The Voice

Last Friday, November 7th, a school collapsed in Port-Au Prince, Haiti, leaving over 90 people dead and at least 150 injured. Officials said 700 children were registered at the three-story school, called The Collège La Promesse, but it was not known how many were inside when it caved in while class was in session. President Rene Preval said that the school had not been built with any structural steel or cement to hold the concrete, and says the poor infrastructure was the cause of the collapse. The owner of the school and church, Fortin Augustin, a Protestant minister, was arrested.

Not even a week later, a second school called The Grace Divine School, in the Canape Vert area of the capital, caved in. At least nine people were injured and this was just 5 days after the deadly collapse at The College La Promesse in Pentionville. Officials said most of the students were out in the playground when the collapse occurred at the private school. In Haiti, many buildings have been built in total violation of regulations, that is, they are not built with a sufficient amount of cement or steel to strongly hold the concrete in place and prevent the collapse of the building.

Buildings that are built in this incorrect way are destined to collapse as soon as any tropical disaster comes by. However, specialists are now searching for buildings that are built in violation of regulations to prevent further tragedies from occurring in the future. ”We are going to ask the Minister of Education to carry out an inspection of all the schools built in the same way,” Senator Yvon Bissereth told Agence France-Presse, a global news network covering events from around the world 24/7. Correspondents say Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, where mudslides and poor construction are commonplace.

Juan Carlos Sanchez