CVGA
San Diego, CA, USmember
Civil Engineer. Spent various times in the South America with the military building housing, schools and medical clinics in addition to my full-time work in the United States. Am extremely knowledgeable about third world building, governments and how things are generally done in those situations.

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Re: How Would YOU Design a Home for Disaster Victims?
The biggest problem here is a lack of organization. The first effort should be design. How will the rebuilt town be laid out? Are there any underground utilities that have to be considered? (Most likely water, there may or may not be sewage and electical is probably overhead). Width and location of streets. Handle drainage for major rainfall. It might be wise to abandon the current layout. Need to get a site and set up a concrete reclaiming operation to separte any steel (handrails and the like not much rebar) and reclaim the aggregate. That way any concrete only requires cement and water. Immediately concentrate on fresh water delivery ASAP for health and concrete. Use and design that incorporates rebar to standard and carefully monitor the mix design. Third world is famous for lack of cement paste, too much water and no rebar. The tropics is not friendly to anything containing wood with the termites, mold and fungus. Housing should be one-story only to minimize rebar requirements. Roofing usually incorporates steel trusses. Possibly set up a precast site and use fixed forms delivering a complete stucture to set with a crane. Whatever is done it needs lots of organization and good design that should be done now. Complete topo mapping should already have been done.
posted: 10:10 am on January 26th