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THE IMPACT OF DESIGN WHEN DISASTER STRIKES By Jeffery T. Smith, AIA, NCARB and Roger V. Brown, PE
Roger V. Brown, PE
Jeffery T. Smith, AIA, NCARB
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s architects and engineers who design a variety of facility types, you have accumulated years of experience of how to implement your design process to meet your customers’ expectations for their day-to-day operations while ensuring the safety, comfort, and security of users. But how does that all change when your state-of-the-art building has no power, the basement is flooded, people are looking for a place to shelter during a storm, or your creation has been partially destroyed by natural or man-made events? This article will look at some of the issues that design teams should consider to prevent harm or death in the event your structures have to withstand a catastrophe that was not anticipated. To illustrate why design is critical, let’s start with a tragic, but true, story of what happened at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. Everyone was alerted that a Category 5 hurricane was approaching Louisiana in the days before August 28th. One and a half million people, including the mayor of the City, decided to evacuate and head to higher ground, creating the first disaster of many that were not expected; unprecedented traffic jams. While most people had at least a chance to flee and survive, those severely sick or injured in hospitals like Memorial did not have that option, so they were told they would ride it out in place. Sure, they had back-up power, food supplies, water, medicine, and external safety nets like the National Guard, so they
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were confident this would be just another flood condition like so many in the past. But it wasn’t to be. As a result of poor design, poor planning, poor execution of contingency plans, and lack of support from local authorities, approximately 45 patients died at Memorial for various reasons. All of the details of that event are contained in the controversial book “5 days at Memorial” by Sheri Fink.
Aerial photo of Lourdes Hospital, Broome County, NY. Source: Susquehanna River Basin Commission June 2006 Flood Report, January 2007 | Photo: D. Lupardo
