Emergency shelter vs temporary housing

[RoConroy@aol.com]

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