Date:
Introductory Program (September 6-7, 2010) Limit 70 participants
Advanced Program (September 5-9, 2010) Limit: 110 participants Location: University Quisqueya, Haut Turgeau, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Registration:
Introductory Program: 3,000 gourdes ; Advanced Program: 5,000 gourdes
Payment must be made in advance to the UniQ bursar’s office; questions about payment can be directed to Tingue Wolfield (509-3844-9135 or tingue [dot] wolfield {at] gmail [dot} com ).
To register, visit https://www.ubevents.org/event/UniQ-UB2 or contact one of the seminar directors. Registration will close when the maximum capacity for each program is reached. Confirmation of registration will be sent via email.
Instructors:
André Filiatrault, Ph.D., Eng., Professor of Civil Engineering, University at Buffalo and MCEER Director
André Filiatrault is a licensed civil engineer and a professor of civil engineering at the University at Buffalo. He led a team of 10 French-speaking engineers and architects in conducting structural safety assessments of critical facilities, including hospitals, food distribution warehouses and other buildings in Port-au-Prince within days of the January 2010 earthquake. In one week, his team inspected 115 buildings and established a process for building assessments that remains in use in Haiti today.
Pierre Fouché, Ph.D. Candidate, University at Buffalo
Pierre Fouché is a Haitian-born civil engineer, a graduate of UniQ, a Fulbright Scholar and a Ph.D. candidate in earthquake engineering at the University at Buffalo. Fouché’s current research interests are in multi-hazard engineering and design of bridge structures. For his Ph.D. dissertation, he is developing an integrated and cost-effective bridge system that aims to offer a single optimized solution to the constraints of multiple hazards.
Wassim Ghannoum, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
Wassim Ghannoum recently joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin where he teaches design and behavior of reinforced concrete structures, and conducts research on earthquake induced damage to concrete structures. He has several years of structural design experience, and is a member of the American Concrete Institute’s committee on “Seismic Repair and Rehabilitation.” He participated in the week-long structural assessment mission in Haiti led by Prof. André Filiatrault and is a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) committee coordinating technical assistance to Haiti.
Seminar Directors
Tingue Wolfield, Civil Engineer, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Architecture, UniQ
Phone: (509) 3844-9135
Email: tingue [dot] wolfield {at] gmail [dot} com
Sofia Tangalos
MCEER, University at Buffalo (USA)
Phone: 00 + 1 (716) 645-1157
Email: tangalos {at] buffalo [dot} edu
Description:
The second in a series of professional development earthquake engineering seminars presented by Haiti’s University Quisqueya (UniQ) and the University at Buffalo’s MCEER will offer two concurrent tracks—an introductory program and an advanced program—for Haitian structural engineers and architects this September.
Developed in consultation with UniQ faculty and based on Haitian construction practices, each program includes hands-on exercises, design examples and in-field demonstrations. All lectures and seminar materials are presented in French.
The Introductory Program (September 6-7, 2010), which was first offered in May 2010, will be offered again due to high demand. Entitled, “Introduction to Earthquake Engineering and Post-Earthquake Building Assessment,” this program aims to help Haitian engineers gain knowledge of fundamental earthquake engineering principles for retrofit of damaged facilities and design of new construction. Participants will also learn how to conduct rapid building assessments using the U.S. standard, Applied Technology Council’s ATC-20 Procedures for Postearthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings.
The Advanced Program (September 5-9, 2010), entitled “Seismic Design Load Calculations and the Seismic Design of Concrete and Masonry Buildings,” will provide in-depth instruction on design procedures, construction techniques and structural behaviors of reinforced concrete elements and confined masonry buildings in Haiti. Illustrative examples will be given. In addition, there will be a hands-on demonstration of the construction of a confined masonry wall with the help of a trained Haitian mason. Individuals enrolling in the Advanced Program are required to have already completed the Introductory Program.
Both programs will be held at the University Quisqueya, Haut Turgeau, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Returning instructors André Filiatrault, Ph.D., Eng., Professor of Civil Engineering, University at Buffalo and MCEER Director, and Pierre Fouché, Ph.D. Candidate, University at Buffalo, will be joined by Wassim Ghannoum, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin.
