Grant Application

Applicant and Co-Applicants (part 1 of 5)

APPLICANT LAST NAME:
Barrera
APPLICANT FIRST NAME:
Enrique
APPLICANT E-MAIL:
barrerale@appstate.edu
DEPARTMENT:
VAMOS! (Vermont Associates for Mexican Opportunity and Support)

Narrative (part 2 of 5)

PROJECT TITLE:
● Strong Schools

PROJECT NARRATIVE:
● Statement of the problem
The devastating earthquake that shook the southern part of Mexico in late 2017 has claimed
many lives of students and teachers at schools brought down to rubble by the 7.1 magnitude
earthquake. Areas affected include Mexico City, Morelos, Guerrero and Puebla where the
epicenter was tracked back to (Franco, M., & Melchor, D., 2018).

The failure of these buildings was caused by neglecting building codes along with corruption and
ignorance of officials (A Year After Deadly Mexico Quake, 2018). Students and staff were
crushed by rubble because these officials failed to tend to the needs of the school. As they
overlooked the needs of the school, they also overlooked the safety of the people who were to go
to that school. Researchers say that at least 12,000 schools suffered damage and 7,000 need
desperately renovation (Franco, M., & Melchor, D., 2018). It is time for these communities to
rely on a strong school to ensure students, teachers and parents that their school is structurally
safe for them to go to. That is the purpose of this project. The building I propose is called a
strong school. A school that can resist the seismic activity that takes place in the southern part of
Mexico. A safe school where students and their staff can study assured that the roof above them
will not collapse.

● Specific Goals

❏ Provide plans for the strong school and manage the project until the end of the
construction
This is the ultimate goal for my project. I want to provide the plans for the strong school with the
help from my partner and present them to authorities of Atenango del Rio. Once approved, I will
oversee the project and make sure all aspects of the building meets code. Parents and students
now consider how well built a School is before enrolling in a school (Franco, M., & Melchor, D.,
2018). By following all building codes and taking the users of the building into account in every
stage of the project, it will be possible to provide a stable, safe, strong school to help these
students reach their academic goals.
❏ Get other communities to adopt this model for a strong school.
Another goal for this project is to set a new standard for school construction. I hope to get
surrounding communities and those affected to adopt a project similar to this one. Creating
strong schools throughout the are for students to study assured that they will be safe in case of an
earthquake.
❏ Help the rural areas of Mexico affected by the earthquake increase retention rates
Southern Mexico has many rural areas where schools are sparse. This earthquake affected 12,000
schools across the region where the earthquake hit. By rebuilding the schools affected, we would
increase educational institutions and opportunities that we hope will increase retention rates.
Preventing the loss of lives is the purpose of this school which in turn, will increase the
probabilities of these students reaching higher education.

● Broader Significance
Students and teachers should not have to worry about the structural integrity of their school.
People in Mexico are just know facing the consequences of poorly constructed buildings. This
fear hinders educational opportunities. We need to follow all building codes that were previously
overlooked to provide the community with such a school. For this project, all information from
site plans, construction schedule, budget, and materials used will be provided at the request of
the general public so that they can see how well built their communities school is and so they can
lose the fear of structural failure. Students in Mexico lack many resources that hinder their
chances to receive higher education. It is important to provide a school that will stand strong
throughout the generations of students.

● Project Design

1. Pick a community who has a school that can no longer operate

Affected areas include the states of Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero and Mexico City where at least
12,000 schools were affected and 7,000 need renovation (Franco, M., & Melchor, D., 2018). A
community called Atenango del Rio in the state of Guerrero had 3 preschools, an elementary
school, a middle school, and a high school all needing renovation or reconstruction.

2. Examine an affected school

With a thorough examination of the destroyed school, we can determine what caused the school
to fail. The most probable causes could be not using enough cement in the concrete, the wrong
rebar size for structural columns, or excessive load on the building. Once we determine what
caused the building to fail, we can inform authorities and the public so that they know how to
protect themselves from poor construction quality.

