Onesvie graduates 53 professionals in building evaluation

The engineers and architects, belonging to CODIA, become part of the Network of Structural Evaluators (REED) and the Bank of Evaluators; It is the second of the diploma in Building Evaluation that has the academic endorsement of INTEC

SANTO DOMINGO. – The National Office of Seismic Evaluation and Vulnerability of Infrastructure and Buildings (Onesvie) certified 53 engineering and architecture professionals, belonging to the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors (CODIA), in building evaluation, who are qualified to contribute with the evaluation of the vulnerability of buildings before and after an earthquake, and will become part of the Network of Dominican Structural Evaluators (REED) and the Bank of Evaluators.

The graduates make up the second cohort of the diploma in Building Evaluation, which is financed by the European Union through the Project for Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in the Dominican Republic (Progeri-RD), and has academic endorsement of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), and the support of CODIA and the National Emergency Commission (CNE).

Of the total number of graduates, 30 are men and 23 women, belonging to the CODIA Nucleus of Civil Engineers. The engineers and architects completed 48 hours of theoretical-practical training in the management and use of the “Standardized Building Evaluation Methodology”, which focuses on making the evaluation and data collection processes more efficient before and after an earthquake, determination and disaster risk quantification and prioritization of assessment measures for critical infrastructure.

Leonardo Reyes Madera, general director of Onesvie, expressed that it is of utmost importance for the Dominican Republic that engineering and architectural professionals strengthen their skills to help preventive organizations in the task of pre- and post-earthquake evaluation.

“We feel satisfied with obtaining another achievement, in the graduation task, to evaluate the vulnerability in buildings, infrastructure and lifelines, in the country. Today we reached the sum of 100 evaluators and we continue towards a goal of one thousand,” he said.

He specified that these graduates, as well as those from the first promotion of the diploma, will help the country prevent. “We need them to help us visualize weaknesses, to help us detect problems, and to have the ability to solve them before the earthquake hits.”

 “You will be a voice of alert, you will be capable and enabled to accompany the State relief agencies, in the arduous task of pre- and post-disaster evaluation, in addition to being multipliers of prevention messages, which guarantees true resilience. For the first time in the Dominican Republic we will stop guessing to find out what can happen in any of our buildings, both in the public and private sectors,” he pointed out.

While Juan Salas, president of the National Emergency Commission (CNE) and executive director of the Civil Defense (DC), indicated that from the institutions he directs he continues to articulate actions that contribute to a preventive culture of risk, he expressed that the graduation of The second version of the Building Evaluation Diploma strengthens the prerogatives of Law 147-02 on Disaster Risk Management, in that sense, he congratulated the 53 new engineering and architecture professionals who will have the capacity and training to address the problem of seismic vulnerability in the country.

Meanwhile, Alliet Ortega, vice-rector of Administration and Finance of INTEC, expressed that training is essential for the house of higher education, since it is the way to contribute to the development of the country.

“It is INTEC's triple helix philosophy of working not only with the State, but with companies, societies and associations such as CODIA, to achieve initiatives that contribute to institutional strengthening and the common good of each of the Dominicans.”

He appreciated that, of the 53 graduating, 23 are women, which means that work is being done in the Dominican Republic to eliminate gender bias and motivated them to be multipliers of preventive actions to reduce the impact of disaster risk.

For her part, Yanelba Abreu, administrator of the Progeri-RD project, valued the effort of each of the graduates, the support of the European Union and all the institutions involved in the development of each of the stages of the training program.

“The training effort began in 2015 with the launch of the “Prever” tool, making it easier for executives from the European Union to show interest in the execution of the training program for professionals through Onesvie.”  

Juan Antonio Villar González, president of CODIA, thanked the members and institutions involved in the training for their participation and expressed that work must continue on prevention.

The data on the members of the REED will be in the so-called Bank of Evaluators, at the disposal of the Dominican State through governmental and non-governmental institutions involved in prevention, mitigation, response, rehabilitation and recovery actions against events of natural origin.

The activity was held in the INTEC Social Security Auditorium and was attended by representatives of state and private institutions, members of civil society and special guests.