Both Filiatrault and Ghannoum were members of the initial United Nations’-designated Emergency Engineering Support Unit that conducted structural safety assessments on hospitals, food distribution warehouses and government facilities in Haiti shortly following the January 12 earthquake.
The seminars are a component of a longer-term educational initiative included in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by UniQ and UB/MCEER to promote academic exchange and cooperation over the next three years.
Seminar Summary:
Introductory Program: September 6-7, 2010
“Introduction to Earthquake Engineering and Post-Earthquake Building Assessment”
Registration fee is 3,000 gourdes
Limit of 70 participants
Advanced Program: September 5-9, 2010
“Seismic Design Load Calculations and the Seismic Design of Concrete and Masonry Buildings”
On Friday June 12th the AIDG team returned to Xaquijyá for further investigation of the community’s water system. We scrambled up and down the mountainside to review one side of the community’s 10 springs, as well as the other sector’s 3 springs and separate water system. The 160 family community is served by two water systems, one that reaches 76 families and the other 74.
By the end of the day we had walked about 12 kilometers and seen all the springs and most of the pipeline. Luckily none of the springs had been wiped out, which bodes well for the repair. The sector of the community that is served by 3 large springs had their pipeline damaged in 3 places – two along the mountainside and one at a stream crossing in the community. Overall it looked to be a fairly straightforward repair job, especially in comparison with the other sector. Sector 2, which we had visited on Tuesday, had their pipe broken in at least 8 places, and the terrain was much harder to work in. We were literally clawing our way up the hillside in some places to get from spring to spring.
This week we will be working with community members to develop a plan to get the people water as quickly as possible. Once we have that plan in place we will work with them to try to create a more tropical storm-resistant water system that can help them to not be in such a dire position the next time the mountain comes down.
The damage from Agatha was not limited just to this community, or just to a few communities. As we were sweating at the top of the mountain after having verified the state of all the springs, our view spread out all over the departments of Sololá and Quiché. Hillside after hillside was scarred with brown lines among the green tries, signs of the landslides that had ripped the mountains apart. Locals say that in this part of the country the damage was worse than during Hurricane Stan. It will take the rural communities of this area a long time to recover, and a lot of outside help will be needed to reconstruct their key infrastructure, most of which was constructed at some point with a lot of help from a government that doesn’t have the resources now to repair them all at once.
On the morning of June 8th, most of AIDG, including coordinators and interns, piled into our vehicles already packed with shovels, dry goods and sanitary items. We were headed to the Xaquijyá community near Lake Atitlan to help them with some of the damage they had suffered as a result of tropical storm Agatha. Landslides had completely wiped out several of their houses along with a grain storage shed. Many other homes were buried in mud and uninhabitable. More urgently, the storm had torn through some of the piping that fed water to the community from mountain springs higher up, leaving some 160 houses without running water. The nearest alternative water source was a long hike away.
A woman picks up pieces of her destroyed homee
Upon arrival, we handed over the food supplies and our crew was split into two groups: one to check out the water system, the other to shovel houses out of the dirt and assist with reconstruction where possible. The shoveling looked a daunting and depressing task. What had been a small stream on a mountain slope, had grown to a rushing river of mud sprawling 20 to 30 feet across, levying trees, rocks, chunks of house, and a thick layer of personal debris. By the time we arrived there to help, the mud had congealed into a motionless sludge. The amount of work necessary to free the houses from their solidified mud baths was far more than our lively but small crew would manage in a day.
Further up the slope, where houses and a grain store with 76 bags of grain had been wiped out, little green shoots from the scattered maize seeds had started to sprout in the mud, like a sad little offer of 3 quetzales, where 300 000 were needed.
