SANTO DOMINGO - Structural engineers from the National Office of Seismic Evaluation and Vulnerability of Infrastructure and Buildings (Onesvie) are supervising the progress of the structural reinforcement carried out by the School Buildings Department of the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (Minerd), Don Pepe Álvarez and Federico García Godoy educational institutions , in the municipality of La Vega .
The entity urged the Ministry of Education not to halt the process until it has concluded with the other schools that present weaknesses in other regions of the country.
Galvy Núñez , head of the North delegation, stated that the intervention work consists of placing structural walls in the different modules to remedy the deficiencies that some educational establishments have in the face of the possibility of an earthquake.
“It’s gratifying to know that Onesvie’s work is bearing fruit; we’re already seeing buildings undergoing reinforcement. We’ve finally moved from the stage of making proposals to actually implementing them, to seeing tangible results,” Núñez commented.
He said the structural reinforcement is being carried out in modules, thus avoiding disruption to teaching, and specified that the intervention time will be three months . Currently, the work is progressing well.
Representatives from Onesvie are conducting the oversight. (EXTERNAL SOURCE).
The statement establishes that once the structural reinforcement is completed some 1,460 students , 810 from the Don Pepe Álvarez polytechnic school and 650 from the Federico García Godoy school, the teaching staff, parents and friends and citizens who come to seek training services would enter buildings with greater guarantee and security .
The intervention stems from a proposal recommended by Onesvie and seeks to make the buildings that make up the educational facilities resilient spaces in the face of the effects of the expected earthquake.
Leonardo Reyes Madera , general director of Onesvie, values the structural reinforcement as a transcendental initiative in the effort to prevent and reduce seismic vulnerability and thus make the buildings of educational establishments safer.
“At Onesvie, we have been chosen to begin structural reinforcement and thus reduce the possibility of our children being injured in the expected earthquake.”.
The official stated that the evaluation studies carried out by Onesvie in educational establishments revealed, for the most part, a pronounced degree of seismic vulnerability , and said he was confident that the reinforcement initiated by the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic would not stop until the weaknesses detected were reduced to a minimum.
It calls for continued strengthening of tools, programs and initiatives that help expand the structural reinforcement of buildings, infrastructure and lifelines in order to place the country in a preferential position in the reduction of seismic risk and vulnerability.
According to the earthquake resistance specialist, the Dominican Republic still has time to undertake all preventative measures aimed at reducing seismic risk and vulnerability in buildings, infrastructure, and lifelines. He stated that Onesvie, along with its technical team, will be monitoring the situation closely to contribute.
In that regard, he stated that Onesvie initiated the training and accreditation of the Network of Structural Evaluators and the Bank of Evaluators (REED) , in addition to other actions, with the objective of strengthening policies that contribute to the prevention and reduction of seismic risk and vulnerability.
