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HAITI / BUILDING ASSESSMENTS
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STORY: HAITI / BUILDING ASSESSMENTS
TRT: 2:37
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CREOLE/ FRENCH/ ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 23 JUNE 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
23 JUNE 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
1. Wide shot, Alabre Louina washing clothes
2. Wide shot, rubble
3. Tracking shot, tent city
4. Pan left, Louina Alabre walking
5. SOUNDBITE (Haitian Creole) Alabre Louina, Earthquake Victim:
“I don’t feel safe in a house now because I lost a lot.”
6. Various shots, tents
7. Various shots, women in camps washing clothes
8. Wide shot, people bathing using municipal water
9. Various shots, rubble
10. Med shot, man sitting under tarp in tent
11. Various shots, family living near destroyed building shot through window
12. Tracking shot, building inspector walking down alley
13. Med shot, flashlight inspecting roof of building
14. SOUNDBITE (English) David Lallement, World Bank Group:
“People are very traumatized by this event and giving them reassurance if their building is safe is very important because currently a lot of people are living outside their house even if it’s perfectly safe and perfectly intact.”
15. Various shots, housing inspectors meeting at base
16. Med shot, inspector talking to owner of home
17. Med shot, Ritchie Morisseau looking at building
18. Close up, inspector spray painting green tag on wall
19. Close up, yellow tag on wall
20. Wide shot, inspector in building that has been tagged red
21. Various shots, Ritchie Morisseau inspecting home
22. SOUNDBITE (French) Ritchie Morisseau, Engineer:
“It’s red because it’s dangerous. The house is not resistant if there were another aftershock.”
23. Close up, crack on the wall
24. Wide shot, team inspecting top floor of home
25. Med shot, Ritchie Morisseau informing owner about assessment
26. SOUNDBITE (Haitian Creole) Registe Wilner, Earthquake Victim:
“After, the evaluation, I was very happy for the advice. The engineer told me that the first floor is fine but that I have to demolish the second floor.”
27. Tracking shot, building inspector walking down alley
28. Med shot, kiosk owner leaning against building with green tag
29. Close up, green tag
30. Med shot, inspector taking notes
31. Close up, notes
32. Wide shot, inspectors walking up stairs seen through window
33. Wide shot, woman carrying heavy suitcase near rubble
Over six months after a massive earthquake hit Haiti, a plan is under way to help millions of people still living in tents and fearful of unsafe buildings move back into sturdier structures.
Alabre Louina lost three members of her family in the earthquake when her house collapsed. Home is now a tent. Even though camp life is difficult, Alabre is too afraid to move back into a house.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Alabre Louina, Earthquake Victim:
“I don’t feel safe in a house now because I lost a lot.”
In Haiti, tent cities have become the norm. An estimated one-and-a-half million people live in them. Space is cramped, there is a lack of privacy and huge vulnerability to the elements.
After the earthquake destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings throughout the country, many Haitians have no other living options. Some don’t have a home to go to; others are too afraid to return to their old homes.
The Haitian government, with the support of a large World Bank funded reconstruction program, is currently providing free building inspections to assess the safety of questionable structures.
SOUNDBITE (English) David Lallement, World Bank Group:
“People are very traumatized by this event and giving them reassurance if their building is safe is very important because currently a lot of people are living outside their house even if it’s perfectly safe and perfectly intact.”
270 Haitian engineers have been trained by international earthquake specialists. So far they have assessed in excess of 140,000 buildings.
Buildings tagged green are deemed safe; those with a yellow tag require work and those labelled red should be avoided.
Ritchie Morisseau is a divisional leader in charge of an assessment unit. He looks for specific tell-tale signs when deciding on a building’s safety.
SOUNDBITE (French) Ritchie Morisseau, Engineer:
“It’s red because it’s dangerous. The house is not resistant if there were another aftershock.”
While a red tag is not good news for the building’s owner it does at least provide some clarity and advice on what he needs to do to protect himself.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Registe Wilner, Earthquake Victim:
“After, the evaluation, I was very happy for the advice. The engineer told me that the first floor is fine but that I have to demolish the second floor.”
For those whose homes are tagged green, they can rest assured knowing they are living in safety.
The assessments are just phase one in a multi-step process. One of the many goals is to develop a blueprint for sturdier structures that can handle future natural disasters.
