An assessment by the Pan-American Health Organization says that if there is a strong earthquake in the Dominican Republic, 37 of 43 public hospitals would collapse and seven would be seriously affected. Dominican Seismic Engineering Society president, engineer Leonardo Reyes Madera, released the information, saying that the most vulnerable hospitals were the Jose Maria Cabral y Baez in Santiago, the General Armed Forces Hospital in Santo Domingo, and the naval and border hospitals. He said that a plan to reinforce the hospital structures has not been implemented by the government.
Reyes Madera said that the schools being built by the government are also vulnerable to earthquakes.