Science at Ground Zero

Haiti, ranked consistently as one of the world's poorest countries, could hardly have been less prepared for the disaster that struck there on 12 January 2010: a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that claimed the lives of an estimated 316,000 people and left nearly 1,000,000 homeless.

Now, two years after the devastating event, Haiti continues to struggle back to a semblance of normalcy. In its capital, Port-au-Prince, streets remain partially covered with rubble; many residents still live in crude shanty towns just a stone's throw away from the once-grand Presidential Palace, itself still in ruins.

Indeed, the general condition of post-earthquake Haiti could be a metaphor for the state of science in that country. With an eye to nurturing basic sciences in Haiti, ICTP recently held a school on seismology from 15 to 28 January 2012. Organized by Karim Aoudia, an earthquake expert in ICTP's Earth System Physics group, and with the local help of the Faculte des Sciences of the Universite d'Etat du Haiti (UEH) and the university's rector, Jean Vernet Henry, the two-week school offered an intensive course on the full spectrum of earthquake sciences, from physics to risk reduction.

Aoudia has run such workshops in other earthquake hot spots around the world, including Africa and Central America. Typically such courses would attract students and young scientists in fields ranging from basic to applied sciences. But in Haiti, those disciplines do not exist.

"The situation for science in Haiti is bad," said Aoudia, "there is no money to support it, no local expertise, and few incentives to keep professors in the country." What few professors they do have will be retiring in the next few years, presenting an urgent need to train their replacements.

Perhaps most surprisingly--for a country straddling the intersection of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates--there are no seismologists in Haiti.

Aoudia hopes to change that, and the school is a small step in Haiti's long road to recovery. "The long-term issue is to build basic science capacity in the country," said Aoudia, noting that currently there is no possibility to earn a science degree in Haiti. Two years after the earthquake, efforts are still focussed on rebuilding the infrastructure to support education. At UEH, where the earthquake workshop was held, classes meet in hangar-type structures open to the elements. There are no walls between classrooms, and a bustling market in front of the campus adds to the high-level of background noise competing for the students' attention.

With the help of UEH staff, Aoudia was able to secure 20 computers with a steady power supply.  Participants, mostly from UEH's engineering programme, learned the theory behind earthquakes and how to read and analyse data sets on Haiti earthquakes that occurred during the weeks of the workshop. They also gained information on life-saving actions to take should an earthquake strike; Aoudia said that the students were keen to spread this knowledge. "They told me that one of the first things they will do after the workshop is visit all of the schools in Port-au-Prince to instruct young Haitians on what to do if there is an earthquake," he said.

In addition to sponsoring the Port-au-Prince workshop, ICTP has donated 150 science books to UEH (they are starting a new library), and is actively recruiting Haitian students for its Postgraduate Diploma Programme.

But much more is needed if Haiti is to grow a science program that could help alleviate its overwhelming poverty.  Although the 2010 earthquake may have focussed the world's attention (and much-needed funding) to the Caribbean island, momentum from that wave of goodwill is slowing, according to Aoudia. "We need to encourage more activity now before people forget about the problems that still exist in Haiti," he said, adding, "Science can play an important part in Haiti's long-term sustainable development."