Patricia Green | Lessons from Surfside and Tropical Storm Grace

There is a higher place of dwelling that globally, all persons are being called to assume today. The media are fraught with scenes of calamities sadly resulting in fatalities from natural disasters such as earthquakes – Haiti, again August 14; storms and hurricanes – Fred and Grace following across the Caribbean into the United States and Central America; floods and landslides – Ghana and Sweden; volcanoes – St Vincent and the Grenadines, and DR Congo; tornadoes – Canada and the US; or fires – raging across forests and towns in Russia and North America. There are also wars and rumours of wars – Taliban take-over of Afghanistan; persons fleeing communities under siege across Jamaica. Capping all is the global pandemic – COVID-19 – with its variants.

‘Stay at home’/tan-a-yuh-yaad’ is the cry. Prime Minster Andrew Holness has announced for Jamaica three-day lockdowns.

However, globally, the images show the built environment, the ‘yaad’, the house inside which you are now forced to stay/‘tan’ is under siege. Ravaged by various natural and man-made occurrences, persons are displaced or fleeing home. Mangled shells of post-disaster and war-torn homes dot the landscape locally and globally, with video broadcasts in a multiplicity of languages and accents crying the refrain, “we-have-lost-our-home”.

What posture are we to adopt in all of these events? A compelling response would be: continuously on knees in prayer. Be comforted by 2Timothy1:7 that God did not give a spirit of fear so do not be afraid; but of power so exercise overcoming principles; of love so remember to reach out with condolences and kindness to survivors also families and friends who lost loved ones; and a of sound mind. So how does this operate after the Surfside building tragedy? Recall that the world woke to this news that around 1:19 a.m. on June 24 in Surfside, Florida, the “Champlain Towers South Building” collapsed.

IMPROVE POLICIES

The significant lesson learnt as sound is that after 55 of the 136 Champlain Towers South apartments crashed to the ground, entities across the US owned the tragedy to improve policies and practices at all levels. Miami-Dade County convened meetings with elected leaders. “… I’m proud ...” said County Commissioner [Local Government Parish Councillor] Sally Heyman, “… I’m hopeful that the efforts of this working group will result in specific actions that government at all levels can implement to ensure the safety of our residents ...”.

By United States law, property owners must regularly maintain buildings, and before a building’s 40-year deadline, include a geo-technical analysis of the foundation and subsurface soils. Similar inspections are heightening across the US, resulting in the closure of some apartments.

Work entailed forensic analyses of collapsed material during demolition involving microscopic investigation by the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). They were joined by the Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and Facility of National Sanitation Foundation (NSF’s) Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Program. Using top professionals across all expertise, ages, and credentials, the NIST installed accelerometers for building vibrations and a seismometer measurements of ground vibrations with computer modelling.

Surfside history reports that it is a small walkable town about one mile long and half-mile wide with eight blocks on 361 acres (146 hectares) on the Atlantic Ocean in the Miami metropolitan area. Situated between upscale Bal Harbour and Miami Beach, its population is about 6,000. In 1930, tire tycoon Harvey Firestone and Carl Fisher, the developer of Miami Beach, established the private chartered men’s only ‘Surf Club’ on the beach. In its heyday, famous business people and celebrities were guests, including former UK Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. In 1935, thirty-five members founded the town. It is laid out with high-rise apartments overlooking the ocean on its main street and attached by a bridge to a very exclusive island, “Indian Creek”, with no condominiums nicknamed “Billionaire Bunker”, having only 354444 single houses averaging US$21.48 million each.

BUILT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES

After the August 14 shaking from the earthquake then the August 17 passage of Tropical Storm Grace, what lessons has Jamaica learnt? Thankfully, there were no fatalities. However, recurring built-environment issues continued - Marcus Garvey Drive again, and St Thomas again. Sadly, some first-time issues emerged and made the news.

Do we understand the significance of retaining walls to prevent earth movement? Covenants on building titles demand free flows of water across properties, “… No bath water or water used for domestic purposes in respect of the said land or any part thereof or any water except storm water shall be permitted or allowed to flow from the said land of any part thereof on to any portion of the said land or any road street of land adjacent to the said land …”. Do we build walls with weep holes to allow water passage from one property to the other? One citizen bemoaned the loss of breathable fencing between neighbours. Are we analysing issues in order to improve and implement good practices going forward? What are the public agencies responses over best practice by developers, building owners, and citizens across the island?

I suggest that Jamaica:

(1) Unite. All citizens whether living in single units or multifamily townhouses or apartment buildings, support your citizens’ associations, and associations, reach out to all. The public defender in Gleaner Letter to the Editor August 13 made this call.

(2) Be vigilant. Your surroundings are interconnected to your neighbours inside your own complex or across fences.

(3) Investigate and analyse towards improvements. Property is an investment whether you own or rent and are likely to own.

(4) Rectify speedily. A stitch in time saves nine.

(5) Avoid shortcuts. Not all things are expedient.

(6) Maintain the highest standards. Integrity pays.

(7) Improve and enforce effective policy. Train building inspectors continuously. Ensure that policymakers are accountable.

(8) Avoid trying to lay blame. No fault-finding.

The lesson from Surfside and Grace is that the environment is without separation. In Jamaica, as water travel from the hills, it moves across all properties on its way to the sea. Everyone is affected – and adversely, too.

- Patricia Green, PhD, is a registered architect, former head of the Caribbean School of Architecture in the Faculty of the Built Environment at University of Technology, Jamaica. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com.