Written by Dr. Giulia Jole Sechi
When we think about earthquake-resistant housing, we often imagine engineered solutions, concrete standards, and state-of-the-art materials. But for over a billion people living in informal settlements, those solutions are not just out of reach…they’re out of context.
In places like Tanzania and Haiti, the gap between seismic risk and construction practice is more than a small crack in the system; it’s a structural fault line. It’s where global policy aspirations collide with ground realities. And yet, there’s untapped potential sitting in the hands of nearly every mason, homeowner, and community leader: the smartphone.
Over the past few years, I’ve worked alongside communities and engineers in both East Africa and the Caribbean, trying to answer a deceptively simple question: Can digital tools make informal housing safer in earthquake-prone areas?
The answer is yes, if we do it right.
From Vulnerability to Opportunity: A Ground-Level View
Let’s be clear, earthquakes don’t kill people. Poorly built buildings do.
In Tanzania, despite known seismic hazards, there is no seismic building code. Seismic risk communication is restricted by policy. And yet, local masons, often trained informally, are using WhatsApp to share construction photos, YouTube for tutorials, and mobile money apps to receive payments for their work.
These tools already form part of their construction workflow. So instead of introducing new platforms from scratch, what if we worked with the ones they already trust?
In Haiti, following the 2021 earthquake, we saw what’s possible at scale. Nearly 180,000 buildings were assessed in under five months, all digitally. Using tablets, engineers tagged homes, sent automated damage reports via QR codes, and connected homeowners directly to repair guidance, all in real time, without paper.
This was not innovation for its own sake. It was practical, scalable, and fast, enabling a shift from emergency response to recovery in record time.
What We Learned
- Smartphones are everywhere — but the seismic guidance isn’t.
Masons are willing and able to use digital content. What’s missing is reliable, context-specific technical guidance that speaks their language and matches their construction reality. - Digital doesn’t mean top-down.
The best opportunities lie in horizontal communication — peer-to-peer learning, social media groups that foster exchange, and feedback loops between engineers and masons. It’s not about replacing tradition with tech — it’s about reinforcing good practices with better access to knowledge. - Data isn’t just for experts.
When communities understand their seismic risk — visually, locally, and in real time — they make safer decisions. In Haiti, residents used their QR-code reports to advocate for repairs and negotiate rebuilding strategies.
So, What Comes Next?
There is still a long road ahead. We need seismic codes in countries that lack them. We need to lift communication bans that keep people in the dark about risk. And we need to treat smartphones not just as tools of convenience, but as tools of resilience.
Digital tools are not the solution on their own, as there are limitations that are important to be acknowledged. But they’re a powerful enabler of knowledge, of connection, and of action.
And for the millions living in informal settlements, where the next earthquake is not a question of if but when, that enablement could mean the difference between rebuilding and never recovering.
Let’s build better. Let’s build smarter. And let’s start where people already are: on the ground, with a phone in hand, ready to do the work.
