Performance of buildings in two Caribbean Territories: Dominica under Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Trinidad under the 2018 earthquake

There have been damaging hurricanes and earthquakes throughout the history of the Caribbean. However, the intensity and frequency of these natural events have increased. The Caribbean is comprised of territories with dependencies on developed countries, as well as territories that are sovereign states. In September 2017, Hurricane Maria impacted the island of Dominica resulting in damage equivalent to 226% of the Gross Domestic Product. There were 65 fatalities, 1.37 billion US$ in damage, and a recovery period of approximately 5 years. In August 2018, a significant earthquake occurred near Trinidad, the larger of the twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago, which provides critical support to the Caribbean Community. There were no fatalities or significant injuries, and approximately 12 million US$ in damage, which with some exceptions, was not sufficient for major disruption. In this paper, the results of rapid visual assessment of the buildings after these events are reported with an emphasis on damage in terms of actual versus expected performance. The following are considered: (1) causes of excessive damage; (2) existing approaches that may be used for adequately improving performance, and (3) possible research ideas for the cases where cost-effective approaches to improving performance do not exist at this time. It was concluded that: (i) the main cause of the damage due to the hurricane is an underestimation of the expected wind speed and that adequate performance is possible if building codes are enforced and (ii) the earthquake damage was excessive relative to the extent of ground shaking. Given the general similarity of construction between Trinidad and the rest of the Caribbean, it was also concluded that the Caribbean as a whole has inadequate buildings as regards earthquake resistance and an extensive retrofit effort is required.