Mike’s Engineering Chile Reflections

Hey everyone I wrote down a slightly longer than expected synopsis of our trip with some of my thoughts and feelings.  The trip is over but we will be posting pictures, edited videos, and possibly more professional style documents from our trip.  Enjoy!

After a long day of sledging aggregate. Photo credit: Jason

This trip was formed with a main goal of making ourselves more aware of an earthquakes effect on buildings, infrastructure, and culture.  To say the least I have accomplished these goals.

I came into the experience with an appreciation for how well Chile performed against an 8.8M earthquake.  We started the trip off meeting with Professor Ernesto Cruz.  He along with two recent PhD graduates walked us through the basics of the 8.8M earthquake.  They answered our introductory questions providing us a great starting point for our understanding of the earthquake.  We then had meetings with Marcel Haristoy Padilla who worked for the Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo.  He along with Eduardo Elsner gave us a history of engineering in Chile since 1960.  Their wisdom was priceless as they walked us through how Chilean design has changed since the 1960 9.5M quake through to present day.

In a weekend excursion to Vina Del Mar and Valparisio the group was treated to a walking tour of damaged structures in the area, complements of Christian Schnaidt.   Christian, one of Restrepo’s contacts, was able to show us a dozen buildings that had serious damage, many of which may have to be completely demolished.  After working a few strings we returned to a building we had passed earlier and got an opportunity to view the inside of one of the buildings (thankfully there weren’t any aftershocks during this part of the tour).  The walking tour had a huge impact on all of us as it was the first time we had seen modern structures show severe structural damage.

We returned to Santiago ready for more meetings.  Our second week of meetings began with a presentation and tour of Chile’s tallest building, Titanium La Portada.  After a presentation by Alejandra Troncoso the head PR agent for the building, we were able to sit and talk with Andres Weil the head architect of the building.  It was an awesome experience to get an architects perspective on how building in an earthquake zone affects the relationship between an architect, engineer, and contractor.  After our 52^nd floor meeting we were taken down to see the energy dissipation devices used on every third floor which helped the tall building dissipate energy during the quake.  The building had no structural or non structural damage.  After further meetings with Sergio Contreras Arancibia and Rodrigo Mujica Vizcaya of the Colegio de Ingenieros de Chile and VMB Structural Engineering respectively certain flaws in the building process were highlighted.

Currently once an engineering student graduates they can go directly into the work force with the ability to sign off on their own plans.  There is a second peer edit which is done by a certified professional however many of the people we spoke with believe an EIT, PE system would be helpful in preventing rookie mistakes from reaching the real world.  An additional change suggested was to have a construction phased inspection process similar to the United States.

As for overall engineering/construction flaws that we saw there were a few common ones that were visible at nearly every damaged building.  A lack of confinement in shear walls and columns allowed for interior concrete to be damaged as well as the buckling and fatigue of the lateral reinforcement.  The minimal stirrup placement also lacked the 135^o bends that Professor Restrepo has insisted is necessary in our concrete class.  In the failed structural elements with 90^o bends the stirrups had opened up during the shaking, exposing the interior concrete to severe cracking.  A second issue seen in many buildings was poor placement of splices.  In some cases not only were the splices performed in the first floor, but there was nearly no overlap distance between the spliced rebar.  Seeing these mistakes over and over again has given substance to what we have learned in our civil sequence classes at UCSD.  For the members of the group who are entering their senior year, having seen first hand these mistakes will be valuable in their ability to understand why the concrete code is the way it is, and why Professor Restrepo is so passionate about the issues discussed above.

