( CNN ) -- Reginald DesRoches is deploying to Haiti to tag key infrastructure buildings with red , yellow and green markers -- designations on whether they 're still usable . DesRoches has years of experience as a civil engineering expert dealing with structures in the wake of earthquakes . This disaster is also personal : He was born in Haiti and one of his uncles died in the quake 's aftermath . The associate chair of Georgia Tech 's School of Civil Engineering , DesRoches will lead a team of experts in Haiti about the sustainability of buildings . He spoke with CNN before heading to Port-au-Prince . Below is a transcript of the interview , a portion of which has been edited . CNN : What will be your task in Haiti ? DesRoches : There 's an urgent need for a group of experts in earthquake engineering , preferably French speaking , to come down and assess the critical buildings to determine whether or not they 're safe to reoccupy . Essentially , we go about tagging them : red for unsafe ; green for safe ; yellow for something in between . We were asked to do this on a number of critical infrastructure buildings , including hospitals , schools , U.N. facilities , government buildings , as well as buildings occupied by various nations ' ambassadors . Evidently , there has n't been anybody on the ground yet to do that service , so there 's a need to get somebody in there ASAP to assess as many buildings as possible . ... There 's a specific manual that 's been developed by the Applied Technology Council and the manual is geared toward the rapid assessment of buildings after earthquakes . The manual gives you guidelines based on the type of damage -- the type of cracking you have in columns and other load-bearing elements , as well as how many of them have specific levels of damage . Based on this checklist , you can then determine what category your building should be classified as . CNN : In many ways , this is the nightmare scenario . You have this quake in impoverished Haiti . Supplies are hard to get down there . In a month or two , you have the start of a rain season and following that you enter hurricane season . DesRoches : There are a number of issues there . They clearly do n't have the infrastructure to facilitate rapid recovery from this . There are a number of buildings that have collapsed and bodies are still there . It will take weeks , if not months , to recover those bodies . And like you said , the rain season is coming up . ... It 's really the worst of all cases . This is probably the one country that could not handle an event like this . I call this in some ways the perfect storm of an earthquake , given that it was large , it was very shallow , the infrastructure is extremely poor and the government was n't prepared . So I think the resulting disaster is really a combination of a number of factors working against it . CNN : Describe your own personal feelings as you head down there , as Haitian and as somebody who lost a loved one . DesRoches : I had one uncle that passed away . His was what we typically call `` secondary effect . '' He was found safe following the earthquake . He had been somewhat ill with prostate cancer and he had [ gone ] back several times to the U.S. for treatment . ... My father spoke to him shortly after the event and he was doing fine on Wednesday . Then , it sounds like he was n't feeling very well . On Friday , I believe , he went to the hospital and clearly with all the other critical patients , they could n't really deal with him . And he died on Saturday . A lot of these things are never captured during an event like an earthquake or hurricane . We call them `` secondary effect , '' where a hospital is overrun and those that are ill -- maybe not directly from the earthquake -- end up dying whereas normally they probably would not . CNN : When you first talked to him , you must have been relieved that he was alive and you must have been celebrating . DesRoches : Absolutely . Another close relative , my godmother and godfather : We 've been told through their children in the U.S. that they are safe but their home has been destroyed . CNN : What 's going through your mind as you return home ? DesRoches : I was born in Haiti . I came [ to the U.S. ] as a very young child . I was 1½ . I spent the majority of my life in the U.S. ... But we still have a lot of family and ties to Haiti . For many years , as my capacity as a civil engineering professor , I 've always wanted to do whatever I can to help Haiti . And I see this as one opportunity to do that , given that I do earthquake engineering . I want to use this opportunity , not only to help them recover in the short term , but also rebuild Haiti so that it 's safe and sustainable . And I think this earthquake , unfortunately , provides the opportunity to start from scratch and make it a much better , more resilient place .
Civil ##ian earthquake expert heads to Haiti to assess buildings . Reginald DesRoches says the earthquake was ` ` really the worst of all cases '' He is a native of Haiti ; his parents died in the quake 's aftermath . Haiti must be rebuilt ` ` so that it 's safe and sustainable , '' he says .