Urban Seismic Risk for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Take the Earthquake Safety Pre-Test Here!
High-rise construction in Santo Domingo is occurring at a rapid rate. The Dominican Republic and Santo Domingo are located very close to a major tectonic plate boundary. What is the city of Santo Domingo doing to ensure the safety of its citizens in the event of a major earthquake? What are the construction companies doing to ensure the safety of the residents in their buildings. How should the government and the construction companies be working together to ensure that a major earthquake does not result in great loss of resources and life?
How has increased construction in the city of Santo Domingo impacted the city’s urban earthquake risk, and what steps should the Dominican government and the construction companies take collaboratively to improve urban earthquake safety.
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Useful Documents
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Facts, Ideas, Learning Needs Chart
Background Information
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Steps (By Cycle)
Cycle 2 – In computer lab, form 5 groups:
Group 1 - Class - B - D - F - G
Design a survey for your friends and family about what should be done in the event of an earthquake (basic earthquake safety). (Survey Monkey?)
These links may be helpful:
http://itmattersareyouprepared.org/images/EQSAFETYCHECKLIST.pdf Fema brochure for earthquake safety.
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/capitalplanning/resources/schoolearthquakesafetyguidebook.pdf School safety UBC
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/45/31968539.pdf
Group 2 - Class - B - D - F - G
Building codes in Santo Domingo. Find out what if anything is being done about building codes for earthquake safety.
These links may be helpful:
Earthquake building construction & general info. http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/earthquake_worldbook.html
DR civil defense website http://www.defensacivil.gov.do/
List of government agencies in the DR on the web http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/do.html
Geohazards main page http://www.geohaz.org/
US Dept. of State website for DR. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35639.htm
International strategy for disaster reduction Caribbean /Latin Am http://www.eird.org/eng/revista/No2_2001/pagina21.htm
National statistics office http://www.one.gob.do/
CIA world factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html
Group 3 - Class - B - D - F - G
Map out Santo Domingo for schools, hospitals, firestations and police stations – calculate number per sq. Km. Calculate earthquake risk:
Earthquake risk = size of population of Santo Domingo / distance from threatening fault.
These links may be helpful:
CIA world factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html
National statistics office http://www.one.gob.do/
This is an interactive map of all seismic activity in the region. Layers can be added or turned off. http://mineralsciences.si.edu/tdpmap/index.htm
Group 4 - Class - B - D - F - G
Research what is being done in other cities to prepare for earthquakes: Seattle, SanFrancisco and Tokyo? .
These links may be helpful:
RADIUS project - assessing seismic risk UN initiative
http://www.geohaz.org/news/images/publications/RADIUS_RiskAssessment.pdf
USGS earthquake home http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/
Seattle: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Emergency/Earthquakes/
San Francisco: http://quake.abag.ca.gov/
Group 5 - Class - B - D - F - G
Research the earthquake history of Santo Domingo, how many major earthquake events with significant loss of resources/life have occurred in recorded history – what was the result of these earthquakes. On average, how many earthquakes per month of any size occur in the Dominican Republic. What is the average size of these earthquakes.
These links may help:
USGS earthquake home http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/
This is an interactive map of all seismic activity in the region. Layers can be added or turned off. http://mineralsciences.si.edu/tdpmap/index.htm
Online real-time earthquake map http://www.oe-files.de/gmaps/eqmashup.html
Groups have 1 cycle to fully complete and present their findings to class.
Cycle 3 – Working together to answer the following:
Whole class:
List factors that are important in preparing for earthquake safety: Before, during and after an earthquake. Examine the survey results. Evaluate the preparedness of the citizens of Santo Domingo. (Totally unprepared, Slightly unprepared...)
Group 1
Define a scale for Urban Earthquake Risk. Place Santo Domingo on that scale. Include the earthquake history of the region. Include the building code information. Groups 2, 3 & 5 work together.
Include all the information regarding the infrastructure of Santo Domingo. Evaluate the preparedness of Santo Domingo for emergency response (consider the distribution of high rise buildings, schools with the distribution of hospitals, firestations and police stations). Group 3
Create a list of recommendations to be presented to Congress to improve the Urban Earthquake Risk rating of Santo Domingo based on information of other cities. Group 4
Class has one cycle to complete these tasks.
1 class to consolidate info. to present. (write a paragraph or two summarizing your findings). 2 classes to present findings to the rest of the class. 1 class to brainstorm recommendations for congress.
Cycle 4 – working in small groups of 3 to complete the following task:
Task 1: Create a safety awareness video or slideshow directed toward individual households that will be linked to CMS website to inform our community about earthquake safety.
OR
Task 2: Create a video or slideshow to be presented to congress that includes all relevent research compiled regarding earthquake risk in Santo Domingo and offers specific recommendations for how to decrease the urban earthquake risk of Santo Domingo.
Either choice should include information taken from ALL 5 of the research topics in order to present a clear and complete picture. Groups have one cycle to complete this task.
Rubric for evaluation.
Starting points for your PBL - ideas for organizing.
Due dates: Sections B - May 27
Section D & G - May 28
Section F - May 29.
