Emergency housing could help disaster victims

Fransiska Prihadi, Contributor, Jakarta, francika@cbn.net.id

Reading newspaper' headlines in the last couple of weeks about the refugee camps in the East Kalimantan town of Nunukan should have driven home the realization that the camps are a manmade disaster.

Hundreds of displaced people have been left stranded. They live in weak, roughly built huts -- some of them made of plywood or plastic -- exposed to harsh climatic conditions, which endangers their health.

People are trying to help in any way they can to help ease their suffering by providing urgently needed food and medicine.

Rethinking simple ideas for emergency housing would also be a step in the right direction for the government.

One simple solution is the concept of "Superabode" housing, a semipermanent structure made from locally available materials. Among the places that are now using Superabode technology to provide temporary and permanent houses are Senegal; Hesperia, California, U.S. and the Peruvian Andes.

It is Nader Khalili who first developed the idea.

"Water in the boat is the death of the boat,

Water under the boat and the boat's afloat" (Jalaluddin Rumi)

These words in a poem of 13th century Persian poet, Jalaluddin Rumi who praised the elements -- earth, fire, water and air, inspired Khalili in his quest to develop organic housing that was in tune with the environment.

He conducted research at the California Institute of Earth and Architecture -- better known as Cal-Earth -- in the city of Hesperia, California. Khalili sought ways to build simple and safe emergency structures that had a minimum environmental impact using natural materials. He then found that like nature itself, which builds structures with minimum materials to create maximum space, the structure must behave like a beehive or a seashell. The strongest structures in nature that work in tune with gravity, friction, minimum exposure and maximum compression are arches, domes and vault forms.

They can all be easily learned and utilized with the most commonly available material on earth: Earth.

Superabode, uses sandbags -- filled with dirt, sand, or clay -- and barbed wire to construct the dome.

The sandbags are stacked in coils that are held in place with barbed wire.

As the dome rises, the rings of sandbags gradually get smaller, allowing the walls to curve inward and form a self- supporting roof.

It is one of the most creative, universal, sustainable, non- wood construction options available for emergency housing.

The construction method allows people to use elements of war -- sandbags and barbed wire -- and transform those materials into elements of peace.

Actually Khalili first proposed the construction method to NASA scientists in 1984 to be built on the moon. It is revolutionary even though it uses ancient principles in construction technology. The simplicity and beauty of Superabode allows anyone, old and young, even a child, or an individual to build the structure. This is its main strength, that it enables the community to become self-reliant.

Picture this, hundreds of refugees, a hundred students, or maybe a thousand Indonesian soldiers as basic manpower needed for construction in the first week of building emergency homes at a disaster site. They could build the mass structures together, hand in hand.

In general, the maximum earth that one can lift is around 2.3 kilograms. One would never need to lift a sandbag, it's all laid in place just like coils of spaghetti or toothpaste.

It took six years for the Superabode technology to pass requirements for building safety standards in the United States although it has been approved for use at disaster sites.

One of the great advantages is that its two-foot walls insulate the structure, keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer.

Imagine the implementation of the technology in tropical countries such as Indonesia.

Of course Indonesians would not find it difficult to gain basic materials such as earth, sandbags, and barbed wire. As the basic material used is earth, it is available everywhere. There is no manufactured material in Indonesia that would be available in such large amounts for thousands of homeless people living in dwellings way below acceptable levels. If there was such a material available, most probably they would not be able to afford it.

Superabode technology allows community participation thus empowering the refugees and restoring their dignity.

Then when volunteers and relief groups leave the disaster site, they would not be sitting and waiting for more to come. It is a very sustainable system.

If Superabode is not protected on the outside with stucco plastering, it will only last for between six months and two years, depending on the amount of rain, and then it would disintegrate and go back to the earth. It could last five years to 10 years if it is plastered outside, because the bags themselves disintegrate under the sun unless protected. If it is plastered with two layers, it could last for between 15 years and 30 years. So it can be both temporary and permanent.

Reuters discussed the patent of Superabode in an interview with Nader Khalili on Sept. 10, 2001. "I have patented this, so that big companies cannot patent it, because then nobody would have access to it. If it is done for the poor in a disaster, it's all for free. My mission in life for the last 25 years has been to provide shelter for people who cannot afford it", said Nader Khalili.

Eventually, it would all come back to us. It is all about doing. Just do it.