Golder Geotechnical Investigations Precede Haiti Repairs and Retrofit

Haitians wait outside the Canadian embassy in the days after the earthquake, hoping to emigrate

Haitians wait outside the Canadian embassy in the days after the earthquake, hoping to emigrate

Golder performed a comprehensive field investigation and seismic site classification at the site of the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Even though the embassy was relatively new, it was damaged during the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Vertical seismic profiling (VSP), borehole geophysics and other geotechnical investigations were performed at three sites owned by the Canadian government. No drill rigs were available in Haiti, so a rig was flown down from Canada on a commercial cargo plane. Transport in Haiti was a challenge as well since most of the equipment in Haiti is being used for the reconstruction. Once the data was collected, site specific ground shaking estimates were produced for use in the retrofit of the buildings. [Editor] Disclosure: Golder Associates, Inc. is the employer of Randy Post, the President of GeoPrac.net, LLC but they are not affiliated with the content of this site. [/Editor] [Source: Golder.com. Image: Haiti Today]