Interesting-

One of the constant choruses from politicos is "let the haitians decide"
The question is without intervention do "indigenous" (for lack of a 
better word in a hurry) peoples independently evolve strategies that 
improve the resistance of structures to earthquake damage.
Is this something that dawns on them, how efficient is the process of 
adaptation...

I suppose one would want to look at earthquake prone areas where one can 
trace changes in Architectural adaptation over a long period. The area 
selected should be one where significant adaptation has occurred. One 
would not want to look at pockets that had resisted change.

One area possibly would be southern italy, maybe greece, maybe even 
better turkey.

My theory is that successful adaptation to earthquake threat is a slow 
process, that it is closely related to frequency of earthquakes and that 
protection from earthquakes requires meeting a threshold of engineering 
knowledge.
That when earthquakes are a problem local innovation should be replaced 
by imposed strategy from those with the technological abilities.

Trouble is that one is not going to develop new strategies when one is 
killed when the earthquake brings down the house on your head.
Also spiritual belief systems may also play a role. If earthquakes are 
seen as the wrath of god(s) then it would be pointless to intervene.
Another area is that of economic development- I am sure that a good 
number of folks are now trying to figure out how to get re-development 
moneys for more concrete work. In this business the more earthquake 
damage the better with the result that rebuilding happens as frequently 
as possible. I think the discovery in China that buildings that 
collapsed there were not built to specifications is interesting- again 
this highlights the disconnect between earthquake and  successful 
adaptation.

Conrad Bladey
Peasant

Marcy Rockman wrote:

>Dear all,
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>I'm writing to ask for your assistance in locating information about earthquake knowledge and traditional preparedness in Haiti specifically and the Caribbean in general. 
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>Bit of background: I'm currently on a fellowship with the EPA National Homeland Security Research Center in Washington, DC and so am part of the disaster preparedness and response community (note: by training, I'm a landscape archaeologist with background in both Palaeolithic and historical-period colonization and related development of environmental information; my role as a Fellow is to build their social science program with emphasis on risk communication and public perception of environmental hazards). Discussion here is now growing about how to not just rebuild Haiti, but encourage and enable redevelopment of earthquake-resilient structures and communities. 
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>I'm curious to know if there is any history of research and literature on written or oral history about earthquakes in Haiti and/or traditional practices that may have assisted with survival or accommodation of previous (even if lower magnitude) earthquakes in the past. While recent development in the Port-au-Prince area clearly was not designed with earthquakes in mind and links to previous practices may be broken, identification and recognition of previous earthquake heritage may make the sustainable reconstruction efforts more effective.
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>I currently have very little background in Caribbean archaeology and ethnography and time is short, so will be grateful for any suggestions. Please feel free to reply off-list.
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>with many thanks,
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>Marcy Rockman
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>________________________
>Marcy Rockman, Ph.D., RPA
>AAAS Fellow 
>EPA National Homeland Security Research Center
>1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
>Washington, DC 20460
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