, there is no construction code or practice to follow and hence no quality assurance in form of inspections on materials or during construction,” he said.
Mwangi was asked if he could teach the Haitian architects, engineers and contractors starting the following day. He immediately agreed and started organizing his lesson plans and set up sessions for the Haitians for the remainder of his trip.
“I gave six three-hour workshops in different cities: two in Desarmes, two in Kenscoff, one if Port-au-Prince and one in Dleudon,” he said. “By the time it was time for me to come back, the workshops had been attended by close to 150 professionals.”
Mwangi’s workshops aimed at educating architects, engineers and contractors about simple changes they could make to build earthquake-resistant buildings without acquiring extra cost. He also taught the Haitians basics on the causes of earthquakes, aftershocks, what to do during and after earthquakes, what materials to use and how to build one or two-family, two-story dwellings.
Tracee de Hahn, who works for the College of Architecture and is a coworker of Mwangi, explained how his background and personality made Mwangi a great teacher for these Haitian people.
“James, being originally from Kenya, really understands different cultures,” she said. “He is such a humble person.”
Coming back to Cal Poly, Mwangi said, “I was amazed how eager the construction professionals are for information and knowledge on how to construct better earthquake resistant buildings.” He added, “I believe that the first way forward in the reconstruction of Haiti infrastructure is the education and re-education of the Haitian construction professionals.”