The earthquake has also created an environment for Chile to invest in its emergency facilities (i.e. hospitals).  A good percentage of Chilean hospitals are already on base isolation and these facilities performed perfectly in the 8.8M earthquake leaving structures in a fully functioning state after the earthquake.  There were hospitals with the average shear wall design that did not have catastrophic failures; however the earthquake destroyed non structural elements (i.e. equipment) and left the place unusable.  Unfortunately as seen in Chile and all the time in the United States nothing is done until after the earthquake.  It is important that the US, California, and other nations like China and New Zealand use Chile as a case study.  As the world becomes more globalized we have the opportunity to not only learn from our own mistakes, but as well as the mistakes of others.  Events like Chile’s 8.8M should have ripple effects in places like California where a push is needed to place hospitals on base isolation equivalent damper systems.

On the trip we were given the opportunity to tour base isolation systems which all performed amazingly.  So why not put everything on isolation?  Well, it does cost more, and is worth it for structures like hospitals, but it can only be implemented on smaller structures, about five stories or less.  For taller buildings we were shown energy dissipation components in the joints of structural elements as well as tuned mass dampers which are basically giant pendulums inside the structure.  All these energy dissipation methods take the full force of the earthquake and absorb the energy so that the building only feels a fraction of the earthquake forces.

Our discussion and tours in Concepcion more than anything brought about an awestruck realization of how powerful an earthquake was.  It tore apart reinforced concrete as if it was paper, and visiting failures where people lost lives gave off a vibe similar to September 11^th in the states.

The human aspect of the trip was like none other.  We have heard earthquake accounts from a wide range of people.  Each time the room gets quiet and people’s eyes begin to express their stories, as cheesy as that sounds.  I feel lucky to have had people open up to us with their stories. I am so glad that the people we have met viewed us as a blessing.  Non engineers always ask our opinion of the earthquake, and are amazed that we have come to Chile because we are interested in them.  Thank you to all our contacts and friends that have let us into their lives and who have given us their time and hospitality.  There openness has changed me as an engineer and as a person.

I have always been a big believer of counting your blessings, but on a trip like this where I was exposed to poverty in Peru and tragedy in Chile it really brought home how lucky (I am)/ (we are).  This renewal of understanding how lucky I have been for the past twenty two years of my life has recharged me to use abilities to help others feel this same sense of happiness and satisfaction.  This leaves me in a state of soul searching, how do I do this?  I am a recent graduate with the ability to travel anywhere or do anything, but I am unsure of which moves to make.  Something I realized on this trip is there is still A LOT for me to learn in terms of civil/structural/construction.  Knowing this has pushed me over the edge into a job search with a PE goal in mind.  The world needs help now, but I’m not ready to offer thoughtful and creative solutions just yet.

I was hesitant to originally apply for this program as I didn’t know what was better for ‘the greater good.’  Being apart of this experience was the right choice as throughout my professional career I will keep applications to the developing world in the back of my head.

I can really get off topic; basically this experience has inspired me to work for knowledge which I then hope to apply later in my life to the developing world.  Enough about engineering though, what I will remember is this family of ten and the people we have added to it along the way.  So many memories have been captured on camera but it’s the little things about each person I will remember forever.  I never went fifteen minutes on this trip without a laugh which is a testament to how good of friends I have become with everyone.  We became a family that opened up to each other to discuss engineering, school, life or whatever.  I think we all have left Chile with so much more to offer the world, and equally importantly a desire to continue to affect positive change through engineering and hard work.

A final thanks to all of our contacts, and especially the other nine of you who have made this trip entertaining to say the least.

A little time for some R&R and Adventure

So Geo, Marie, Errynne, Jason and Mike headed down to Pucon for our last 2 days in Chile to get some vacation time after a long and exhausting 5 weeks of meetings and work.  The trip was thought up about 15 hours before we arrived in the small city of Pucon, meaning we stepped off the bus with nothing booked and no place to stay, which was the best decision we could have made.

Not even a minute off the bus we had Luis telling us about his hostel that he runs with 5 beds for us at an amazing deal.  We checked it out, and sure enough it was a hostel with exactly five beds, a small kitchen, hot water and a constantly burning wood stove.  It has probably been 80 degrees in our place a majority of the time which has been a nice change.

