Has anyone mentioned this?

Jan 3, 2003
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The DR and Haitian POOR can not afford to build houses with concrete roofs and walls.

The houses which killed the majority of Haitians contained concrete roofs, walls with some homes having multiple floors.

So, the vast majority of the deaths associated with the QUAKE fell upon the Haitian middle class and upper classes.

Thus, those who thought most protected due to their economic stability were the ones most affected.

THE IRONY OF LIFE!

Food for thought-

If I'm wrong, then please correct.
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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elizabetheames.blogspot.com
The DR and Haitian POOR can not afford to build houses with concrete roofs and walls.

The houses which killed the majority of Haitians contained concrete roofs, walls with some homes having multiple floors.

So, the vast majority of the deaths associated with the QUAKE fell upon the Haitian middle class and upper classes.

Thus, those who thought most protected due to their economic stability were the ones most affected.

THE IRONY OF LIFE!

Food for thought-

If I'm wrong, then please correct.

The vast majority of Haitians living in PAP are poor.... in that they live on less than $1 or $2 a day, That applies to 80% of the population. The bidonville.. or the slums... have been stacked on top of one another around the city.. even Petionville--- on land to which there are not titles. The Haitians live crowded in... many many people per room, most without proper sanitation,

If you have been to Guatemala City, then you have seen this sort of building.

Or exiting Santo Domingo to the West.

But there is a great difference between rural and urban poverty.

70& of the population of Haiti is still rural... unlike here, I think. There are other cities but PAP holds the bulk of the urban density.. other cities like Gonaives, Cap Haitian, Les Cayes.. are built up but mostly single stories.. not stacked on the mountains as PAP was.

Of course, there has not been a census in Haiti since.,,,, well.. probably Papa Doc...I would think.
 

DRNED

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Oct 28, 2009
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What are you looking for, unless you have money to send in trucks of supplies then more manpower is not needed? (excluding medical professionals)
If you want to just get there and chance it then I can organize that for you.
 
Jan 3, 2003
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I am referencing the fact that the poor in Hispaniola live in tin shacks. Tin or what we Dominicans call "zing", don't know the spelling actually, will not kill you like a slab of concrete, concrete blocks, or a concrete roof a with re-bar frame supporting it.

The homes of the poor are typically made of this corrugated metal (zing) which is usually old, porous and held up by rotting slabs of wood.

Those that are even poorer live in homes assembled from "hojalata" or metal cylindrical cracker containers which have been hammered down to produce thin plate-like sheets which are combined with other "hojalata" plates to form walls.

These two types of homes in Hispaniola constitutes the living quarters of the vast majority of the poor.

Some poor able to afford concrete block home usually don't have what we call, "empanete" or pure cement finishing giving it that smooth appearance upon which you can paint your house. The cost of one "funda de cemento" prohibits the poor from engaging in an "empanete" finish since it requires many "fundas" or sacks of cement to produce that smooth silky cement finish. It's like a smooth spread on a sandwich.

Most poor families do not have concrete roofs either which in a quake is a sure death. Thus, the reason for this thread. If you were extremely poor in Haiti with a tin shack, those elements falling on your head did not kill you.

OTOH, if you were well to do or modestly well off, those concrete roofs smashed your head into a goo of bone, brain and blood.

And if you were wealthy, your multi-story VILLA pancaked on top of you and your families in a way that you became an unrecognizable pile of tissue with cracked bone matter.

What I have witnessed in the CNN reports are homes with concrete roofs, "empanete, painted homes, re-bar structures, etc. Thus, my belief that the middle class and upper class are the ones who have been disproportionately decimated in this catastrophe.
 
Jan 3, 2003
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understand but graphic

Sorry, but I am trying to drive the POINT home on the distinction between concrete falling on your body and thin, very thin sheets of corrugated metal.

One will kill you while the other will give you a headache.

