“To me and other civil engineers, it’s very clear we have a changing climate.”
JOHANN ZIMMERMANN
to the same area in 2020. Although there was some cladding failure, there was no structural damage due to wind or storm surge. “And, most important, no displaced residents,” said Zimmermann. MDS also studied hundreds of homes in Puerto Rico left roofless after Hurricane Maria’s 180-mph/289-km winds in 2017. MDS offered immediate reconstruction of roofs but also studied failure mechanisms of the local construction methods, then did technical research to design roofs to withstand winds of that strength. Finally, MDS produced technical information and design guides geared to volunteers—and gave workshops on replacing roofs for over forty organizations working in Puerto Rico. More recently, MDS interviewed five of the largest volunteer organizations that had attended the workshops in Puerto Rico, collectively replacing more than 600 roofs. None of them reported roof damage from Hurricane Fiona in September 2022. As the years go by, concepts of disaster resiliency improve, and Zimmermann, along with a core group of MDS volunteers, works to ensure MDS’s training and design reflect those changes in a way that volunteers understand. “To me and other civil engineers, it’s very clear we have a changing climate,” he said. “How is it that we get two or three 500 or 1,000-year floods in the space of two or three years?” Zimmermann sees building hurricane-resilient homes not only as being economically wise but also being the most compassionate way to help a disaster survivor. “When a family has to leave their house, there’s a huge cost not
Johann Zimmerman and workshop participants with the resilient model house they built.
only financially but socially,” he said. “Look at the societal damage in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit—how many people left and never came back.” When homeowners know their residence is more hurricane-resilient, they feel more secure in their daily living. One of the most important ways MDS volunteers can help advance hurricane resiliency is by following the plans and using the training they receive. “You need those good site supervisors,” said Zimmermann. “That’s how we keep
people home.” — Susan Kim
behind the hammer 13
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