Emergency shelter vs temporary housing

[J & D Goldman]

Bob,
   Sounds like this is coming along. A few thoughts -
- Any chance the process could produce honeycomb rather than just
solid material? That would make them even lighter and use even less
resin
- Any chance of using any of the soy or corn based plastics?  They are
almost as weather resistant as routine plastics, but are degradeable
if exposed to high temp at high moisture in a compost operation.

-Dan G.



>In a message dated 10/30/2005 8:22:52 PM Central Standard Time,
>jmgoldma at dwx.com writes:
>Dan wrote:
>Some more thoughts on this one:
>
>I'll try to go through and summarize some of the points you all
raised
>in a later messge.  A few additional things occurred to me after
>reviewing the discussion.
>
>1) We probably need to clearly distinguish "emergency shelter" from
>"temporary housing".  The news reports that continue to come out of
>Pakistan make it very clear, even having some decent tents would help
>prevent the horrible illness and death in that situation.
>
>2) Perhaps the concept of a community storm shelter(s) has a place
>here. Years ago, an area church was the one well-built structure in
>the area where people would go during a bad storm, not just for
>spiritual reasons, but for physical protection.  Some trailer parks
in
>the US are now required to provide tornado shelter for their
>residents, although tornados come and go very quickly.
>  If the world is going to spend millions and even billions on "aid",
>perhaps if the earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. are going to be more
>routine now, some thought will be given to more long term solutions.
>I don't know if it makes sense to think about earthquake resistant
>structures (how would a concrete dome(s) do?) in places like these
>remote villages in Pakistan or not, but they might elsewhere.
>
>As far as emergency shelter, I started a mental list of what one
>needs, realizing as I went how easy it is to overlook important
issues
>until its too late.  The pluses and minuses of domes vs. various
other
>structures can be considered - for both Em. shelter and temporary
>housing.
>
>Protection from:
>Wind - Anchorage, impact resistance
>Rain, hail, snow
>Cold
>Fire
>Heat/Sun
>Humidity
>Insects, rodents, birds, reptiles, monkeys, other animal issues?
>  (I'm told the round shape of domes really frustrates bears in
>Alaska. Even when left unoccupied for long periods of time, domes
seem
>immune to their attack.  The bears go around so many times looking
for
>an entrance they wear a path in the ground and eventually give up and
>leave.)
>Noise, sound?
>Flood?
>Toxic gases, odor?
>
>Livability
>Cleanliness, sanitation issues?
>Sectionability for quarantine/illnesses
>
>Logistics
>Ease of assembly, relocation
>Deliverability, storeability -fold/knock down
>Reuseable, disposal, conversion of materials from Emergency use to
>Temporary Housing.
>
>Comments on additions, deletions and changes to the list welcome.
>      The Pakistan government said they needed about 550 million in
aid,
>while the international community has only pledged around 15 million.
Because of
>the lawlessness of the area, which isn't even a comfortable
environment for
>armed government troops, I think the Pakistani disaster will be a lot
larger
>than the original 35,000 deaths.
>     I don't see any immediate solution, but in places like Sri
Lanka,
>Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan, strong structures that meet the
emergency use can
>be designed and built quickly and easily, which can later be made
permanent by
>later adding an outer coating of reinforced lightweight concrete.
The
>concrete provides the adequate UV and fire protection that a long
term structure
>would require.  The emergency shelter simply becomes a form for the
concrete to be
>later applied.  Even without the concrete, the structure can last
decades if
>measures are taken to reduce any UV degradation.
>     By use of reaction injection molding of polyurethane panels,
>approximately 24 shelter units can be produced from a single set of
molds/day.  16 sets
>of molds could produce 100,000 shelters/year.  The shelters can be
used as
>clinics and school buildings, which can later be used during general
disaster
>periods.  The structures now being built in Sri Lanka for housing,
aren't really
>strong enough to provide good protection from a strong wind, much
less another
>tsunami or even a typhoon.
>     The design I am working on provides strength, energy efficiency,
>portablity, and ease of manufacture, and assemblage.  It is
lightweight, and being as
>the prefinished panels are preinsulated, they still only weigh about
20
>pounds each.  The key is the choice of size, configuration of panels,
and choice of
>materials.  The better the materials the higher the cost, and the
more
>efficient the design of the panels, the greater cost of production of
the molds.
>Right now, I am working on the optimum combination, in order to put
together a
>proposal that can help start production at least a small level.
>     A picture of the current model I am working on can be seen at
>http://members.aol.com/mtdomes/22paneldome.html
>       Bob
>