3. Design new school

As mentioned before, many needs of schools, students, and staff were ignored. I want to make
sure that the people who will use this school are taken into consideration in every step of the
construction of the building. We will ask what the previous school lacked and what they would
like to see added to the new school. By adding more amenities to this school, we could increase
the number of students enrolled in the community school. With this and additional research on
seismic resistant buildings, my partners and I will create site and floor plans for the proposed
school. Once we have completed the drafts, we will present them to officials for approval and
begin construction.

4. Commence construction
We would like to hire people from the community to build the school to combat the poverty in
these affected rural communities. This would generate jobs for people for the extent of the
project.

5. Inaugurate school
After much effort from us and the community. We will inaugurate the strong school that will
educate the bright minds of tomorrow.

● Timeline and Personnel

My team will consist of an architect, a civil engineer and I as the project manager. With 11 years
of experience and degrees in building sciences from Appalachian State University. We are very
excited to take our expertise abroad and build strong schools to help students reach their
academic goals as my partners and I did.

Timeline:

APRIL- MAY 2019: Meet with municipal officials and present my project to them. Once
approved my teammates and I will begin surveying the land and drafting a model for the school.
We will meet with officials again to review the models and start construction
JUNE- NOVEMBER 2019: Pour reinforced concrete base. Pour columns and build up walls. 30
days between each concrete pour will be needed to maximize concrete strength. I would not
expect construction to take more than 6 months.

DECEMBER 2019: Completed construction and inspections of the entire building

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2020: Fully furnish the school

MARCH- APRIL 2020: School to be opened and have students finish the academic year strong
in their new school.

● Outcomes
I plan to provide a safe, stable, strong school in a community affected by the 2017 earthquake.
Long term outcomes would be to start a strong school campaign and help plan and build schools
in communities affected as well as those places that are prone to earthquakes. This could increase
the number of enrolled students if they feel safer at their schools.

● Sustainability
Once the school is completed and functional, state and municipal governments would take the
roll of funding the school and providing proper scheduled maintenance for the building. Yearly
inspections will take place upholding strict building code. This ensures that the school is in
condition to serve its purpose of keeping a roof over hundreds of children and their school staff.

Budget (part 3 of 5)

DRAFTING MATERIALS: Drafting paper, drafting triangle, architect scale, and engineer scale
$100
TRAVEL EXPENSES: Plane and bus tickets to our destination will be about $1,000 for each
person
$3,000
LIVING EXPENSES: Includes rent and food for the three of us
$5,000
REMAINING FUNDS COULD GO TOWARDS MATERIAL FOR THE SCHOOL: Cement,
gravel, rebar, tools etc.
$1,900
TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED:
$5,000

File Attachments (part 4 of 5)

Appended

Administrative Information (part 5 of 5)

A Year After Deadly Mexico Quake, Corruption, Negligence And Forgotten Victims Remain.
(2018). All Things Considered. Retrieved from
https://login.proxy006.nclive.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct
=true&db=edsgbc&AN=edsgcl.555533026&site=eds-live&scope=site
This source is a podcast. This interviews people affected by the earthquake and brings social and
political issues to light. I try to highlight to my organization that the people in Mexico cannot
reconstruct their schools due to the lack of federal funds. That is why I write this grant to help
build a school in one of these affected areas. Another point I want to make is that we can not
always trust authorities are doing their best to protect citizens or in this case ensure children have
a structurally safe schools. Residents reported damages in building before earthquake and
authorities ignored claims. Inconsistent quality in buildings in Mexico city. Equivalent of 10,000
dollars of maintenance to the building over 30 years. Construction regulations were ignored
during construction and shows corruption in this industry while also not taking into account the
people who were to live in this building. People living in tents and tarps next to their damaged
homes.