Corn shoots from destroyed grain shed
Our water assessment group first surveyed the pipes down by the community. PVC pipes of 1/2” inch diameter carried water from a holding tank and diverged to various groups of local houses. One of the pipes now completely dry, ran though a culvert which crossed beneath a main highway. Talking with Steve Crowe, AIDG’s Director of Technology, this seemed an almost hopefully bad location for the pipe as it appeared to be the most likely direction a landslide would head in. I say hopefully because as we surveyed the path of the pipes, we were looking for ways to improve the system. If AIDG were to supervise and fund the reconstruction of a new water system, we would attempt to increase the system’s resistance to future storms. This may be best achieved by installing the pipes on a less vulnerable route.
Broken pipe in the middle of a landslide
We headed further up the slope, and passed the site of the destroyed distribution tank. Previously, it had been fed by a large poliducto hose carrying water brought from smaller pipes that ran from about 10 different mountain springs, some as much as a three hour walk away. Everything at this point was dry. We continued on up the slope passing several pressure reducing manifolds that were also all dry.
At one point our path crossed a channel in the slope which was leaking water from the ground, suggesting that either a buried pipe had ruptured below or a new spring had opened up. Mostly however, the broken pipes that we encountered were split across more great landslides and were dry, indicating damage much further up the mountain, or complete redirection of the sources of water. A somewhat more grave situation than we had expected.
Another community’s broken spring box
Crossing the tumbling forest debris, it was evident that our previous assumption that deforestation was the cause of heavy landslides in this community, was not the case. Fully mature trees, rocks and roots, were caught in a frozen cascade down the mountain slope, and causes for specific areas of erosion were not at all apparent. So designing a more flood resistant system was looking tricky.
Finally we reached a fresh water mountain stream with several tubes run across it, two of them broken, but one at least with water pouring from one end carried from another stream further up the path. Our guides told us that this was the first of the many little sources of water which were scattered over the mountain side. We would need at least a full day of hiking to survey the full extent of the damage so as to begin a plan for repairs. We rejoined our companions below, an exhausted group with blistered hands, who had made a valiant dent in the side of the mountain of mud; and headed home with a better understanding of the devastation of Agatha.
AIDG volunteers taking a break from digging
I am not sure how plans to repair the pipelines will go. Replacement of the existing system as it is will be expensive. However with the frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes in Guatemala, and the country´s record of natural disaster in general, the need for a more reliable and resistant system is with question.
Guatemala Emergency Appeal after Tropical Storm Agatha
Searching for survivors in a mudslide. Photo by Mercado Global
Dear AIDG Friends and Supporters,
Tropical storm Agatha, the first major storm of the 2010 Hurricane season has slammed Guatemala with devastation not seen since Hurricane Stan in 2005. The destruction has hit every department in Guatemala. According to Guatemalan government, tens of thousands of people are now homeless. Roads, bridges, water and food distribution have been severely disrupted. AIDG immediately responded by helping dig out houses in the Quetzaltenango department where we are based, but most of the damage has happened near Lake Atitlan.
AIDG is sent a team down last week to work with the Lake Atitlan based organization Mercado Global to assess damage and coordinate repairs on water systems for communities. Water is a critical need as pipes have been washed away and local water systems have been damaged. Here is a quote from Steve Crowe our Technology Director about the water system in Xaquijya.
“Things got a little more complicated when we walked the pipeline from the distribution tank to the springs. They had just assumed that it was broken in one part near the springs, but as we walked we passed 5 landslides where the pipe had broken . . . The complicated part would be in protecting the pipe that we put in; we’d have to cross those same landslide areas, which would be high risk for sure.”
He estimates a need for an immediate $30,000 to aid in water system rebuilding and another $15,000 for us to help repair hydro-electric systems damaged in the storm.
For AIDG, the twin disasters in both Haiti and Guatemala present the greatest challenge we have ever faced. We are supporting responses to both a once-in-a-decade storm and a once-in-a-century earthquake within a few months of each other. As most of you know, AIDG is not a direct relief agency so we have no budget for emergencies like this and rely on gifts at the time of the event to respond. But in our focus on infrastructure, we play a vital role in disaster response and development of community resiliency. We look to you to help us continue this work.
We need your help to respond to this disaster.
