There is increasing policy and research interest in disaster resilience, yet the extant literature is still mired in definitional debates, epistemological orientations of researchers, and differences in basic approaches to measurement. As a consequence, there is little integration across domains and disciplines on community resilience assessment, its driving forces, and geographic variability. Using US counties as the study unit, this paper creates an empirically-based resilience metric called the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) that is both conceptually and theoretically sound, yet, easy enough to compute for use in a policy context. A common set of variables were used to measure the inherent resilience of counties in the United States according to six different domains or capitals as identified in the extant literature – social, economic, housing and infrastructure, institutional, community, and environmental. Data were from public and freely accessible data sources. Counties in the US Midwest and Great Plains states have the most inherent resilience, while counties in the west, along the US-Mexico border, and along the Appalachian ridge in the east contain the least resilience. Further, it was found that inherent resilience is not the opposite of social vulnerability, but a distinctly different construct both conceptually and empirically. While understanding the overall variability in resilience, the BRIC is easily deconstructed to its component parts to provide guidance to policy makers on where investments in intervention strategies may make a difference in the improvement of scores. Such evidence-based research has an opportunity to influence public policy focused on disaster risk.

The geographies of community disaster resilience

Energy savings due to the use of PCM for relocatable lightweight buildings passive heating and cooling in different weather conditions

Multi-criteria decision-making method for assessing the sustainability of post-disaster temporary housing units technologies: A case study in Bam, 2003

Many people lose their homes around the world every year because of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, the displaced people (DP) have to move to temporary housing (TH) and do not have the ability to choose the settlement dimensions, distributions, neighborhood, or other characteristics of their TH. Additionally, post-disaster settlement construction causes neighborhood changes, environmental degradation, and large-scale public expenditures. This paper presents a new model to support decision makers in choosing site locations for TH. The model is capable of determining the optimal site location based on the integration of economic, social, and environmental aspects into the whole life cycle of these houses. The integrated value model for sustainable assessment (MIVES), a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) model, is used to assess the sustainability of the aforementioned aspects, and MIVES includes the value function concept, w...

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Multicriteria Decision-Making Method for Sustainable Site Location of Post-Disaster Temporary Housing in Urban Areas

Disaster relief (DR) shelters play a vital role in large-scale disasters and are an important part of disaster response and recovery. DR shelters are used to provide private and secure places for people to live who have left or lost their usual accommodations as a result of some form of disaster. DR shelters not only provide immediate and short-term shelter for the victims of a disaster, but they also help them to recover from the trauma of a disaster as well as provide a base to start the process of rehabilitation. A review of the literature, case studies, guidance, and reports relating to the design of DR shelters indicates that their provision and performance are not currently as effective as they could be. A lack of adequate consideration with regard to climatic conditions, locally available materials and skills, cultural and social issues, delays, cost constraints, and poor location selection for DR shelters have each been identified as sources of poor performance contributing to an unacceptable standard of living. Moreover, there seems to be a lack of sufficient consideration with regard to the design of DR shelters for future storage and re-use. The principal aim of this research is to examine the extent to which environmental, economic, technical, and sociocultural criteria affect the provision and performance of DR shelters, and how such factors might be taken into account in the decision-making and design processes of such shelters.

An Overview of the Design of Disaster Relief Shelters

https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/23957/1/texto.pdf

Temporary housing after disasters: A state of the art survey

The number of houses damaged or destroyed after disasters is frequently large, and re-housing of homeless people is one of the most important tasks of reconstruction programs. Reconstruction works often last long, and during that time, it is essential to provide victims with the minimum conditions to live with dignity, privacy, and protection. This research intends to demonstrate the crucial role of temporary accommodation buildings to provide spaces where people can live and gradually resume their life until they have a permanent house. The study also aims to identify the main problems of temporary accommodation strategies and to discuss some principles and guidelines in order to reach better design solutions. It is found that temporary accommodation is an issue that goes beyond the simple provision of buildings, since the whole space for temporary settlement is important. Likewise, temporary accommodation is a process that should start before a disaster occurs, as a preventive pre-planning. In spite of being temporary constructions, these housing buildings are one of the most important elements to provide in emergency scenarios, contributing for better recovery and reconstruction actions.

