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The American Wood Council pledged its assistance to help Haiti rebuild safer, more earthquake-resistant buildings in the wake of its recent earthquake.
AWC also offered its technical expertise to U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as reconstruction plans are developed, and urged her to consider building materials and methods that can effectively resist earthquakes, such as wood.
“Lessening the effects of a future earthquake in Haiti means helping the country rebuild with smarter materials and building methods than those employed in the past, and that means utilizing wood,” said AWC’s Robert Glowinski.
“Much of the severe devastation we’ve seen is from collapsed, older unreinforced concrete and masonry structures and could have been prevented if these structures had been built from wood. Unfortunately, unreinforced or lightly reinforced concrete and masonry structures can’t dissipate seismic energy or provide ductility under earthquake loads the way wood construction can. A recent full-scale test in Japan demonstrated that a six-story wood apartment building can withstand a 7.5 magnitude earthquake," he said.