www.nce.co.uk1 21.01.10NEWCIVILENGINEER3
CONTENTS 21.01.10
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COVER 06 STORY Haiti earthquake
Engineers race to scelle of worlds's deadliest natural dis aster.
20
RENMAILE ENERGY R;dsandZ
As the UK looks ahead to an exciting future for renewables, NCEvisits a Danish wind fann.
23
TRANSPORT Highways Special
NCElooks at congestionbusting
in Canada,snowclearancein the UK and technologyforthe Al.
Alsoin thisissue
05 News
Glendoetunnel collapse
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08 News
Three films shortlisted for Cumbrian bridge
10 News
Atlas Copco targets Asia for growth
14 Letters
Transport, profession, ICE, energy, structures
16 Rail
The East London Line is delivered ahead of schedule 26 ICENews
ICEleadstalkswith InfrastructureUKminister
Comment
AntonyOliver
l'Wdhout basic infrastructure in place, communities can ver, quicldy fail"
Engineers mustrebuilda moresecureHaiti
The
challengesfacedby the peopleofHaiti
are immense. It is clear that an earthquake striking at the heart of such a community has had devastating consequences.The pictures beamed into our living rooms show the pain, confusion, desperation and, increasingly, frustration of the population.
At the best of times, Haiti had little of whatwe would calI decent modern infra- structure. Now, with its hospitals,
government buildings, community centres, roads and bridges destroyed, there is little if anything left for the people to fall back on.
The chaos now beingwitnessed was in manyways inevitable. Poor quality construc- tion coupled with zero investment in earthquake proof design is a classic recipe for disaster in so many of the poorest regions of the world - it is a recipe that needs to be understood and learned from.
The scale of the global response to this natural disaster is now huge. The relief agencies are mobilisingvast specialist skills
and resources, and tells of thousands of troops are being sent in to oversee the operation and provide vital security.
Establishing central coordination to take strain from the under-resourced local government will also be crucial to ensuring help is effectively delivered.
And it is good to see that alongside the medical and rescue teams, engineers are also providing vital assistance.
ln particular, the programme being launched by engineering charity RedR is great to see. It is this kind of natural disaster that RedR was, after aU,set up to respond to.
It will require considerable funding to ensure the mission is effective. But deploying RedR's experienced and capable members to lead the relief agency activitywill be a vital step in establishing Haiti's future.
Because while there is no question that in the short-term there is no substitute for hospitals, doctors, nurses and medical supplies, it is the longer-term response that
could keep faTgreater numbers alive.
Engineers hold the key to this future.
lnitiaUy this will be in planning the logistics of aid distribution and creating temporary shelter, water supplies, sanitation, communi- cation and transport links as a vital first step.
But then there is the engineering required to ensure Haiti has a future. That means ensuring what is left of the infrastructure is safe and ensuring the temporary communi- ties have the infrastructure to function.
Then cornes the challenge of planning a post earthquake infrastructure and rebuilding to meet the community needs.
It will of course be tough to ensure that all development in future is constructed as earthquake-proof. But engineers must ensure that critical infrastructure is protected.
Because as we will continue to see over the next weeks and months in Haiti, without such basic infrastructure in place, communi- ries can very quickly fail.
