The National Office of Seismic Evaluation and Vulnerability of Infrastructure and Buildings (Onesvie), through the project Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in the Dominican Republic (Progeri-DR) of the National Emergency Commission (CNE), financed by the European Union, delivers to the country the first promotion of the Dominican Structural Evaluators Network (REED).
This network is made up of a total of 47 professionals who graduated from the “Diploma in Building Evaluation”, given at the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (Intec), with the purpose of certifying technicians from different areas in order to contribute to the safety of buildings, infrastructure and lifelines at a national level in the event of any disaster.
During the event, the “Standardized Methodology for the Evaluation of Buildings” was also institutionalized and will be used by the evaluators, which is focused on making the evaluation and data collection processes more efficient before and after an event. Onesvie and the 20 public and private institutions participating in the training reaffirm their commitment to make the building evaluation process more efficient in our country.
Leonardo Reyes Madera, general director of Onesvie, thanked the European Union and the institutions involved and also expressed his satisfaction for this achievement, which sets a precedent and at the same time demonstrates the responsibility that Onesvie has assumed to address the problem of seismic vulnerability. “Earthquakes do not warn and their consequences can be irreparable. I still believe that we still have time to reduce vulnerabilities in our buildings,” he said.
Addressing the first class of evaluators, the head of Onesvie said: “You will be the voice of warning, you are formally qualified to be multipliers of this message of prevention, which represents true resilience. For the first time in the Dominican Republic we will stop guessing to know what can happen in any of our buildings, both in the public and private sectors”.
Juan Salas, president of the National Emergency Commission and executive director of the Civil Defense, indicated that the institutions he leads continue to articulate actions that contribute to a preventive culture of risk, from the local level, a work that is demonstrated with this graduation of specialized technicians.
Yanelba Abreu, administrator of the Progeri-DR project, praised the efforts of all the institutions involved in each of the stages of the training program.
The event was also attended by Patricia Céspedes, director of Regional Cooperation Follow-up of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, and Alliet Ortega, vice-rector of Administration of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo.
The agreement for the institutionalization of the building evaluation methodology was signed by Onesvie, the CNE, the Civil Defense, the Emergency Operations Center (COE), the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), the Ministry of Housing and Buildings (MIVED), the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), the Santo Domingo Water and Sewage Corporation (Caasd), the Dominican Red Cross and the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (Minerd).
Also participating in the training were members of the College of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors (CODIA), the Ministry of Defense (MIDE), the National Police (PN), as well as the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (Indrhi), the National Institute of Drinking Water and Sewerage (Inapa), Women in Engineering of the Dominican Republic (MIRD), the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).
The data on the members of the REED will be in the so-called Bank of Evaluators, available to the Dominican State through governmental and non-governmental institutions involved in prevention, mitigation, response, rehabilitation and recovery actions in the event of natural disasters.
The activity, held on Friday, October 13, 2023, International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, was attended by representatives of state and private institutions, members of civil society and special guests.
About Onesvie
It is an institution attached to the Presidency of the Republic, whose mission is to contribute to mitigate the seismic risk of buildings and infrastructure, to protect the lives of citizens through technical and educational procedures. The services offered by Onesvie are available for public and private institutions, as well as for individual citizens.
About the Program
The Progeri-DR program, within the framework of the Regional Indicative Program (PIR), under the 11 EDF, aims to continue strengthening the National Integrated Information System (SINI) and the National School for Risk Management to promote its projection at the regional level.
Source: presidencia.gov.do
