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More than two months after a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti, life there is still far from normal. Most of the inhabitants live in tents among the rubble still awaiting cleanup, afraid to be inside existing buildings for fear of being crushed in their sleep.

“The devastation is incredible,” said engineer Craig Totten of KPFF Consulting Engineers. “Life is restarting, but this is a population in shock. Everyone has lost a family member. They are recovering from severe injuries. It’s a very difficult situation.”

Totten and a team of volunteer masons traveled recently to Haiti to perform damage assessments, and to teach Haitian builders a more effective construction method than unreinforced concrete masonry. KPFF, which has sponsored visits by Totten and other engineers to Haiti, plans to have people on the ground there through the end of April.

In Haiti, 95 percent of the buildings were constructed from unreinforced masonry walls with concrete frames, which has been identified as the main factor in the catastrophic earthquake damage. But confined masonry construction techniques being taught by Totten and other volunteers will allow local builders to use the same low-cost materials they had been using to build structures that are more resistant to earthquakes.

“The idea is to teach them a method that uses the skills and materials they already have to reconstruct buildings in a more sustainable and seismically sound way,” Totten said.

Confined masonry construction is used around the world in countries like Slovenia, Mexico and Chile because of its affordability and superior seismic performance. The method directs builders to construct the masonry walls first and then pour concrete columns and beams to confine the walls in place. This allows the masonry walls to carry the seismic load during an earthquake.

According to a report by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the cost of confined masonry construction ranges from $150 per square meter to $300 per square meter. Chile has used the building technique since the 1930s. After an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile in late February, damage was discovered to be much less significant than in Haiti because of the country’s strong building codes.

On a trip to Haiti earlier this month, Totten and two volunteer masons from Clem Fleck Masonry of Woodburn woke up each morning to 100-degree heat and stifling humidity. They spent the morning hours assessing seismic damage sustained by buildings still standing. Travel expenses, as well as an interpreter for the trip, were paid for by Hoffman Construction.

“You’re kind of humbled in the midst of this enormous destruction,” said Clem Fleck, owner of Clem Fleck Masonry. “You just feel like nothing. I’ve experienced earthquakes in Oregon but nothing compared to the destruction I saw in Haiti.”

When the Haitian builders finished work in mid-afternoon, Totten and masons Fleck and Robert Miller held two-hour training sessions on confined masonry construction, complete with handouts translated into French and Haitian Creole. At the end of the discussion, the volunteers helped the builders construct small mock-ups to demonstrate the block and rebar detailing required by confined masonry.

“The strength of the products they use would never pass U.S. standards or standards for other countries,” Fleck said. “When they use cement, they don’t use very much at all.”

“Generally, the builders and masons were very open to it,” Totten said. “They were interested and surprised that they didn’t have to do much different to make their buildings safer.”

But more training is needed, Totten said. That’s why he will return to Haiti in early April to continue offering workshops on confined masonry construction. Masons’ travel expenses for that trip are being covered by the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, a nonprofit that helps communities gain access to electricity, sanitation and clean water.

“We are looking for more masons to come with us,” Totten said. “There’s no significant reconstruction happening right now. There’s too much work still to be done clearing the rubble.”

And soon, the hurricane season will be upon Haiti. Totten hopes that the rain might drive some of the Haitians living in tents back into buildings that have been assessed as safe, so that the spread of waterborne illness might be lessened.

But he understands their fears.

“I slept in a tent as well,” Totten said. “There’s a fear of being inside these buildings that is very real. But the effort I saw there to rebuild is pretty amazing. The number of volunteers restores your faith in humankind.”

To learn more about volunteering as a mason in Haiti, contact Craig Totten at [email protected].