Miyamoto Office to Consult for Puerto Rico Quake Retrofits

Miyamoto International, a seismic structural engineer, is opening a permanent office in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to offer its services to public and private entities engaged in the repair and seismic strengthening of houses, schools, and government and commercial buildings damaged in the magnitude-6.4 earthquake that hit the island on Jan. 7. Structural engineer Ivan Hernandez heads the Ponce office, which is the 21st office Miyamoto has opened around the world in areas of high seismic activity.

Last week, the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico announced there are about 200,000 houses on the island constructed without building permits that could be susceptible to damage in a strong temblor.

Nadine M. Post, ENR's editor-at-large for buildings, is an award-winning journalist with 45 years of experience covering trends, issues, innovations, controversies and challenging projects. Post has written about many industry giants, including 10 ENR Award of Excellence winners. And she has covered disasters, failures and attacks, including the 1993 bombing and the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center. Project stories include the redevelopment of the World Trade Center; the 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa; Los Angeles’ Disney Concert Hall; and Seattle's Bullitt Center and Rainier Square Tower. In 1985, Post wrote McGraw-Hill's book Restoring the Statue of Liberty (1986) for the restoration’s architects—Richard S. Hayden and Thierry W. Despont.

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