If you cannot give now, we ask that you consider giving a little bit of time to AIDG. One major source of funding for AIDG’s disaster response in Haiti has been corporate donations. This comes largely based on employee recommendations to a corporate giving department or to a small business owner. Please consider giving a lunch break to call your company’s charitable division to see if they have funds ($500 - $10,000) you could recommend to AIDG. Email us an introduction and we will be glad to send them detailed information on our programs. Corporate giving departments largely operate based on employee suggestions.
Thank you all for everything you have done over the years to help us build this program, and our capacity to respond in these emergencies. Please hold the families affected by this tragedy in your hearts and thoughts.
Guatemala City, Guatemala — The death toll from the eruption of a volcano in Guatemala has risen to at least three people, an official said Friday.
Two villagers from El Bejucal and a reporter from CNN affiliate Noti 7 were killed as a result of Thursday’s eruption of the Pacaya volcano, said David de Leon, a spokesman for the national disaster commission.
The three victims were crushed by rocks strewn by the volcano.
Pacaya, located about 18 miles (30 kilometers) south of Guatemala City, began spewing ash and soot Thursday evening.
From Russia Today:
Duration: 1 min 12 sec
With all these earthquake and volcanic eruptions I feel like the earth is trying to tell us something. Could it be this?
Every useful electronics project deserves a good enclosure. Providing a proper case for your circuit can protect it from accidental spills & falls - plus give it a cool look you can proudly show off to those unfamiliar with soldering and such.
Follow along with Collin as he turns a barebones function generator kit into a sturdy and versatile tone-box fit for noise-jamming & testing purposes. Get more info and a parts bundle:
Every piece of plastic ever made still exists today, and much of this plastic has traveled from our hands to our oceans. The most important thing you can do is use less plastic. Join the Blue movement and sign the plastic pledge at SaveMyOceans.com.
Date: May 31, 2010 Time: 630PM Location:
S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium at Benaroya Hall
200 University Street
Seattle, WA 98101-3428 Google Map Ticket Prices:
Seating chart: http://www.seattlesymphony.org/_dwn/seating_chart.pdf
$35 Founders Tier (VIP): Includes: best house seating and VIP lounge access
$35 Rows A-R
$25 Rows S-RR
$20 Second Tier
$15 Third Tier
Student rate $5.00 off second and third tier seating (must have valid student ID)
Special group rates are available please contact Farah Ebrahim 206 499-8079 or info {at] lucidseattle [dot} com.
Please be aware that there is an $8 Service Charge per order for tickets purchased on-line. There’s no additional fees for tickets purchased at the box office or at LUCID.
Description:
The IO Jazz Awards will honor those individuals, groups and organizations in the Seattle jazz community and beyond who exemplify this quality of sharing what is on the INSIDE, OUT. 100% of the proceeds from the event will be used towards the relief efforts in Haiti.
Seattle bassist and composer Evan Flory-Barnes presents “Acknowledgement of a Celebration: Inheritance, Authenticity and Healing,” a large-ensemble fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and classical music, complete with modern dancers and freestyle break-dancers.
Clarence Acox is an awarding winning band director and jazz drummer. He is a familiar figure in the Seattle music scene and is a native of New Orleans. An accomplished and in demand drummer, Acox co-founded the Seattle Repetory Jazz Orchestra in 1995 and performed with the Floyd Standifer Quartet (now Legends quartet) at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant for more than two decades. In August 2007 Clarence Acox was awarded the Mayor’s Arts award by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.
The group’s live performances have become a celebration of life, and a dip in the sea of rapture. The music weaves seamlessly through a myriad of feels – boom-bap hip hop grooves, explosive swing, emotion-laden rock, “fat-man” blues, samba, drum ‘n bass & meditative chanting.
Miles Davis Tribute Performance
Owour Arunga, Aham Olu, Scott Morning, Jason Parker
“Playing his own take on Rumba, African funk Seattle guitarist Leif Totusek leads one of the most promising groups, Freestyle Candela”, raves Fernando Gonzales, Boston Globe. His compositions are based on Soukous guitar with infuences ranging from Hendrix to Haiti.
