Structural engineers Jose A. Sanchez and Eddie M. Guerra, both natives of Puerto Rico, weren’t shocked last week when the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico announced there are some 200,000 non-code-compliant houses on the island that are susceptible to damage in an earthquake. Sanchez, based in San Francisco, and Guerra, based in Houston, weren't at all surprised because they had recently returned from Puerto Rico, where they had seen the devastation caused by the magnitude-6.4 temblor that hit the island on Jan. 7.
The duo, who had met 14 years ago while in engineering school at the University of Puerto Rico, were not back home without a purpose. They were there to mobilize a post-quake building inspection system, which they created as an all-volunteer effort. By Jan. 13, they had four teams of 20 engineers begin their work, in San Sebastian.