Innovative shelter for disasters

Disasters cause tremendous material and immaterial damage to people and their habitat. During the first days after the disaster the victims have to be provided with food, shelter, security, health care and registration. For sheltering, depending on the local circumstances, tents are often used for a short period of time but often we often see them used for a longer time. However tents are not always the best solution. Although industries have developed new materials and building systems, not all of them are suitable to provide for an appropriate response as desirabIe for application in shelters. In order to improve this situation, various aspects were presented and discussed during an International Symposium held at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in November 2007 under the auspices of Red Cross organizations, universities, NGO's and private companies. As a result the TU/e has embarked on a research project on various approaches for sheltering in close cooperation with the Netherlands Red Cross. 1.Development of a collective center. The center has been worked out in detail and a test model of 3 bays will be erected shortly.2.Development of card board housing i.s.o. tents. After detailed studies of other shelters and the material of cardboard, a model of a cardboard housing was produced. The model has undergone physical tests, which has led to changes in the concept.3.Development of a steel frame transitional shelter. The frame has to be optimized in the light of the varying weather conditions. A full scale model of the frame is built and needs optimization from the point of view of providing solutions in state of guidelines. 4.Development of a manual for the design of shelters.Apart from carrying out model tests, a full scale test in a local situation will ultimately prove the validity of the developed concepts. These tests are under development.