2/11/2010
Written by
Assistant Professor Scott M. Olson recently returned from Haiti, where he spent a week studying how ground failures such as liquefaction and landslides during the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12 contributed to human casualties and structural damage. He was one of nine engineers and scientists on a Geo-engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) team.
Olson will present a seminar, Snapshots from Haiti: An Engineering Perspective, on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 11 a.m.-noon, in room B02 of the Coordinated Science Laboratory (the auditorium).
The earthquake caused tremendous damage to both the built and natural environments and extracted a catastrophic toll on the impoverished people of Haiti, with estimates of more than 200,000 casualties and more than 1 million people left homeless. In this seminar, Olson will present his first-hand observations on damage to buildings, roads, ports, coastlines and hillsides. In addition, he will describe aspects of how these engineering failures complicated and often delayed humanitarian relief efforts.
Photo: Olson in front of the presidential palace in Haiti.