Disaster relief transitional emergency shelter: Environmental and structural analysis of two prefab modular emergency shelters for three different Californian climate zones

"We all are aware of human impact in nature and its effects: pollution, deforestation, land mismanagement, the green house effect, and more, have accelerated the rate of disasters. Added to that are the man-made disasters millions of displaced humans, wars and human aggression and acts of terrorism with incalculable damage to human life and property. There is a serious sense of urgency to educate ourselves and our children to act more in harmony with nature, rather than insisting on dominating and interrupting the environmental process. As well as awakening to a new set of questions where we deal with the rehabilitation of ones that have been displaced completely from their lands."1This study specifically looks at the emergency shelter needs of a developed country and the shelter type is transitional which is defined as a shelter where victims live at least for a year or more. The study covers a broad survey of all the different kinds of emergency shelters available and the ones that had been used in the past based on the kind of material used, structure, cost, and durability, ease of construction, size and transportability. The survey resulted in a matrix that charts out these different shelters with their characteristics.An in-depth detailed case study is performed on two prefab modular emergency shelters, one made from structurally insulated panels and the other from a shipping container. These two shelters are investigated for their environmental performance in three different Californian climate zones and the structurally insulated panel prefab system is assessed for its structural performance using specialized software tools. The environmental analysis is carried out using the simulation program Energy Plus (Design Builder). The climatic data for all the zones is resourced from a climate tool called Climate Consultant. The environmental results are compared on the basis of indoor air temperatures simulated and the overall energy consumption of the shelter. The overall study is aimed to show that these prefab modular shelters can be a good solution for a transitional emergency shelter and can play a significant part in solving the problem of lack of decent emergency shelter in developed nations. The structural analysis software tool SAP2000 is used to model the prefab panel system and its structure is tested for the whole of California. The main aim is to check the seismic capabilities of the structure since seismic demand is higher than wind loading for short buildings in California or other seismic regions where earthquake disasters may occur.1The California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture, viewed on 27 October 2009, <http://calearth.org/building-designs/emergency-sandbag-shelter.html >...