The Caribbean island of Dominica is often referred to as “Nature Island” because of its abundance of waterfalls, hot springs, rain forests and national parks. But when Hurricane Maria slammed into the island, it turned the lush setting into a scene of devastation.
Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) deployed professional engineers to the island within days. These professionals were experienced in disaster recovery work across the globe, but they had never seen anything like Hurricane Maria’s destruction.
“There were parts of the island where the wind blew so hard that it blew the grass off the ground, blowing the earth bare and removing the sod,” recalled one EWB-USA engineer.
Dominicans frequently refer to the hurricane as “Maria the Exposer” because when the wind stripped the leaves off of trees, people could see parts of the island they had never seen before. Subpar building practices were also laid bare.
In those first few weeks, others might have seen only desolation, but our engineers saw opportunity. Not only to build back – but to build back better.
Assessing the Damage
EWB-USA engineers were overwhelmed by the damage and had to find somewhere to begin, according to one volunteer who spent nine months in Dominica supporting the recovery effort.
As a first step, teams of engineers and assessors trained by EWB-USA conducted a rapid assessment of roads and bridges. Using software and tablets donated by Microsoft, the teams set off across the island on bikes and on foot. They made their way through uprooted trees and rubble, looking for houses along washed-out roads.
Photos of structures and household information were geo-referenced and analyzed in real-time, ensuring that the island’s recovery plan was based on the best available information. In just over three months, 30 teams inspected approximately 30,000 structures across the country.
Revising Building Standards
Using this inspection data, engineers identified typical building failures and revised the Dominica Housing Standards. According to volunteer engineers, the creation of new structural guidelines is EWB-USA’s greatest contribution to the island’s reconstruction efforts.
Today you can see signs of new, more hurricane-resilient construction on the island, including:
- Roof slopes with more pitch
- Rafters that are bigger and closer together
- Roofs that are screwed as opposed to nailed
- The inclusion of hurricane clips (metal plates between the rafter and the wall)
Through a United Nations Development Program partnership with EWB-USA, four hundred local builders received training in resilient reconstruction techniques. EWB-USA engineers also trained community members on these practices.
“We’re not here to build something and fly away,” said an EWB engineer. “We’re here to teach people to fish, not catch the fish for them.”
Linking Recovery and Economic Opportunity
The primary source of employment on the island is tourism hospitality. These industries hit a standstill after the hurricane struck.
“That’s the employment base. So, what do you do after the hurricane comes through? You train people to do roofing, and by the time the roofing is done, tourism will be back up and you can return to your regular job,” said an EWB-USA volunteer. “People needed hope, and this program let people know that they didn’t need to leave the island. They could be part of rebuilding the community.”
As for spreading the message of building back in more resilient ways, the EWB-USA team celebrated engineer-style at the island’s annual Carnival: they built a model of a hurricane-resistant roof and paraded it through the streets.
Dominicans are resilient people. Living in the hurricane belt, they are destined to have additional hurricanes, but with EWB-USA’s engineering expertise and building guidelines, they will be much better positioned to withstand future storms.
What is it like to be an expert engineer responding to a natural disaster? Read about Kevin Hagen & Mike Paddock’s experience in Dominica here: https://www.ewb-usa.org/how-we-helped-ewb-usas-response-to-devastation-in-dominica/