Suggestions for rebuilding after earthquake in China

aiba · Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1

I received this request recently by email. Was wondering if this is in anyone's field of expertise in UK or USA?

I am Ying Hua, assistant professor in Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University, originally from China.

As you may know about the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck Sichuan province, China, on May 12. So far, about 35,000 were killed, another 250,000 people injured and await medical treatment and water. And millions of people became homeless, waiting for the shelters.

My colleagues in China are now planning and designing temporary housing (2-3 yrs) and communities for these people. If you have any suggestions (design/planning schemes, useful websites or other resources) to share with me, I'd very much appreciate it. I am thinking that your experiences in New Orleans or other places after large catastrophe would be very valuable for the building of temporary housing/community in Sichuan, China.

Sincerely

Ying Hua

--
Ying Hua, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
E118 Martha Van Rensselaer
Department of Design and Environmental Analysis
Cornell University
Tel: (607) 254-6415
Fax: (607) 255-0305

Emailying.cmu@gmail.com

T5unamie · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 65

Get a design team together and think about using Cargo containers for temporary housing. They are easy to get around. Can house 3-4 people per unit and can be taken back and sold back to the industry after a more permanent solution is discovered.
Large cargo containers were being used in an American project for a greener world. Old cargo containers were being converted into portable temporary homes for builders. They can be insulated and modified in many ways.
Drinking water is your next concern. Most likely the logistics of getting water to the people is a huge burden. Supply lines taking up a lot of resources. There was a new company with a new product which was a water canister on wheels on the "dragons den" a few weeks ago. Designed for the 3rd world. IT was a canister that filtered dirty water into clan water by rolling the water tank along the floor. It meant one person could carry about 20-30 litres with very little effort as well as create a clean water supply from a dirty one. (Draw back was it was ment for Africa, the canister must be rolled along the floor for at least a few hundred meters before the water was clean). I could not find a link to the company and I do not know the company name. All you seem to find online is a lot of people in forums talking about how great the idea was when they saw it on Dragons Den.
As for a more long term plan. That purely political. Getting investment for earthquake and flood proof buildings will be expensive and given that the local average pays is $700 a year. I don’t think the projects are financial viable unless the Chinese government is willing to subsidise the projects. Or the area undergoes heavy development with the governments concern being in the way of tax breaks.

Edwina Lee · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 632 Location: High Wycombe, UK

I just watched a clip from CCTV9 about temporary housing in Sichuan. They are using large panels of foam filled aluminium panels to build the temporary houses.

The advantage is that the lightness of the panels do not cause so much injury to people even if the house fall down in earthquakes.

joybetluck · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 147

The earth quake zone looks like a very inhospital place, just lots of rubble, a few bush, no tree. No bamboo - One of the most useful building material. The rebuilding work is estimated to take 3 years.
I think if they build some anchor points than locals with rudimentary building skill can use them for stringing up a tarpaulin to shelter from the sun, clothes lines for drying.
You need to keep people occupied so that they do not feel powerless. The rubble can be piled up to build wind break, boundary marker etc They have to make use of what local material is available for the moment.

Edwina Lee · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 632 Location: High Wycombe, UK

I remember an earthquake expert say a long time ago that a bamboo forest is a very safe place to be in an earthquake because of the deep roots.

Bamboo forests also populate rapidly and prolifically.

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