After settling into our hostel in the morning (Wednesday) we went sightseeing with a guide to see a few rivers, waterfalls, lagoons, lakes, and then to finish it off natural hot springs.  The hot springs were HOT, and were a great treat after all the running around we had been doing for the past month plus.

Marie & Errynne taking in the view at Pucon

Marie checking out the blue lagoon.

Enjoying one of the natural pools.

As for Thursday…we climbed an active Volcano, no big deal.  After an early wake up to get going, we began our 6 hour trek up the Vulcan Villarica.  We did the trek with two guides and two German girls here on vacation.  The first 2 hours of the trek were easy enough, however the next four hours get exponentially more difficult with white out conditions at times and frigid temperatures.   After doing all the work to get to the top of the 2,847 meter peak we slid down on pieces of plastic to get down…super sketch, however in the end the most fun you could have with a square foot of flexible plastic.

At the top...right behind us is MAGMA!

About three hours (half way) into the trek

An exhuasted Mike checking in on the weather.

Dichato: September 4

Joe and Jason were fortunate enough to visit Dichato during our time in Concepcion. The city is a small fishing town that many consider to be ground zero in terms of damage from the earthquake and tsunami. If a building wasn’t destroyed by the earthquake it was probably taken away by the tsunami.  Dichato experienced around five waves tsunami waves that came into the bay of the city. The waves however were not high breaking waves but was more of a rising of the ocean. From talking to locals it was determined that the third wave was the devastating one that ripped many houses off its foundation while the people ran to safety up the hills.

Remnants of what used to be a house. This was a reoccuring sight in Dichato where many houses were ripped off its foundation by the powerful tsunami.

A couple houses had chimneys still standing.

We were lucky enough to be able to talk to some of the locals and hear their stories of what happened in the days following the earthquake. In some cases there would be cars lodged on the second floor of buildings. Another frequent site was the amount of boats that could be found in random spots in the city. Food however was not a problem because the tsunami caused many fish to become stuck in the ground when the sea pulled out of the bay. Locals said  government was handing out the fish to families for free.

There used to be a concrete road in front of these houses. What remains is a puddle and sand.

Much of the roads were destroyed making it difficult for people to drive around the city.

More damage form the earthquake and tsunami.

Hopefully these pictures give a sense of the kind of destruction the tsunami and earthquake caused. Many families lost everything they had  and would find many of their belongings scattered around the city. One local actually showed us his car  which was destroyed and displaced maybe 10 locks away from where his house used to be. After the tour of the city were able to walk around the shelters for the families which was up the hill on a huge piece of land. They shelters were basic wood houses about the size of a  decent sized bedroom but not bigger than a master bedroom. The walls were covered with styrofoam for insulation and lighting was pretty basic. The community of shelter houses is roughly 500 people  and there were communal bathrooms. Before these wooden houses were built all the families lived in make shift tents and there was a waiting list to get a wooden house. When I visited the place, there were still houses being built.

This picture doesn't show how huge the camp really is but I wasn't able to take a picture inside.

This trip to Dichato helped to reflect back on why the team was formed in the first place. The earthquake that hit last February affected a whole country and many families lost everything they had including loved ones. Some videos Dichato were also shot and will hopefully uploaded in the near future. In the meantime, watch this youtube home video of the tsunami hitting the city:

Trip is Winding Down

So we have said goodbye to Lori, Joe and Janet.  They are currently on a flight home to LAX.  In addition to them we have left Concepcion which meant we had to finally say our final goodbyes to Fena (Fernando), Lou, and the Antezana familia.  We made many friends in Concepcion, and consider it to be a home away from home because of the people we have met and the college atmosphere.

As for the rest of us, we took an overnight bus down further south to Pucon, a tourist destination.  We have some exciting trips planned, but we´re going to keep what we do a surprise until we have pictures to show how awesome it is.  We have two full days here and then we begin our journey back to Santiago and then to LAX and SFO.

