Client Voices

American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Executive Director Tom Loughlin Raises Lessons from the Haiti Earthquake on The Huffington Post

On the six month anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Executive Director Tom Loughlin called for development of locally-informed and “implementable” codes to reduce the impact of disasters in a blog on The Huffington Post.

“Nature's wrath did not discriminate between Port-au-Prince, Santiago, San Francisco or Baja California,” wrote Loughlin. “In reality, the factors that spell the difference between life and death are rooted locally. They include geography and topography, but especially the robustness and integrity of infrastructure— which, in Haiti's case, has been tragically neglected as a result of that nation's abject poverty.”

In his post, Loughlin points out that local standards would not only diminish the toll of disasters, but would also help improve the quality of life among those populations who live on less than $4 a day by providing them a more livable infrastructure like access to clean water and power and waste treatment. 

“Sustainable solutions for natural— or man-made— disasters can never eliminate future potential death tolls. But they can help lower them— while simultaneously driving lasting improvements in security and safety for billions of people the world over,” said Loughlin.

To read the full post, click here.

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