Engineers seek lessons of Hurricane Iris
No weather forecaster can say with certainty whether Belize will be hit by a hurricane this season… but one thing we do know for sure is that sooner or later our time will come again. And in anticipation of that fateful day there is one group of Belizeans working hard to minimise the consequences. Janelle Chanona reports from Belmopan.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
In October 2001, twelve thousand Belizeans were left homeless in the wake of the destruction brought on by Hurricane Iris. Many structures lay in splinters, while others were tossed about like toys. These were the scenes that prompted the Association of Professional Engineers Belize, to document the destruction, in the hopes of avoiding such dramatic damage to property in the future.
Carlton Young, Sec., Assoc. of Professional Engineers
“The force of nature is difficult to contend with, but we can surely minimise the damage. No engineer can say we can completely prevent damage from hurricanes. Belize can try to design only structures that can withstand say, a category four or five hurricane, but we have to face reality: nothing would get built in Belize…as a nation we couldn’t afford that.
So we do strike a balance between economy and life safety. We want to, first and foremost, preserve life then secondly, preserve property. Because if we have too much property loss every time we have a hurricane, then the country will not develop.”
Young and fellow engineer Dwayne Thurton compiled their findings in this document…entitled Hurricane Iris-Lessons learned for the Engineering and Construction Industries of Belize.
Carlton Young
“I think every major event, whether it is a hurricane or whatever it is that Belize has, our organisation should document it and make comments and do what we can to educate the public.”
That education comes in the form of technical information that can minimise the damage done to your property in the event of a natural disaster.
Carlton Young
“We come up with a lot of detailed recommendations, both non-technical and technical. This would fall under the technical recommendations. Without going into too much detail here, I can say that the main thing is to make sure that the roof is properly tied down to the structure. The roof frames, we saw a lot of roof framings that really just improperly tied down to the walls, even with masonry structures. And if a masonry structure loses its roof, the wind gets inside, you get internal pressures and the effectiveness of the walls drops drastically.”
“With these metal on wood frame roofs, to make sure the sheeting the galvanised sheeting or the galvalum or whatever it is, is properly nailed down. Because a lot of the damage you probably saw when you visited the area was from sheeting lifting off, again that causes wind to enter the building and cause a lot more damage.”
While the initial price tag of hurricane proofing your home might seem steep, the engineers say in the long run, it will definitely be cheaper.
William Lamb, Engineer, Hurricane Project
“The cost needs to be weighed against what can happen. And what would be the length of repairs when it’s damaged. As we saw in Placencia and other places, damage can be total. And if we go to retrofit what we have now, engineering wise, we can definitely save some money tomorrow. That goes along with strengthening the roof, shutters for windows and even simple things like flooding and property drainage for your property.”
“We have been seeing the need for retrofitting not only of shelters, but people homes themselves. And we believe that in an effort to get better structures in Belize, we have to have something like a code, releases like this today, and more engineering input into the need for better construction for safety for one and all.”
With many homeowners in the south still feeling the pinch of Iris’ presence, the suggestion to brace for the worst, is one every Belizean should consider. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
Copies of the booklet produced by the Association of Professional Engineers can be purchased at the Book Centre in Belize City for approximately twenty dollars.