As for our trip, there will continue to be updates throughout September so keep reading.  We plan on posting more personal accounts of the trip as well as accounts of meetings that we never got around to posting.  Jason will be working towards making more videos of the trip, and Mike is attempting to write some sort of semi technical paper about the Chilean earthquake culture.

Wish us safe travels for our busses and flights home!

Concepcion Meetings

So we have been falling behind again on our blog updates since our arrival to Concepcion.  This is probably due to our busy schedule as well as our excitement to be back in the city.

Here is a brief synopsis of what we have done over the past week, hopefully we’ll be able to write more thorough updates in the next few days.

Monday: we had our meeting with Jorge Quezada which we already posted about

Tuesday: We had a presentation and tour of the water filtration and pumping facility which supplies the greater Concepcion region its water.  After the quake a large percentage of the population was without water.  A few days after, something like 60% of the city had water restored, however the remaining 40% had extensive damage in water lines which required 24/7 crews to get 95% water restored in under 10 weeks.  In addition they were able to come up with methods to provide un-serviced citizens with water and sanitation means.

After this meeting we went to Fernando’s university where we talked with administrators from the business and construction schools.  We agreed to give three presentations on Friday to respective business, human resource, and construction classes.

Wednesday: Angel hooked it up again with an awesome tour provided by the ministry of housing and urbanism director.  We got a tour of a 11 floor mixed facility which was built in the early 70’s as an 8 floor structure which then had 3 more floors added later in the 70’s  The bottom half of the building had minimal structural damage, however the 8^th floor and above had serious damage.  The original plan (at least in documentation) was to only view the 8^th floor, however the director took us up to the 9^th floor which had a remarkable amount of damage (we’re just glad there wasn’t an aftershock when we were touring around the 9^th floor.  Every column on the 9^th floor was absolutely destroyed with perfect examples of unconfined concrete and insufficient vertical rebar.  This was an awesome tour, more to come on this one for sure.

Checking out some of the damage on the ninth floor.

Joe with one of the failed columns

Thursday: After setting up a meeting with civil engineering students on Wednesday we were able to arrange a tour with 4 students to show us around the city.  We went on a four hour walking tour of the city highlighting 4 buildings that will be completely demolished.

Mike and Geo checking out a failure

The last building we witnessed was the infamous complete failure of a 10+ story apartment building which collapsed 7 seconds into the 8.8 earthquake.  Eight people lost their lives in this structural collapse which really drove home to everyone in the group what it really means to be an engineer and the responsibility we will be given in a few years when we pass our PE exams.  It was surreal to see a building on its side like that with rebar and concrete tossed everywhere as if it were simply pulled apart.  In seeing the damage to these buildings I personally am awestruck at just how powerful an earthquake is.  It is one thing to be told it is the equivalent of a few hundred thousand atomic bombs, but it is surreal to see how easily a quake can topple a building.

Geo in front of the total collapse.

Friday:  Our presentations.  We went to the university and gave three awesome presentations to students.  Two presentations were to classes of 30 or so while one was given in an auditorium to 70 students.  It was an awesome experience for us to put our experience into presentation form to explain what we have learned from Chile.  After our presentations the staff set up a catered lunch for us provided by the schools culinary school.  We went to the culinary classroom…a kitchen with dinning area with one large table.  We had been told we would be provided lunch, but we didn’t know we would have a 4 course meal with nearly two servers to each one of us.  It was an amazing lunch, and a cool experience to see how the university takes a hands on approach.  Overall, it was an awesome experience to give presentations to Chilean students, and in a way give back to a country that has provided us with an amazing education over the past month.

Angel did a great job translating all the presentations

What now?:  We are done with all of our planned meetings however we continue to find experience to continue our project here.  A few of us only have 4 days left here which is heartbreaking to us all as we don’t want this experience to end.