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The role of temporary accommodation buildings for post-disaster housing reconstruction

Estimating the needs for temporary accommodation units to improve pre-disaster urban planning in seismic risk cities

Unfortunately,	   natural	   disasters	   have	   drastically	   increased	   over	   the	   last	   decades	   causing extensive	  material	   and	  non-­‐material	  damages.	  The	  destruction	  of	  houses	  and	   the	  number	  of homeless	  people	  are	  some	  of	  the	  most	  visible	  effects	  of	  post-­‐disaster	  scenarios.	  Housing	  is	  one of	   the	   people’s	   most	   important	   needs	   and	   it	   is	   also	   essential	   for	   their	   well-­‐being.	   After	   a disaster	   it	   is	   crucial	   to	   supply	   temporary	   accommodation	   in	   order	   to	   provide	   victims	   with comfort,	  protection,	  and	  privacy	  until	  they	  have	  a	  permanent	  house.	  Temporary	  housing	  is	  an extremely	   important	   solution	   of	   temporary	   accommodation	   allowing	   victims	   to	   gradually return	   to	   their	   normal	   life	   activities	   during	   the	   reconstruction	   process.	   Although	   it	   has	   been widely	  used	  after	  the	  most	  large-­‐scale	  disasters,	  the	  urgent	  need	  of	  fast	  solutions	  has	  not	  led	  to effective	  options.	  Therefore,	   temporary	  housing	  solutions	  have	  been	  greatly	  criticized	  mainly for	  being	  unsustainable,	  and	  also	  culturally	  and	  locally	  inadequate. Through	   literature	  review	  and	  case-­‐studies’	  analysis	   the	  research	  points	  out	   the	  main	   factors and	   reasons	   that	   cause	   the	   problems	   of	   temporary	   housing	   units.	   It	   also	   refers	   to	   possible solutions	  to	  overcome	  or	  minimize	  those	  problems,	  offering	  guidelines	  based	  on	  concepts	  that have	  been	  proved	  effective	  in	  previous	  studies. The	   guidelines	   focus	   on	   useful	   concepts	   in	   the	   development	   of	   more	   sustainable,	   locally sensitive	  and	  culturally	  integrated	  solutions.	  It	  was	  found	  that	  an	  essential	  change	  is	  needed	  in the	   development	   of	   temporary	   housing	   solutions.	   These	   solutions	   should	   be	   developed through	  a	  people-­‐oriented	  strategy	  rather	  than	  focusing	  on	  the	  technical	  aspects	  of	  the	  units. The	  suggested	  guidelines	  have	  that	  objective. Keywords:	  Temporary	  housing,	  Sustainability,	  Local	  integration,	  Cultural	  adequacy

https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/24319/1/1_F%c3%a9lix%20et%20al.pdf

Guidelines to improve sustainability and cultural integration of temporary housing units

Timber is one of the most used materials in the roofs and floors of monumental constructions in Portugal. The geometry is defined by elements that occupy a limited and well defined part of the tri-dimensional space, with a clear evidence of the hierarchy of the components. Timber elements are often visible, which allows easier conservation, identification of the wood species, characterization of details and evaluation of deterioration. Complex timber structures, such as those belonging to the roofs of large monuments, are often not easy to understand in a expedite way. As the coverings of monuments as cathedrals, public buildings, mansions or villas show very complicate features, not easy to be understood during the first inspection. This is not only due to the fact that the system is very elaborate and to the large number of members but also due to continuous changes and repair past works, mostly with additional stiffening or propping. The typical result of the history of the construction is the increase in the number and the heterogeneity of the members, together with a multiplicity of connections and diversity of supports. This means that the original must be distinguished from the additions and the replacements. This complexity makes the field of conservation of historical timber structures not only a challenge but a field much in need of modern research. The objective of this paper is to present some of the Portuguese experience in this field, showing how the rehabilitation solutions can be supported by the inspection techniques and by an extensive knowledge about the constituent material from which the structure was made, both from the mechanical point of view and from the physical point of view. A number of case studies will be presented to illustrate common conservation problems, and design problems as well as the possibilities and limitations of several solutions and to discuss the suitability of several intervention methods.

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Daniel Félix

Papers

Temporary housing after disasters: A state of the art survey

The role of temporary accommodation buildings for post-disaster housing reconstruction

Estimating the needs for temporary accommodation units to improve pre-disaster urban planning in seismic risk cities

Guidelines to improve sustainability and cultural integration of temporary housing units

Selected Solutions for Rehabilitation of Wooden Structures: Some Portuguese Case Studies