Safer construction through incremental improvements
Bill Flinn Centre for Development and Emergency Practice CENDEP Oxford Brookes University
8,000 houses out of a total need of 500,000 is 1.6% Cyclone Sidr, Bangladesh 2008
One year on, the total number of shelters constructed was 50,000, 10% of total need
What about the 90%?
The majority frequently rebuild using their own resources, often incorporating pre-disaster vulnerabilities
cost
quality
cost time expertise capacity
quality, safety, reduction in vulnerability
Small, but significant, incremental improvements can be easily achieved at low cost
Hurricane strapping
Roof retrofits - Cuba
Estimated minimum fatalities Hurricane Mitch – 1998
10,000
Central American countries
Hurricane Katrina – 2005
1,836
USA
Hurricane Wilma – 2005
8 31 4
Mexico USA Cuba
Hurricane Dennis – 2005
56 15 4
Haiti USA Cuba
Hurricane Gustav and Ike – 2008
150 160 7
Haiti USA Cuba
Cyclone Nargis - 2008 Cyclone Sidr – 2007
146,000 Burma 4,000 Bangladesh
Source : Wikipedia
Reinforced concrete
5” precast RC column
5” precast RC column with diagonal crossbracing
10” brick column
15” composite column
58 km/hr
100 km/hr
Category 3 158 km/h
Category 4+ 194++ km/hr
Steel trusses
Advantages: •
Timber is expensive
•
Steel in Bangladesh is well-understood
• The design and assembly of prefabricated parts leaves little room for error.
Disadvantages: •
Maintenance
•
Not very amenable to self-build
•
Cost? Availability?