Chris Poland finds lessons for the Bay Area in Haiti and Chile's quakes

Officials are still surveying damage caused by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck yesterday near Mexicali, on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. While only two deaths have been reported so far, the damage is extensive in places like the California border town of Calexico. Officials there have declared a state of emergency, asking the town’s 27,000 residents to limit water use because of damage to local sources. Eighty percent of the buildings in the historic downtown were red-tagged today by safety inspectors. This is the third major earthquake in the Western Hemisphere this year.



The days and weeks after earthquakes can be critical for lifesaving and recovery. They are also critical for learning how to make earthquake-prone areas safer. That’s where Chris Poland comes in. He’s chairman and CEO of Degenkolb, a structural engineering firm based in San Francisco. Poland advises lawmakers on building standards, and leads teams exploring earthquake sites, working with the National Science Foundation, the US Geological Survey and FEMA. 



KALW’s Ben Trefny sat down with Chris Poland and asked him what engineers have learned from the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.

Click here to hear more of our interview with Chris Poland. Click here for information about San Francisco's Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety.