Resilience: engineering and civilization

In humanity's early days, we lived within our own limitations. We camped near water, sought shade where nature offered it, and built only out of necessity: a roof for shelter, a wall for protection, a fire for warmth.

Over time and with the advance of civilization, technique made the unthinkable possible. Today we look down from skyscrapers in seismic zones, drive under the sea, raise cities in the desert, build on clay — even on water. None of that was natural. Each of those achievements has been the fruit of human ambition: setting a challenge and finding a way to make it possible.

Today progress is overwhelming. We have international codes, advanced tools, and the privilege of accessing the accumulated knowledge of generations of engineers around the world. We know how to do it: design structures that don't collapse under severe earthquakes, neighborhoods that resist extreme flooding, self-sufficient and sustainable cities. Technique is no longer the limit. While there's always room for improvement, the real challenge now is to decide what we want to build with all that knowledge.

At some point in our technical evolution, we stopped building only out of necessity and started building to leave a legacy. That moment isn't recent — it happened centuries ago. Just look at Rome's Pantheon: it wasn't conceived to cover an immediate need, but to transcend time. That same spirit is still present in many modern works, as is the case at Larimar: a city designed not only to deliver quality of life today, but to endure as a reference for modernity, efficiency, and resilience.

In an increasingly uncertain world — climatically, economically, and socially — resilience is no longer optional. It's a moral obligation. We have the duty to build better and better, to use all our knowledge and experience not only to solve today's problems but to leave a legacy worth remembering.

Why will Larimar City be a structurally safer city?

On Monday, June 23, 2025, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the northeast of the Dominican Republic, with its epicenter about 70 km from Punta Cana. Anyone who has lived through a quake knows the feeling in those first seconds: will it be intense? will it last long? and above all: am I safe in this building?

At Larimar, peace of mind is one of the pillars on which everything else is built. And as it could not be otherwise, that peace of mind starts with the structure: designed and executed under the strictest standards and quality controls.

At CLERHP we have many years of international experience in structural calculation and execution, which has allowed us to know different codes and construction methodologies in depth. This global knowledge lets us apply best practices on every project. At Larimar, structures don't just meet local codes — they're also designed in line with American codes and prestigious international seismic recommendations.

Whenever the architectural layout allows, our anti-seismic structural system uses special shear walls, which deliver high energy dissipation and great plasticization capacity without collapse. This system not only offers exceptional seismic behavior, it also improves construction efficiency: it reduces the need for deep beams, minimizes slab level changes, and simplifies formwork, shortening construction times.

International codes are clear: in the face of an earthquake or fire, the main goal is to protect life. If a structure allows the building to be evacuated before collapse, it has done its job — even if it's unusable afterward.

At Larimar we go further. Our buildings don't just meet the minimum requirements — they undergo advanced non-linear analyses to evaluate their behavior under severe earthquakes. All of them remain in the operational phase, meaning that even under the largest expected quake, the structure not only stays standing but suffers no structural damage and can continue to be inhabited without problems.

Last Monday's earthquake was a reminder that not all buildings are equal. And that the peace of mind of living in one designed and built by true experts is priceless.

By the Technical Department

Javier Martínez Burgos

Engineer