OU Engineer, Researcher Use Expertise to Evaluate Haiti Damage

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- OU industrial engineer Hank Grant is doing what he can to help the people of Haiti rebuild.

In early February, Grant and Lisa Holliday, a civil engineering researcher, spent a week in Haiti inspecting the damage at Christianville, a church-related educational complex near Port-a-Prince.

"This construction is not earthquake proof or earthquake-resistant. It's more hurricane resistant or heat resistant, so I knew there would be a lot of damage," Grant said.

OU Engineers Help Haiti

Though no one at the school was injured, Grant found the damage at Christianville was worse than he feared.

"Had there been students in this building when the earthquake hit, I'm sure there would have been major fatalities," Grant said.

Last week an even stronger earthquake hit Chile, but the death and destruction were far less than in Haiti. Grant said the reason is the stricter building standards in Chile.

"It's impossible to build a building that's earthquake-proof, but we can make them more survivable, so humans will have time to get out and the building will stay up to give them that time," Grant said.

Grant and Holliday said they will return to Haiti later this month with recommendations on building more stable structures at the school. They said they also plan to help produce a documentary on the damage to the school to help raise money for its recovery.