Another visit to inspect the School

Bill Grace and I revisited the School this morning. I needed to look more closely at the structural damage and to imagine what the engineer was suggesting we do to repair the building.

My inspection quickly revealed that the concrete here is made very poorly. First the sand is salty and salt breaks down the finished product. In other words, the sand need to be washed to extract the salt before using it to make concrete. I’m sure that rarely happens. Moreover, the mix with Portland cement is light in color indicating that there isn’t a good enough ration of cement to sand and fill. The finished product should be a healthy grey and it’s quite bleached out. Next, the fill stone is too large. And finally, when the columns or walls are poured, there’s not adequate rebar to provide the tensile strength to withstand a 7.0 shake.

While at the School, I came upon Jackson, who has worked at the School for a while. I’d met him before. What a good soul. Jackson and another man are now employed shoveling our the rubble and depositing it on the side of te street. Back breaking work.

I also saw James, the head teacher at École le Bon Samaritain. Handsome and pleasant, he was surprised to see me.

Jean-Elie arrived and we talked in detail about a number of ideas I’ve been pushing around. We need to talk more and figure out what the best and most practical plan is and what we can afford. This is really hard work.

Jackson is at the right with Jean-Elie in the background.

James is below.