Environment
Tsunami Rebuilding Effort Includes Many Organizations
(archrecord.construction.com - 01/07/05)
By Sam
Lubell
Last month’s devastating tsunamis
in Southeast Asia are perhaps the worst natural disaster in
a generation. Said to have killed at least 150,000, the massive
waves have also left upwards of a million homeless, and presented
an almost unprecedented rebuilding challenge. Disaster-affected
buildings ranging from poorly-constructed slum houses to important
civic buildings to architectural and archaeological treasures.
While countries around the world are providing substantial
monetary aid (the United States has pledged over $350) and
resources, and organizations like the Red Cross, Unicef, and
the United Nations are providing emergency assistance, an
impressive list of organizations are also offering shelter
and rebuilding aid, pledging money, as well as architectural
and engineering expertise. Such entities include:
1. Architecture
For Humanity
Architecture for Humanity, which
organizes architectural services for humanitarian crises, is
soliciting funds and services to aid much-needed reconstruction
in the region.
Money will help develop long-term housing
designs and strategies that will, according to AFO Chairman
Cameron Sinclair, be highly sustainable and intelligently
planned. Possible strategies include use of local materials
like thatch, straw-bale, stone, and even recycled shipping
containers, although none have been chosen. Without the help
of architects and construction, Sinclair adds, such housing
can often take the form of temporary refugee camps that turn
into poorly-planned, unsanitary, and wasteful permanent housing.
Architects can contribute money or lend
their services through the organization’s website, www.architectureforhumanity.org,
or through partner organization www.worldchanging.org . AFH
is coordinating with larger local NGO’s such as Relief
International and the International Medical Corps, and is
in discussions with several others.
2.
Shelter for Life
Shelter For Life International (SFL),
a humanitarian relief and development organization, has been
helping rebuild communities affected by civil conflict in
Sri Lanka since 1999. With 25 years of experience in providing
shelter for families around the world displaced by conflict
or natural disaster, SFL offers safe, functional shelter and
assistance for those left homeless in Sri Lanka. In response
to the present crisis, SFL is targeting to assist 10, 000
families, some 50,000 people, whose homes were destroyed by
the tsunami with water, sanitation and temporary shelter.
These families will also be provided with emergency supply
kits that include critical supplies for water storage, hygiene,
cooking and other basic living requirements. The current target
area is a stretch of 50 km coastal line, south of the capital
Colombo.
3.
Relief International
RI provides emergency, rehabilitation
and development services that empower beneficiaries in the
process. RI’s programs include health, shelter construction,
education, community development, agriculture, food, income-generation,
and conflict resolution. RI employs an innovative approach
to program design and a high quality of implementation performance
in demonstrating deep and lasting impact in reducing human
suffering worldwide. The organization has dispatched a team
that is providing medical care to victims in Sri Lanka, and
plans to help victims with both emergency relief as well as
long-term restoration of livelihoods and community rebuilding.
4.
Global Village Shelters
This New Jersey company produces temporary
shelters for emergency situations. The structures are produced
from a treated corrugated laminate that is waterproof and
infused with a fire retardant, the GV shelter has a footprint
of sixty-seven square feet and is equipped with a hinged door
made of corrugated PP material. The company is working together
with Architecture for Humanity on tsunami-recovery solutions.
5.
The American Institute of Architects
The AIA is still developing a coordinated
strategy of its own. For now its website offers links to several
aid organizations.
6.
American Society of Civil Engineers
ASCE's international and technical groups
are working with colleagues from several nations to coordinate
a technical response. Actions include producing a library
of journal articles related to response and mitigation to
tsunami events available for free download. ASCE has consulted
with technical experts in the field to advise on the possible
deployment of a technical assessment team, to respond to public
and media inquiries, and to coordinate the provision of technical
resources if needed. The organization has established communications
with its sister societies in the affected regions to determine
the needs of the local professional community as they lead
efforts to restore and rebuild the infrastructure.
7. Seabees
Since 1942, more than 750,000 men and
women have served as Seabees—a division of the U.S. Navy
that handles natural disaster and combat relief construction.
The Seabees have aided the Kurdish refugees in Iraq, built
schools, roads and hospitals in Somalia and Haiti, built tent
camps for Haitian and Cuban refugees in Guantanamo Bay and
offered emergency support to victims of hurricanes, floods,
fires, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions worldwide.The Seabees
are now aiding disaster victims of the recent Tsunami crisis.
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