Honeywell Opens the Largest School in Southeast Region of Haiti

Nine-Building, 40,000 sq. ft. Complex, Serving More Than 600 Local Children, Rises Just Seven Months After Groundbreaking Following Devastating January 2010 Earthquake
JACMEL, Haiti, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Honeywell (NYSE: HON) Chairman and CEO Dave Cote and Honeywell Hometown Solutions President Tom Buckmaster recently joined students, parents, teachers, school administrators and community leaders to open Ecole Nationale Jacob Martin Henriquez, a new, state-of-the-art public school in the hard hit city of Jacmel in southern Haiti.  The nine-building school complex will provide a new educational home and free meals to more than 600 local children in grades K through 7.
The school was built using contemporary, sustainable building methods and is designed to withstand any potential future earthquakes.  Honeywell used the school’s construction to train local builders in modern earthquake-resistant construction and environmentally-conscious techniques that can save Haiti both money and natural resources in the years to come. Honeywell has established a scholarship fund in partnership with Operation USA to help cover the cost of books, uniforms and other student expenses.
“Working together with Operation USA, Mayor Edwin Zenny, and the City of Jacmel, we have delivered on our commitment to rebuild creating a terrific community asset and environment for learning just 7 months after we broke ground,” said Cote. “This is one of the largest post quake rebuilding projects completed in Haiti so far.  Haiti’s children have been profoundly affected and we are gratified to be able to help Haiti continue their education and to play a meaningful role in improving the learning environment.”
Jacmel, a seaside town with a population of 80,000 and located 45km from the epicenter of the earthquake, saw an estimated 80% of its buildings either damaged or destroyed, with the most severe devastation in the poorer neighborhoods. Before its destruction, Ecole JM Henriquez — one of the few free schools available to the city’s children — served 400 students between the ages of 7 and 17.  The new school complex, which sits on one and a half acres overlooking the bay of Jacmel, will offer 600 K-7 students a new, free educational home featuring a computer lab, library, cafeteria, administration building, six classroom buildings, a sustainable community garden and an athletic field.
Immediately following the earthquake, Honeywell committed $1 million in aid to Haiti, including a 100 percent match of employee donations, to fund rebuilding projects.  Honeywell also made business jets available to relief agency Operation USA for airlift support to deliver medical supplies and transport medical staff.
In an effort to promote good health and nutrition while also incentivizing school enrollment and thereby enhancing literacy rates, a feeding program was developed for all students attending the school. At the core of the program is a community garden on the school grounds. The garden will be cultivated and maintained by the students, their families, and school staff. All produce grown in the gardens will be used in the daily meal provided to the children. These “learning gardens” will integrate practices of resource management, basic horticulture, water harvesting, composting, and small animal husbandry.
The government of Haiti estimates that approximately 230,000 people were killed and over 300,000 injured in the massive January 2010 earthquake, including 38,000 students, more than 1,300 teachers and other education personnel.  Over 4,000 schools and the Ministry of Education’s headquarters were destroyed, and all available data on education was lost. An estimated three million students are believed to have suffered an interruption to, or complete cessation of, their educations. Only 50% of the children living in resettlement camps and relocation sites attend school.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION FACTS:
Nine Buildings
40,375 Square Feet
15 Classrooms
10 Bathrooms
5 Showers
20 Computers
600 Students Capacity
Average building is 416 sq ft (largest 540 sq ft)
Total Construction Workers Employed: 500+
Number of masons trained in U.S. standards and protocols: 200
Number of engineers trained in U.S. standards and protocols: 35
Foundations:
Built of reinforced concrete
Cell Masonry:
Used 2-cell masonry blocks, which are less susceptible to breakage, accept the vertical steel elements and additional concrete, and have higher compressive strength.
Wall Reinforcement:
Horizontal and vertical steel in the masonry to take the lateral (horizontal) and gravity (vertical) loadings on the wall.
Placement of horizontal and vertical reinforcement in the masonry walls.
Provides for a redundant system where the walls act as hundreds of columns and also are reinforced to take the lateral loading from earthquakes and wind.
Long Span Roof:
Steel used throughout roof and tied to walls
Roof has drop beams at 3M on center and a 5” slab that spans between them.  This roof structure will span the 10.5M distance and allow for overhangs on both ends.
Creates a “cage” for the entire building and distributes weight more evenly to the walls.
The slope of the roof allows for drainage and also for ventilation and natural light into the classroom