Today we heard of the New Zealand quake, we’re making plans to change our flights to go to Christchurch…(Just Kidding…but not really).  We hope the relief efforts go well there and that it will be a case study for other engineers.

Cobquecura Experience, Mike

Hey everyone, I have been having the time of my life down here, and the 2 weeks we spent in Cobquecura are a big reason why.  I was very nervous about rebuilding Fernando’s farm as I thought there was no way there would be enough work for ten people to do for two weeks….I was wrong.  In the weeks at Fena’s family farm and now that we are in Concepcion it has really hit me the power that this earthquake unleashed.

In Cobquecura I entered the situation unsure of how we could impact this families life.  When we first arrived to the farm I had an instantaneous connection to the home and the Vargas family.  The scenery at the farm is simply put the most beautiful place I have seen.  Its thick forest foothills line the eastern horizon and the black sand beach opens up to a powerful part of the Pacific.  After our best meal in South America we were treated to two bonfires under a clear night sky.  With a new moon in the sky we were treated to a spectacular view of the milky way and southern hemisphere constellations.  Enough about the location itself, what really made this experience so amazing was growth in friendship between the team and with the locals who became part of our Chilean family.

There are so many amazing memories with every team member from this portion of the trip…I’ll highlight my favorite memory with each person.

Angel:  The two of us were investigating why and how the adobe wall was tilted.  To do this he decided he would jump up, grab onto a rafter and then attempt to mission impossible is way to the top…he didn’t quite make it, but watching him hang from the roof was absolutely hilarious, I wish I had video to show you all.

Marie: We went on a hike on our day off…on the way up we were following an abandoned trail on which I was blazing a trail.  We reached a point where I was ready to turn back, but she insisted we continue.  literally 6 inches into blazing the trail she slips on a wet log and laughs her way to the muddy forest floor.  Despite this embarrassing start she blazed a much more difficult trail the remainder of the distance up the mountain.  We ended up making it to the top and were treated to an amazing view.  I was prepared to walk back on the trail we came up but she convinced me to just blaze a trail through the wild.  We crawled through vines, traversed nearly vertical slopes and then crawled the last ten feet under a black berry bush.

Geovani: In a lot of ways Geo and are very similar.  We never knew each other at UCSD, but we shared so many of the same experiences.  As is the case with everyone on this trip I’m sad that I didn’t know them for my college career.  The first few days and last few days of the trip I worked on projects with Geo which made the mornings fly by.  On the days we were on separate projects we always seemed to have cooler talk on the aggregate pile, the roof, wherever about how our mornings were going.  Geo has become a great friend and someone I share so many similarities with.  I also will remember Geo for being such a pyro that he “accidentally” burnt pieces of the roof we had removed.  It was for the best as they were slightly rotten.

Lori: I’ve already written a lot about Lori’s cooking so I won’t make that my story.  My favorite memory of Lori is watching her and Senora Clementina interact.  She always gave her a hard time for her horseback ridding skills and would tell her the weather.  Clementina would talk to Lori as if she were playing charades so it was always entertaining to watch.

Joe:  I had never really gotten to know Joe throughout my time at UCSD…I never knew he was such a funny guy.  He get’s the award for best laugh on this trip.  My favorite memory of Joe was his birthday party the night before.  After an exhausting pour we rallied to stay up past midnight to ring in his birthday.  At many times through the night a number of us were tempted to fall asleep but Joe kept us going, and thanks to his girl Ally (who is AWESOME) we had some amazing cake.  Joe’s a big guy and he’s shown me nothing but a giant heart.

Janet & Jason:  I only grouped them together because they share my favorite memory.  Near the end of our trip we had to break up into smaller groups to complete the final three projects.  Jason and Janet were determined to finish the last section of roof before we left.  In the back of my head  I thought it was a lost cause as we had already seemed to be burnt out from placing s camas, but the last two days the two of them powered through the drilling, twisting and placing of the final section of roof.    I walked by they were always laughing and throughout the past two weeks I don’t remember seeing either of them without a massive smile.  They both have an energy that exudes happiness into the rest of the group.  I thank them for the laughs they have provided me.

