By: Monserrat Hennig Vanessa Alba Omar Andino

Risks in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

-Earthquake Risk: 2,084,852(population)/135km (distance of the septentrional fault)=15443

- The risk is 1,5443 people per kilometer.

• In Santo Domingo there is approximately 1 fire station every 9 square km.

• There is approximately 1 hospital every 8 square km.

• There is approximately 1 police station every 10 square km.

The increased construction in the city of Santo Domingo has highly impacted the cities earthquake risks.

Here we have provided some steps the Dominican government and construction companies should take to increase earthquake safety. http://www.calstatela.edu/dept/geology/

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The Septentrional fault zone (SFZ) is the major North American-Caribbean plate boundary fault at the longitude of the eastern Hispaniola.

Three excavations have been made, two near Tenares, and one at the Rio Licey site. These excavations gave evidence for the occurrence of earlier prehistoric earthquakes.

Dates with the these events suggest that it occurred post-A.D. 30, giving a recurrence interval of 800–1200 years. These studies indicate that the SFZ has likely accumulated elastic strain sufficient to form a major earthquake during the more than 800 years since it last happened and should be considered likely to produce a destructive future earthquake in the city of Santo Domingo!

Is the city of Santo Domingo really ready for

a major earthquake to occur?

Are we safe?!

• The answer is NO! Our survey results show that 40% of the Dominicans we

surveyed don’t know what to do during an earthquake and that 98% of them have never participated in an earthquake drill. Many Dominicans think their house is constructed to survive an earthquake, but that is not true because the building codes in the DR are out of date.

Most houses in the Dominican Republic are not made to resist earthquakes.

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“The Code is indeed a very outdated document. The need for a modern Code is evident. It is expected that the work currently in progress will fulfill this acute need within a short period of time.” - Jorge Gutiérrez.

The building codes in this country are definitely not ready for an earthquake.

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We should take examples from

more developed countries to improve our earthquake safety!

For example: Taipei, Taiwan, Seattle, Vancouver, and San Francisco.

In Taipei they have buildings that are specifically engineered to prevent swaying when an earthquake occurs like Taipei 101.

In San Francisco they recommend an emergency plan in every house, especially for children.

Let’s do something about this now and

make Santo Domingo a safer place to live!