Coast Guard repatriates 91 Haitian migrants

MIAMI – Crewmembers from the Coast Guard Cutter Spencer repatriated 91 Haitian migrants to Cap Haitien, Haiti, Tuesday.

The 91 Haitian migrants were interdicted during two separate incidents since Friday.

While conducting a routine patrol in the Caribbean Sea, Spencer crewmembers located a 40-foot sail freighter east of Great Inagua, Bahamas, Friday. Spencer crewmembers safely embarked the 90 Haitian migrants without incident.

Also on Friday, Spencer crewmembers received notification of a disabled 24-foot go-fast vessel north of Great Inagua from a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew deployed to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, in support of Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT).

The Spencer crew arrived on scene with the disabled vessel to discover one Haitian migrant and 11 Dominicans. The Dominicans were transferred to Royal Bahamas Defence Force personnel Sunday.

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, migrants are given food, water, shelter and basic medical care.

 The Spencer is a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter homeported in Boston.

Vermont delegation optimistic about Haiti

Haiti’s recovery from a massive earthquake in early 2010 has been painstakingly slow, but progress is being made, two members of Vermont’s congressional delegation visiting the island nation said in a telephone news conference Tuesday.

“I have real hope for the future,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said after he and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., toured areas around the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince. “I am far more hopeful after this trip here than I was before I came down.”

Welch agreed but said it was hard to see the damage the earthquake had done to a country that was already struggling with extreme poverty. The January 2010 earthquake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, flattened much of Port-au-Prince and killed more than 222,000 people.

“It was something I was not able to fully appreciate by reading about it,” Welch said of the earthquake’s impact. “I’m not sure I can fully appreciate it by seeing it. ... The complexity of life here is immense — just the traffic snarls and the challenge of getting from here to there.”

Leahy and Welch spent the day visiting a medical center where youths who lost limbs during the earthquake were being fitted with prostheses, observing a “rubble removal site” and meeting with American aid workers and Haitian officials, including Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

“There’s an immense amount of suffering that you see, but what you also see is enormous amount of hope,” Welch said. “People are going about their business. They’re cleaning up the rubble, they do set up medical care facilities. They do get their kids to school.”

Leahy estimated that about 25 percent of the $1 billion the United States has dedicated to the recovery effort has been spent and said he was told that American officials were monitoring the release of the remainder of the money in order to make sure the money was not misspent.

“The concern I heard from a lot of the Haitian officials was that ‘You — the United States — have lot of things going on around the world. There’s Japan, Libya, two wars. Don’t forget us as we try to rebuild, as we try to bring people back. It cannot be done overnight.’”

Leahy and Welch said they were encouraged that the presidential election held in the country last weekend appeared to have been conducted properly and that the anticipated winner appears to be someone who will have the confidence of the Haitian people.

According to polling, entertainer Michel Martelly was the frontrunner in the contest. His closest challenger was the nation’s 70-year-old former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who is also a law professor. Results of the voting are expected to be made public next week.

“They are going to have to have a government that cares as much about the people as it does about itself,” Leahy said. “For decades, that has not been the case in Haiti.”

The two were joined for part of their tour by actor Sean Penn, who has spent months on the island helping Haitians recover from the devastation.

“I’m impressed with him,” Leahy said. “I have a lot of movie actors, entertainers who want to come in and see me because they’ve adopted the issue of the day, usually for the day, and I usually say no. He’s lived here for month after month after month. ... That’s why I’ll continue to work with him.”

Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or e-mail atshemingway@burlingtonfreepress.com. Get news updates from the Free Press via Facebook at www.facebook.com/bfpnews.