Errynne:  “What’s this game?”  We played poker for beans at night some times.  One of the first times we played Errynne entered th game as if she had never played before, a few hands later, half the players were out and she had a giant pile of beans in front of her.  Errynne is always full of surprises with random quotes and such powerful manerisms…”eDelicious”

Theresa:  First off it was a huge bummer to see her leave the group, 9 people just isn’t enough.  The first few days at the farm we were working on opposite projects but when we started the roof as the whole team we finally got the chance to work together.  There was one particular moment while we cleared dirt from the roof where I was like “I’m getting beat by a girl” because Theresa was bulldozing her way through the mud.  I have always appreciated her as a person for the time she has given to volunteering in Peru, and understand how important of a resource she is to a volunteer organization with her self taught spanish skills.

As you can tell, we laughed a lot on this trip.  We were a group of ten dedicated to aid Fena’s family which was amazing, but more importantly we were able to do so while smiling and laughing the whole time.  I only stop now because this is already a massive post and words alone will never be enough to describe the wide range of emotions I have experienced on this trip.  I am so thankful for the past two weeks as an engineer, as a traveler, and as a friend.  The 24/7 for fifteen days could have exhausting but it regenerated my spirits on every level.

-Mike

Reflecting on Cobquecura

We just got back from Cobquecura and there is so much to say about my experience there that I hope this blog along with some pictures can illustrate well. Before we left Santiago the group barely knew any information of what we were doing. All we knew was that we were going to a secluded farm to help a family. Little did we know that this farm would be in a beautiful location a couple hundred feet from the ocean and the family is actually one of the nicest and hospitable people in town. The farm itself is actually in an area called Calmayo which is about 10 km from Cobquecura. The house was built in the early 1900’s and was just a gorgeous property. Unfortunately, the earthquake this past February destroyed a lot of the main house including the two barns. The family that owns the farm is the Vargas which consists of the mom who we call Tia, the older brother Claudio, Fernando (awesome guy who basically was our boss) and two younger sisters. The earthquake caused mostly non structural damage to the house which is evident with how much furniture and random things are displaced and stacked into random rooms. The barns are both made of wood but the house is made of adobe and wood. During our two week stay at the Vargas farm the team helped out on many projects which required a lot of perseverance and teamwork. Just like any other team we went through different days of conflict such as who’s doing dishes and whatnot. However, by the end of the trip I feel as though the team really started to work well and got a lot done. One of my favorite memories of the trip would be during the days we had to pour the concrete. Everyone in the team had an important part to make sure everything went well. Whether it was pulling up the bucket of concrete or transporting buckets of sand and aggregate the group got the job done. The task needed every single person to do their job and in the end I feel as though our team achieved that. In addition to working I also made some really good friendships. Fernando, the guy we worked with was just an awesome person who barely spoke any English in the start of the trip. As the days progressed I started practicing my Spanish and him with his English to a point where we can have a pretty long conversation now. I also became a lot closer with the members in the group. Everyone definitely contributed something that was valuable to the team’s progression. I will always remember breakfast everyday thanks to Lori, super huge Lunches which consisted of sheep and potatoes almost everyday and the nights when everyone relaxed after a long day of work. There were so many memories from these past couple of weeks including Angel breaking a sledgehammer, Theresa going inside the cement mixer and Marie getting attacked by rats which shows why this part of the trip in Chile was that awesome. I will definitely not forget these past couple of weeks in the farm because of all the things I have learned about the world, others and myself. I hope to come back in the near future with the ability to speak Spanish really well and see the farm in its original beautiful state before the earthquake. Cachai?

-Jason Hernandez