Thus, the rich believing their houses offered protection and security were in a DEATH TRAP!
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Thus, the rich believing their houses offered protection and security were in a DEATH TRAP!

Death to all people who aren't dirt poor - they must deserve it.

BTW, I suppose you live in a cardboard box?

Also, what about the people who were living in a rented apartment - did they deserve it too?
 

greydread

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Jan 3, 2007
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Death to all people who aren't dirt poor - they must deserve it.

BTW, I suppose you live in a cardboard box?

Also, what about the people who were living in a rented apartment - did they deserve it too?

Death comes to everyone, rich and poor alike.

When it happens to tens of thousands at a single blow (20 tens and counting, here) the demographics don't matter. The humanity does.
 
Jan 3, 2003
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Death to all people who aren't dirt poor - they must deserve it.

BTW, I suppose you live in a cardboard box?

Also, what about the people who were living in a rented apartment - did they deserve it too?

You're ridiculous CHIP. The post references my idea that probably more rich than poor died.

That's all, no mention of who deserved what.

It just happens to be that being dirt poor in this instance probably saved you.

Here's another tidbit. The poor of Hispaniola usually are always outdoors. The poor only come inside to eat and sleep. All social interaction takes place outdoors.

Dirt poor don't have bank accounts or go to supermarkets. These two were cratered in this quake.

A collapsing "zing" house won't kill you.
 

suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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You seem to be correct O&C...just look at the contrast between these two pics...

Concrete buildings
IMG_0851.JPG


Zinc roofed houses...
IMG_0622.JPG
 

bienamor

Kansas redneck an proud of it
Apr 23, 2004
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The construction difference was mentioned on BBC concering one of the barrios in port o prince tonight.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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While the hypothesis may hold true in the poorest of the poor neighborhoods, where homes are nothing more than wood shacks, I don't know if its true that most of the deaths is concentrated among the tiny middle class and even tinier upper class.

Also, to quote Anderson Cooper, "many people are dying stupid deaths"; meaning that a large number of the injured are dying due to lack of proper medical attention. A bunch of wood holding a zinc roof comes crashing into a tiny shack would probably create injuries that in a country with a functioning government are easily treated, but Haiti being what it is, people are dying from cuts and bruises, so to speak. So, its quite possible that most of the injured won't survive their injuries and I think its quite clear that most of the injured are poor people.

In any case, practically all the slums clinging to the mountain sides appear to be heavily affected. Many of those slums look like this, and it certainly doesn't look middle class, this is still poor despite cinder block walls:

h38_21698163.jpg

Earthquake in Haiti - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Concerning the DR, the vast majority of the people at all social levels live in cement homes. According to the 2007 ENHOGAR study, 71.6% of homes are made of cement or cinder blocks, 22.6% of wood, and 5.8% of other materials.
http://www.one.gob.do/themes/one/dmdocuments/perfiles/perfil_santiago.pdf
 
Jan 3, 2003
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You seem to be correct O&C...just look at the contrast between these two pics...

Your first picture points to this fact. There are pictures which are far worse. These contain collapsed banks, supermarkets like The Caribbean, the Hotel Montana, etc.

Your second picture shows what I suspect. Zinc homes and "hojalata" homes which will NOT kill you in a collapse.

I may be wrong but my back of the envelope analysis is that the DR poor have mostly zinc homes. Those with concrete block homes have walls that in height is insufficient with no cement finish or "empanete" and definitely no concrete roof held together by an iron frame. They contain a zinc roof.
 

aegap

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Mar 19, 2005
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Concerning the DR, the vast majority of the people at all social levels live in cement homes. According to the 2007 ENHOGAR study, 71.6% of homes are made of cement or cinder blocks, 22.6% of wood, and 5.8% of other materials.

Those number are for the walls, not necessarily the roof.


Another thing to consider, cement roofs being heavy put more stress and make a collapse of the supporting walls more likely. Though in the island of Hispaniola Hurricanes are a more constant threat. For those, you're likely better off with a cement roof.