It has been three weeks since a massive earthquake struck Haiti, killing at least 150,000 people, and leaving much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins.
A structural engineer from Honolulu was sent to Haiti by the Engineering Earthquake Research Institute to see what lessons can be learned, and to help determine if some of the buildings were safe to go back into.
Steve Baldridge just got back from Haiti last night.
What he found was that many of the buildings didn't stand a chance of surviving the earthquake.
Steve Baldridge is back in the comfort of his Downtown Honolulu office.
His company, Baldridge and Associates Structural Engineering, has worked on projects like the Trump Waikiki, and the new Honolulu Airport parking structure.
But for the past two weeks, Baldridge wore a volunteer hat, providing earthquake engineering assistance in Haiti.
"It was life changing to go there," said Baldridge.
Here's video he shot of the once majestic Hotel Montana, where many American tourists were killed.
"Just like other buildings in Haiti, the seismic detailing weren't there, the construction materials were poor. This picture for example -- there are huge pieces of conduit inside the concrete that takes away from the concrete strength. The reinforcing steel, these are seismic ties right here to hold the column in the earthquake -- those were insufficient," said Baldridge.
Baldridge also visited an American school that's only 10 years old.
"So that's concrete block taken off the wall and I drop it, it cracks like a plate, like if you drop a plate on the floor now the grout, this is solid concrete grout material inside the concrete, but the material in Haiti is so poor I can crumble it in my hands," said Baldridge.
And everywhere he went, there was devastation -- buildings reduced to rubble, the result of poor workmanship and inadequate materials.
Plus, Baldridge says the Haitians were more focused on making their buildings hurricane resistant versus earthquake resistant.
"So their mental focus was on weight, make the building heavy so it doesn't get blown away in a storm but in an earthquake weight works against you," said Baldridge.
As the recovery effort continues, the people of haiti are slowly trying to rebuild, by salvaging materials.
"In one sense it's depressing, but it's also uplifting how resilient people can be and how little it takes for them to get along," said Baldridge.
Baldridge says the next step for him is to help put together some instructions for the Haitians to use as they rebuild -- ways how they can rebuild better, stronger and safer.