Street poet Jesse Lee personifies what happens when dreams take flight. Born Seattelite his vision is simple: to paint poetry back into the hearts & minds of the masses using visual backdrops of mixed media projections & a tailored sound score of live and synthesized music. To some his unique presentation may signify the evolution of poetry, to Jesse Lee it just simple poetry, excessively dressed.
Seattle’s soul-singer-songwriter Darrius Willrich drips a sensuous interplay of soul, jazz, and inner city longings. Sure to engage all your senses, with the look, sound and feel of yesterday’s soul-today. The spirit of Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo, and Herbie Hancock, season the musical stew that is Darrius…Sweet Urban Soul
Trombonist/Composer Andy Clausen established his sextet in 2007 with fellow members of the Roosevelt High School jazz band to serve as a testing ground for their diverse compositions. The compositions range in tone from powerful to lyrical to whimsical, yet each song conveys the commitment of the members of this group of young musicians and friends to a common vision of jazz that is both fresh and sophisticated
Greta Matassa wins wide acclaim in the Pacific NW for her contribution to Jazz Music. Readers of Earshot Jazz Magazine have voted her the best jazz vocalist in the Northwest. Jim Wilke, host of the syndicated “Jazz After Hours” radio program, praises her versatility. “She has a fearlessness in approaching material.” Seattle Times critic Misha Berson described Matassa as a vocal chameleon who “can sound husky or crisp, ebullient or wailing, girlish or jaded.” Matassa consistently displays these qualities in each of her performances.
“A rising Seattle talent, Kelly blends classic jazz and contemporary jazz, soul, blues, funk and Brazilian music to create an engaging atmosphere. Subtle, sensitive and polished, her honest delivery complements the rich, soulful quality of her voice.”
Seattle’s favorite neo-soul artist, Adrian has shared the stage with national R&B and soul artists Jon B, Avant, Case, Carl Thomas, and Dwele to name a few. With numerous performances at a steady pace and word-of-mouth spreading among the town and it’s artists. Counting Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, D’Angelo and Raphael Saadiq as some of his primary influences, Adrian has combined his inspirations into a stunning new sound all his own.
EMILY MCINTOSH is an indisputably gifted Vocalist and one whose voice deserves to be listened to and celebrated. This Cum Laude Cornish College of the Arts Graduate is a full-time Vocal Coach & Session Singer. Emily has many accolades to her credit. She is the voice singing jingles of many of the most popular radio shows including The Delilah Show. She was the opening act for soul legend Al Green last year, and she’s shared the stage singing duets with Huey Lewis.Be on the look out for big things from Seattle’s Soulful, Jazzy Songstress Emily McIntosh
Guitarist Tom Baker, drummer Greg Campbell, clarinetist Jesse Canterbury and bassist Brian Cobb have been working as a quartet since 2004, playing modern avant-jazz tunes and crafting beautiful and haunting improvisations. Their music blurs the boundaries between notated music and free improvisation; the unique sonic landscapes that result are grounded in history, while pushing at the boundaries of avant-jazz music.
We’re about to kick off publicity for GuateVerde 2010, but you may be wondering what happened to our finalists from 2009. Here’s a quick look at what they are up to now.
Our winner, Quetsol, has a meeting with the First Lady next week for a possible outreach contract with the government placing photo-voltaic kits in homes.
Our special investment,Flowercin/Altec, is now Grupo Proamba - the name Altec turned out to be taken. They are nearly finished with their legalization process and are setting themselves up to include vermicomposting in their production techniques.
Set Renova has taken over a local business called Casa Solar. They are considering entering GV2010 to expand this business.
Sistema Electricas is still hard at work doing diagnostics and has expanded their business to include a series of feasibility studies.
Ingecofun has not moved forward with their idea beyond the competition.
Reciclaje PET has not moved forward with their idea beyond the competition either.
AIDG, P.O. Box 104, Weston, MA 02493. Phone: 800-401-3860 Fax:
866-450-8016. AIDG, Inc. is a 501c (3) non-profit organization.
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