00:00In Venezuela, the Commission of Evaluation of Habitability of Infrastructure Advances in Sports Earthquake Recovery Efforts.
00:07Authorities continuing to complete building inspections are now moving into a second phase of detailed structural evaluations
00:14to determine the repairs needed in the hardest hit areas.
00:17With more details, our correspondent, Belén de los Santos.
00:23Hello, studios. Coming to you from Caracas, particularly from the Ministry of Transportation.
00:28In the room right behind me is being held a meeting of the Commission of Evaluation of Habitability of Infrastructure.
00:38This presidential commission that was enacted by the acting president, Elcio RodrĂguez, right after the double earthquakes of June 24th
00:48and is being presided, led by the engineer Francisco Garcés.
00:52And this is a multidisciplinary team that includes different areas of the state, for example, the Ministry of Habitat,
01:01also the Public Works Ministry, also the organism that is dedicated to analyzing and controlling the possible earthquakes from bases,
01:12also the engineers meeting and group here in Venezuela,
01:17the key professionals that have been in charge of the inspections that are underway.
01:22Actually, the main objective of this presidential commission has been since the very first moment
01:28the process of inspection and evaluation of every building, particularly residential buildings,
01:34in order to determine the state and the level of damage.
01:38Every process that we have joined that have to do with going over to these buildings
01:44and determining if they are being classified as red, yellow or green,
01:50that color code that was designed according to international standards,
01:54depending on the level of structural damage that each building suffered.
01:59This has all been coordinated by this multidisciplinary team that is gathered in this commission.
02:07The engineer Francisco Garcés said that during this meeting they are first doing a balance of everything that has been
02:14done,
02:14over 32,000 general inspections that have been carried out across Venezuela,
02:21particularly in the most affected states.
02:23We're talking about La Guayra, of course, also Caracas and Miranda.
02:27And also they're talking about the following steps.
02:31So if this phase one had to do with one first inspection that determined the level of damage
02:39and the color code of what needs to be done according to each building
02:44to do the least damage and the least risk possible,
02:50then the second phase will have to be the second evaluation,
02:55a deeper evaluation of those buildings, particularly those classified as yellow and red,
03:02to analyze if the structural damage that they have can be repaired in which term.
03:08This is particularly important for the red color, the red-coded buildings,
03:13because as many authorities have been said, and the engineer reinforced this as well,
03:18a red-colored building does not mean that it needs to be demolished, for example.
03:25It does mean that it had severe structural damage,
03:28and this second phase inspection will determine structurally if that damage can be repaired,
03:34reinforced, or it needs to be demolished and rebuilt.
03:38He also spoke about the third phase that will have to do with the reparation of structural elements,
03:44and that will be tackling these buildings that are the hardest hit.
03:49Let's recall that in the framework of the Venezuela Rises Again or Venezuela Renace plan,
03:55a lot of works are already underway, particularly in the yellow buildings,
04:00because they are the ones that can be quickly repaired in order for the people,
04:06the residents, to come back to their houses safely.
04:09So that is what is happening right now.
04:11The main topics of what was just discussed and continues to be discussed here
04:16in the Ministry of Transportation.
04:17Now I go back to you.
04:20Thank you, Belen, for the detailed information.
