The earthquake that hit Haiti on the 12th of January, 2010, was one of the most devastating natural disasters of the century. With a magnitude of 7.0, it affected almost 3 million people in and around the capital city; with more than 220,000 people being killed. The main cause of these losses was the construction quality of the settlements: they were essentially composed of slums, and had been built without any norms. The government of Haiti evaluated that 250’000 residences and 30’000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.

Earthquakes are one of the natural disasters that can cause major destruction. The after effects and the recovery time for low income countries is way longer than the others. While natural disasters like these are unfortunately unavoidable, it is essential to mitigate the effects of such disasters as much as possible.
Resistant and sustainable construction is a solution towards controlling such devastation.