April 25, 2006

NC State Engineering Professor Assists Katrina Reconstruction

From the rubble a new house grows. (Photo: courtesy of the Raleigh Interfaith Task Force)

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than 70,000 homes in Mississippi, mostly from the 30-foot-high storm surge that came ashore. Houses along the beach in Gulfport, Miss., ended up not only in water but also under waves.

On March 26, 2006, Dr. Leonhard Bernold, associate professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at NC State University, joined 72 professionals and high school students in Gulfport to build structures for two new houses on Ohio Avenue that had been condemned by the city. Poor families were living on their empty lots in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Bernold (center) directs “assistants” Frank Jackson and Donna Hucul on the miter saw. (Photo: courtesy of the Raleigh Interfaith Task Force)

The team leader was Steve Dilger, a custom home builder from Raleigh who had started the Raleigh Interfaith Builders Task Force and had partnered with the NC Baptist Men, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the City of Gulfport.

The NC Baptist Men launched an extraordinary reconstruction effort in December 2005 after pledging to build 600 houses. Since that time, every Monday morning, after sleeping in the local armory or makeshift trailers, volunteers from all over North Carolina begin their “shifts.” As of April 8, crews have worked 63,844 volunteer days (an average of 300 volunteers per day) and have built 95 houses (100 by April 20). Support units have provided more than 372,520 meals, 53,874 showers, 5,469 clean laundry loads and childcare for 480 children.

After spending a freezing March night in the local gym and eating a hearty breakfast prepared by the cooking crew of the NC Baptist Men, Bernold’s group joined the reconstruction effort and began their challenge of completing two house structures, including windows, siding and roofing, in five days. Although everyone wanted to help, the job required skill. Again and again, Bernold had to remind himself and others to “measure twice, cut once” and “don’t work hard, work smart.”

The group achieved success because of good teaching, teamwork, appropriate tools, a determination to serve and the craftsmanship of two young, experienced carpenters who received the full admiration of every participant.

Bernold said, “It was so satisfying to work with spiritual people who had come together far from home to build with their own hands homes for very poor families who had lost theirs in a horrific storm.”

This graphic depicts Gulfport, Miss., with an elevation of 26 feet, when the storm surge moved in from the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo: courtesy of Dr. Leonhard Bernold)

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To see more images, go to this website at www.employees.org/~gmintel/trip.htm.

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