Haiti Update.

Following delays caused by disputes over local and mayoral elections that I'm not going to get involved in the official, final results to Haiti's election were released on April 20th 2011. They confirmed Michel Martelly as Haiti's next President and he will take up office on May 14th 2011.

When he is sworn in the problems that Martelly will face are too numerous to list here. However three of the most immediate ones are that 16 months after the earthquake 80% of the rubble from damaged buildings has still not been cleared, 600,000 people are still homeless and there are high levels of unemployment that leave a lot of people with nothing better to do then riot and generally get themselves into trouble. For these problems I think I've found something that could possibly offer at least a partial solution - bricks. More specifically Concrete Masonry Units (CMU'S).

Breeze or cinder blocks, as they're more commonly known, are used in construction the world over because they're cheap, strong and versatile. They should be ideal for construction in Haiti because they can be used to build lots of simple, hurricane-proof homes very quickly. Although these buildings will probably just be bare-brick, single room structures with a tin roof they will certainly be a step up from a tent. The other advantage of building with CMU's is that they're easy make so can be manufactured locally.

Although you can add all sorts of extras like waterproofing agents and everybody's got their own special recipe the basic ingredients of CMU's are just 10% cement, 85% aggregate and 5% water. Aggregate is just crushed up rubble. Once the rubble's been crushed up in a crushing machine to make aggregate it is added, along with the cement and water into a mixing machine. The mixture is then poured into moulds to make the brick shape and the bricks are then fired in a kiln to cure them. The whole process takes about 18 hours. Obviously how much these machines cost depends on which ones you buy and where you buy them from but I think it should be possible to get all four, second hand for a total of US$500,000.

So, if it hasn't already been suggested, I think what the Haitian government should consider doing is setting up three or possibly four CMU manufacturing plants in the areas worst affected by rubble. If other machines like conveyor belts and fork-lift trucks aren't used CMU manufacture can be a very labour intensive process so these plants can employ semi-skilled and un-skilled local people to work as labourers. Then the plant can offer a cash in hand payment of say $0.25/kg to anyone bringing rubble to the plant. That way the rubble gets cleared, people get some money in their pockets and even if the CMU's aren't used in rebuilding locally they're certainly much easier to store then just rubble and could even be sold on to help recover some of the costs.

Obviously I'm not a construction engineer so I don't know the specifics of manufacturing CMU's such as energy use nor do I even know if the rubble in Haiti is suitable to use as aggregate. So rather then saying this is something the Haitian government should definitely do and turn it into a sort campaign slogan I'm saying it's something the Haitian government and the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) should certainly look at and carry out a feasibility study to see if it's a viable idea.

Even getting that far could be problematic because along with the Haitian government the HRF had given the Americans responsibility for clearing the rubble. The idea of turning smashed up buildings into new bricks was really perfected by Hamas after Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. There the idea has been so successful that the main problem now is people going round smashing up undamaged buildings in order to sell the rubble and the only thing stopping rebuilding is the Israeli blockade. America might find it difficult to admit that the main reason why Israel objects to Hamas is because they've got what it takes to turn Palestine into a viable state.