Time-Efficient Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction with Prefabricated Modular Structures

Abstract

With many natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, bushfires and tsunamis destroying human habitats around the world, post-disaster housing reconstruction has become a critical topic. The current practice of post-disaster reconstruction consists of various approaches that carry affected homeowners from temporary shelters to permanent housing. While temporary shelters may be provided within a matter of days as immediate disaster relief, permanent housing can take years to complete. However, time is critical, as affected communities will need to restore their livelihoods as soon as possible. Prefabricated modular construction has the potential to drastically improve the time taken to provide permanent housing. Due to this time-efficiency, which is an inherent characteristic of modular construction, it can be a desirable strategy for post-disaster housing reconstruction. This paper discusses how prefabricated modular structures can provide a more time-efficient solution by analysing several present-day examples taken from published post-disaster housing reconstruction processes that have been carried out in different parts of the world. It also evaluates how other features of modular construction, such as ease of decommissioning and reusability, can add value to post-disaster reconstruction processes and organisations that contribute to the planning, design and construction stages of the reconstruction process. The suitability of modular construction will also be discussed in the context of the guidelines and best practice guides for post-disaster housing reconstruction published by international organisations. Through this analysis and discussion, it is concluded that prefabricated modular structures are a highly desirable time-efficient solution to post-disaster housing reconstruction.

Feasibility and Implications of the Modular Construction Approach for Rapid Post-Disaster Recovery

“…The shelter is temporary accommodation provided until the victims can relocate to permanent houses. On the other hand, "Housing" refers to permanent dwelling with all requirements, including physical, social, and administrative infrastructure [6]. In other words, shelters are provided as the short-term solution of relief process, and permanent houses must be provided in the long run to recover the normal livelihood of the disaster-affected communities.…”

“…The most critical and time-consuming step of a post-disaster recovery and reconstruction process is promptly providing permanent housing for affected people [4]. As shown in Figure 1, the FEMA predicted that permanent housing needs might take up to five years to be fulfilled from the time of the disaster's impact [5], which can be a very long period for restoration of an average citizen and returning to a normal livelihood [6]. Therefore, time is a pivotal factor in the reconstruction process to minimize further devastating social and economic consequences in affected communities.…”

“…Prefabricated/modular construction has several potentials to provide a holistic approach to permanent housing reconstruction in disaster-struck areas [7]. Modular construction as a highly time-efficient and holistic approach could solve a number of the common issues of previous post-disaster reconstruction strategies of permanent housing [6]. Time-efficiency is an inherent characteristic of modular construction, which offers great potential for it to be a desirable strategy for post-disaster housing reconstruction.…”

Development of modular school design as a permanent solution for post-disaster reconstruction in Indonesia

“…In post-disaster recovery, the long term and permanent solution are as important as the emergency ones (Gunawardena et al, 2014). The post-disaster building design and construction must be supported with a strategy for "building back better" (Platt, 2018;Fan, 2013).…”

“…Despite the urge to construct the building as fast as possible, the reconstruction process must consider careful planning including land use, safety, good design, community involvement and cost efficiency (Platt, 2018). The strategy must set the objective beyond the fast reconstruction (Lyons et al, 2010) in order to offer more positive impact and improvement compared to the pre-disaster conditions (Celentano et al, 2019) The permanent reconstruction stage could take up to five years after the disaster to begin (Gunawardena et al, 2014). This is usually due to some challenges such as the institutional arrangement, the involvement of various stakeholders, the material procurement, and the availability of labour (Ahmed, 2011).…”