Franco, M., & Melchor, D. (2018, September 20). Parents Demand Justice One Year After
Mexico Quake. New York Times, p. A4(L). Retrieved from
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A554873902/BIC?u=boon41269&sid=BIC&xid=0e6503
14

An article from the New York Times written by Franco, Marina, and Daniel Melchor.
Information from this article will add to pathos appeal for the exogience. Publication to me is
prestigious and seems credible to me. To many Mexicans, the school -- where Santiago, 18 other
children and seven adults perished -- became a symbol of their pain, and of the very human cost
of bypassing construction codes. trapping students inside -- even within the staircase that was
supposed to serve as their evacuation route, investigators said.All that is left of the four-story
building that once rang with the voices of more than 300 students, from preschoolers to middle
schoolers, are a few braced walls and debris. school's commemoration of the anniversary of the
1985 earthquake, which killed about 10,000 people. The teacher, Fernando Flores, 41, wanted to
drive home the point that the destruction was caused not only by Mexico's geology, but also by
the human errors -- corruption, the skirting of rules or a flawed bureaucracy -- that can disrupt
enforcement of building codes. Regina, like several other students who survived, was transferred
to a nearby school. The children had offers of preferential tuition rates and aid, although Mrs.
Tinoco stressed that what she and other parents were looking for in a new school was
''whichever had the strongest construction.''

Malkin, Elisabeth. "In Ruins of Quake-Ravaged School, Mexican Officials Seek Answers."
New York Times, 26 Sept. 2017, p. NA(L). Biography In Context,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A506481062/BIC?u=boon41269&sid=BIC&xid=c37774
bd. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.

This is an article from the New York Times written by Elisabeth Malkin. Again what I hope to
get from this source is information to show that mexico lacks in quality construction. I will
follow all codes in the construction on my proposed school. Mexican officials have begun an
investigation to determine whether a school that collapsed in last week's quake,may have
violated construction codes. The city's building codes are already among the tightest in the
world, but their enforcement is outsourced to private inspectors.No building is facing more
scrutiny than the school. Mexico's College of Engineers to carry out the investigation to
determine why the older of the school's two buildings gave way. The building was constructed
before strong new regulations came into effect after a deadly earthquake in 1985, and it may
never have been upgraded

Tomaževič, M. (2006). Earthquake-resistant Design Of Masonry Buildings. London:

Imperial College Press. Retrieved from
https://login.proxy006.nclive.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr
ue&db=nlebk&AN=615911&site=eds-live&scope=site

This is a book on earthquake resistant masonry buildings published by the Imperial College Press
in London. This would contain information that would help design a earthquake resistant
building as I intend to with the grant. This also provides information that helps plan the
construction of the building. Such verification is based on the results of geological and
seismological studies, which provide data on the seismic activity of the location and recommend
the values of parameters to be used in the assessment of the expected seismic actions. On the
basis of the expected intensity and dynamic characteristics of the ground motion, the forces
generated by earthquakes can be assessed. On the basis of the probability of occurrence of
maximum expected intensity earthquake at the location, and the importance and type of building
under consideration, the decision regarding the magnitude of design seismic actions can be made
 UN: MEXICO EARTHQUAKE UNDERLINES IMPORTANCE OF STRICT BUILDING
CODES TO ENSURE SAFE SCHOOLS AND BUILDINGS. (2017, September 22). States
News Service. Retrieved from
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A505879705/BIC?u=boon41269&sid=BIC&xid=57438f
57

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert
Glasser made this statement addressing condolences to the people of Mexico and those affected.
"UNISDR” would like to see other countries vulnerable to seismic activity joining Armenia,
Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Italy, Mexico and Turkey in commitments to make all schools safe in the near
future. It is painstaking work that requires significant financial commitment but it makes for
more resilient societies and protects future generations." he UN Office for Disaster Risk
Reduction hereby renews its call for support to the Worldwide Initiative on Safe Schools which
aims to avoid the repetition of earlier tragedies around the world which have seen thousands of
children, students and teachers killed in earthquakes while sitting at their desks.