Day 19: Monday 26 September - the week ahead - putting together the GIS analysis

At the end of last week two consultants joined the British Red Cross team: Regan Potangaroa (Structural Engineer from the Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand) and Rafael Mattarneri (Architect from Venezuala). Both Regan and Rafael have some fantastic ideas and I plan to work closely with them as they're both keen to integrate the results from their own surveys and analysis into the GIS. It's also a great way for me to learn more about how engineers and architects can make use of GIS and satellite image analysis in a reconstruction context.

This morning I identify five pieces of analysis I would like to complete with the assistance of the Haitian staff before I leave Haiti. Each analysis will form a separate layer in the final GIS that I will hand-over to the British Red Cross. It is hoped that the layers of the database can be analysed both separately and collectively to help inform the initial decision-making process in terms of beneficiary selection and logistics. The five layers of the GIS will include:

1. House-type attributes from the enumeration survey (e.g. damage status, number of storeys, plot size)

2. Vulnerability analysis part 1: Ownership and household composition for each plot

3. Vulnerability analysis part 2: Economic status of the household

4. Accessibility: identification of access routes and open spaces for logistics to plan how to supply materials to the plots requiring assistance

5. New physical building survey to replace the MTPTC tags. The new survey will categorize buildings into those requiring full reconstruction and those requiring repair and retrofitting and those not requiring either.

As discussed in previous posts, various other on-going tools and methodologies will also be feeding into the decision making process, including PASSA's work with the community. Regan and Rafael are also over-seeing a number of surveys in the field, including soil testing to define the building foundations and a house evaluation called 'talk to the buildings' devised by Regan to better understand the space and the use of space in Delmas 19. We plan to integrate the results from these surveys into the GIS next week, so expect some results then.

Finally, Regan and Rafael plan to develop a catalogue of seismic design solutions based on their initial survey results. A cost will then be defined based on number of beneficiaries and defined unit costs. It's going to be a busy week!

Here's a picture of map HQ: