Federal Assistance in Post-Disaster Situations

In the events after a disaster, no matter the kind, there is a good need to accomplish certain goals and needs.  These goals and needs would include the following: disaster management in the health system, how to receive disaster relief and assistance from FEMA, and what occurs if the victims cannot receive the relief they were promised. 

Regardless of the type of natural disaster, the underlying health of the affected population has a significant impact on the disaster management.  People across the world struggle on a day-to-day basis against a laundry-list of chronic health conditions (heart disease, asthma, diabetes, and cancer).  With careful planning of effective public health measures, the care of the people with such conditions can be managed in a disaster situation without an increased negative effect on the health and well-being of the affected population.  However, to make this a feasible reality in such events, public health must be closely tied with disaster management, on a day-to-day basis, to ensure that our medical systems are equipped to handle a large surge of patients which would accompany a major natural disaster. 

Image 1 - Victims getting medical assistance after a natural disaster

Along with this, there is a need to develop a system for educating the public about how to prevent common illnesses and diseases.  “Having a public that is educated about how to manage their own health issues during a disaster is a key component to mitigating the health effects of disaster on individuals and communities.”  During a disaster, one of the challenges we face is that the health communities lay in both private and public sectors.  Hospitals and healthcare facilities are businesses; therefore, it is not always easy for emergency and health managers to coordinate seamlessly with each other during a disaster.  However, in the past few years there have been a couple successful examples.  One of these examples is when corporate pharmacies worked with the federal government to provide the H1N1 flu vaccine to communities throughout the United States. 

FEMA travel trailers are considered an alternate housing option and are only used when adequate housing options are not available.  These trailers are available in two ways: residence who will be located in a FEMA trailer park, and people who have private property that meets certain requirements.  The process for gaining a trailer begins with a toll free call to the disaster assistance helpline (1-800-621-3362).  The second step would be filling out an application.  However, before you can apply, the victim must provide FEMA with a social security number, a reliable phone number, all current insurance information, the annual income for the household, a bank routing number, and a description of what was lost in the disaster.  After applying, either online or on the phone, FEMA will mail the victims a copy of the application. 

Image 2 - FEMA trailers being delivered to disaster areas in the Southern states after Hurricane Katrina

Image 3 - FEMA contractors constructing the trailer's stairs and porch

Then, after 10 to 14 days, an inspector would contact the person if the paperwork successfully went through.  At the inspection, the disaster victim would need to show proof of land ownership, have workable utilities at the site, and sign papers.  In addition, the inspector would examine the land and its damage to create a report.  After an average of 10 days, the person would find out if the site was approved.  The next step is to have the FEMA trailer delivered.  Once delivered, a FEMA contractor will set up the unit and schedule a time to hook up the utilities.  If everything were to go “right” – the paperwork, insurance, and inspection – the displaced individuals would have to find alternate housing opportunities for a minimum of 4 weeks.  On the other hand, if problems arise, FEMA says it could take up to 8 weeks to receive the travel trailer, from the time you call FEMA to the time the trailer’s utilities are connected. 

“Under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, once a president declares a major disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) steps into the fray to provide disaster relief assistance.”  Ernest Abbott, who becomes a lawyer in 1976, is the owner of FEMA Law Associates.  His law firm deals with disputes that arise over eligibility for disaster assistance, which usually occurs between 6 months and eight years after a natural disaster.  There are two different reasons why it takes so long for Abbott to get involved.  The first reason is if issues with the displaced individuals’ insurance companies arise.  The second reason is if an inspector general determines that contracting was not done properly; or that the work should have never deemed eligible in the first place.  In addition, in major projects, structural damage is often hidden and can take a long time to detect. 

Image 4 - Victims in court to try and receive the federal assistance FEMA promised to them

             Collecting bids and price shopping is imperative in the contracting process.  FEMA will reimburse aid applicants no more than 75 percent of the cost of eligible work (debris removal, emergency work, and sheltering).  However, they will only “reimburse only the cost of what they think you would have paid had you bothered to shop around a little bit.”  The length of time this can take is evident in Abbott’s ongoing work with clients affected by Hurricane Katrina, many of whom are still trying to resolve disputes over how much disaster assistance FEMA should pay, six years after the disaster.  The key to working with FEMA is to describe, in writing, the decisions that have been made, the people you talked to, accounting records, and dates when each milestone happened. 

Text

Dunn, C. (2011, September 6). The Legal Ins and Outs of Post-Disaster FEMA Aid.

      Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http;//www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.

      jsp?id=1202513391671

How to Get Disaster Manufactured Housing. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2001, form

      http://www.fema.gov.news/newsrelease.cema?id=19865

The Uber Shelter: Tested and Refined

Rafael Smith designed the Uber Shelter as part of his Master’s thesis project.  The goal of his temporary shelter is to create a design that can be logistically brought to a site after a natural disaster.  His shelter comes to the desired site as a kit-of parts which measures 4’-0” x 8’-0” x 2’-6”.  This kit includes every component that is needed to assemble the two-story, three room structure.  Some of the components include walls made from corrugated polypropylene, a roof made from a UV resistant material, and telescoping support legs.  The multi-story unit allows for increased living space in a small land footprint by utilizing vertical space.  This feature is beneficial in urban disaster areas where land is scarce, such as Haiti.  The shelter has 190 square feet of interior space with a 69 square foot exterior porch and takes up an 8’-0” x 16’-0” footprint. 

Image 1 - Rafael Smith, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, standing next to his Uber Shelter's kit-of-parts

In the spring of 2011, Rafael Smith wanted to take his shelter to Haiti to conduct a pilot study after the earthquake.  The goal of the pilot study is to work with the families living in the Uber Shelter to understand, from the users ‘perspective, how to improve the product.  Therefore, Rafael supplied two incredible families with their own Uber Shelter.  It took Rafael two weeks to find the perfect families to be the recipients of his shelter.  The first shelter was built in the urban camp setting of Adokin in Haiti.  While Rafael was there, he found Genesis and his family.  After spending the day with them, Rafael decided to choose them to be the recipient for the first shelter.  After Genesis’s shelter was constructed, he told Rafael that he wanted to partake in the second shelter’s construction process.

            Rafael observed Genesis and his family, for a week, to discover their reactions while living within the Uber Shelter.  The day after the shelter’s construction, Genesis constructed an 8’-0” tall fence, of scrap wood and tarps, around the perimeter of his land.  Therefore, privacy is very important to the Haitian people.  During the shelter’s design process, Rafael envisioned that the exterior porch area would be open and used for exterior cooking.  However, per Genesis and their community, cooking is a private event and should the exterior porch area should be enclosed for two main reasons.  The first reason for the indoor cooking is that the neighbors can make judgment on how much income a family makes based on the food the family cooks; therefore, indoor cooking is required.  The second reason for indoor cooking is the camps’ dirt roads can cause a lot of airborne dust and dirt. 

Image 2 - A community comes together to help build a shelter for Magdala and her family 

            After the first shelter was built, Rafael met Magdala, through his translator, in a tent camp in Port-au-Prince.  Magdala lives there with her mother and daughter.  After losing their home in the earthquake, Magdala’s sister moved out of the city to Croix-des-Bouquets with her husband and two children.  They currently live in a plywood shelter that is surrounded by tall cinder-block walls.  Magadala’s sister offered to help her move out of the tent camp and onto a plot of land near her, as soon as she can afford to build a shelter. The tent camp Magdala currently lives in can be dangerous due to only having a thin piece of tarp separating them from the exterior elements.  Therefore, Rafael believes Magdala and her family must be experimenting some insecurities about their current living conditions.  Due to this, Rafael decided to construct the second Uber Shelter for Magadala and her family, near her sister. 

Image 3 - The process to take the Uber shelter from a kit-of-parts to a temporary sheltering structure

            Once the shelter was constructed, Rafale quickly realized that some of the “emergency shelter” features of the Uber Shelter were not reflecting the needs of Magdala and her family.  To solve some of the issues, Rafael decided to beef-up the original design to create a more permanent structure.  “The canvas roof was replaced with a corrugated steel roof, plywood walls were added behind the vinyl fabric on the first floor for security, shelving was added in the interior, and a plywood door with locks replaced the Velcro door.  Initially, Rafael thought the steel roof might turn the shelter into an oven; however, the shiny metal reflected the sun and the punched out windows provided an enormous amount of ventilation. 

            Another addition to the original design was a light-weight foundation to help distribute the shelter’s weight more evenly on the soft soil, much like that of snow shoes.  Once leveled and squared, holes were drilled through the two 2x6 “snow shoes.”  Then the earth anchors, provided by Platypus Earth Anchors, were hammered deep into the ground and tensioned for the desired need.  The anchors secure the shelter from any vertical uplift, via strong winds.  Due to Haiti’s extreme summer heat and the modifications to the shelter, Magdala’s shelter was constructed in two days.  In normal situations, the Uber Shelter, with the help of a community, can be constructed in only a matter of hours.  In addition, the shelter was slightly damaged during the transportation to the two desired sites.  Therefore, Rafael made a note of how to prevent this problem in the future. 

Image 4 - The Uber Shelter sits among other shelters in the Port-au-Prince commnunity

            Once both of the shelters were constructed in Haiti, Rafael began to take in the community and their culture.  In his spare time, he got to play with the children in the area.  He helped them refine their homemade bows and arrows.  To help make their arrows fly straighter, Rafael fashioned mock feathers out of corners of plastic water bags.  In addition, Rafael stayed at Magdala’s sister’s house during the shelters construction.  While there he enjoyed a relaxing evening watching the sunset with the family.  After sunset, the family held hands during a family prayer.  Then they sat down to eat cornmeal porridge under the glow of a kerosene lantern. 

Text

From Package to Home. (n.d). retrieved November 5, 2011, from http://ubershelter.

      blogspot.com.

The Single Deadliest Tornado in 64 Years Flattens Joplin Missouri

The tornado season of 2011 was one of the most deadly, costly, and tornadic seasons in recorded history. Imagine waking up one day and your whole town is completely flattened.   One such event occurred in the late afternoon on May 22, 2011, when Joplin, Missouri was devastated by an EF5 multi-vortex tornado.  This tornado, whose width exceeded one mile, rapidly intensified and tracked across the city.  Being only the third tornado to hit Joplin, the 2011 tornado, along with the Tri-State Tornado, ranks as one of Missouri’s and America’s deadliest tornadoes in history.  Experts have estimated the damaged in Joplin to equal $3 billion, making this tornado the single costliest tornado in US history.  In addition, the Joplin tornado is only the second F5 or EF5 tornado to touch down in Missouri.  Due to the tornadoes massive size and strength, a reported 162 people died from the tornado, making it the seventh deadliest tornado in US history and the 27^th deadliest in world history.  Between the day struck Joplin to July 15, 2011, 16,656 insurance claims have been issued with an expected payout of $2.2 billion - the highest insurance payout in Missouri history. 

Image 1 - The one mile wide Joplin tornado

The initial survey reported the Joplin tornado at a high-end EF 4; however, subsequent damage surveys found evidence of more intense damage, and so the tornado was upgraded to an EF5 with estimated winds peaking between 225 and 250 mph.  Sunday, May 22at 5:35 pm, the Joplin tornado touched down just east of the Kansas state line.  The damage surveys at the southwestern edge of Joplin rated the tornado between an EF2 and EF3.  However, as it reached the center of the town, at 5:41pm, the tornado rapidly intensified.  At the St. John’s Regional Medical Center, it was reported that the entire hospital was shifted four inches off its foundation.  The area after the hospital is the beginning of the EF% damage corridor.  Within this corridor, virtually every house was flattened.  The Joplin High School’s graduation ended only hours before the tornado hit, saving hundreds of lives.  “As the tornado hit the Pizza hut at 1901 Range Line Road, store manager Christopher Lucas herded 4 employees and 15 customers into a walk in freezer.”  Since the door could not be held shut, due to the tornado’s suction force, Lucas wrapped a bungee cable around his arm, with the other end attached to the freezer door.  The tornado’s force was too much for Lucas to hold back; therefore, Lucas dies after being sucked into the storm. 

Image 2 -  The EF5 damage corridor running through the highly residential areas

Due to having winds up to 250 mph, the Joplin tornado hurled large objects (concrete blocks, trucks, and parts of buildings) up to 1/8 of a mile away.  At 6:12 pm, the Joplin tornado lifted just east of Diamond, MO.  This tornado, in its 37 minute lifespan, left a 22.1 mile long path of destruction.  Only days after the horrible disaster, the American Red Cross discovered some numbers responding to the tornadoes destruction and intensity.   In the 37 miles it was on the ground, the Joplin tornado completely destroyed 25 percent of the town, 2,000 buildings and 7,000 houses were leveled, 75% of Joplin reported damage, and 800 houses and/or buildings were damaged.  In addition to the building loss, the human and animal loss was just as devastating.  As of September 20, 2011, 162 know deaths have been directly linked to the tornado.  In addition, 1,3000 were missing and 900 people were injured, making the Joplin tornado the deadliest US tornado since that of the Woodward, OK tornado on April 9, 1947.  Of the 162 deaths, 54 percent died in their residences, 32 percent died in a non-residential building, and 14 percent died in their vehicles.  Due to the large number of deaths in residential areas, Joplin officials announced plans to require hurricane ties between the home and their foundations.

Image 3 - A little girl searching through the rubble for her belongings

 Officials have also stated that they have rescued 944 pets, 292 of which have been reunited with their owners.  “It is utter destruction anywhere you look to the south and the east – businesses, apartment buildings, companies, houses, cars, trees, schools, you name it, it is leveled, leveled,” said Joplin city Councilwoman Melodee Colbert-Kean.  has donated $500,000 to help with the cleanup and recovery efforts in Joplin.  “With devastation loss of 30% of the city, the Joplin community faces great challenges ahead.  Having spent much of my childhood there, I know these people to be hard working, humble, and especially resilient,” Pitt told a local reporter.  Along with Brad Pitt,s donation, FEMA has provided $5.6 million in housing assistance, which includes rental and home repair assistance.  Currently rebuilding, cleanup, and city planning is taking place in the devastated area of Joplin, MO.

Image 4 - A father rescuing his daughter from the debris from his leveled house

Only days after the tornado, hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers flooded to Joplin, MO.  The organizations included: the American Red Cross, FEMA, the Salvation Army, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Mennonite Disaster Services, and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.  The volunteers that have helped/ or are helping Joplin include 6 shelters, 120 points of distribution, and 23,000 volunteers.  Samantha Morris, a St. Louis school teacher, volunteered after the tornado hit Joplin.  ”I could have taken a summer trip; I had some of my fellow teachers who invited me to go with them.  When I saw the videos of the devastation here in Joplin, I just knew I wouldn’t feel right laying on a beach while these people are suffering,” Morris said.

Image 5 - Even though an area in the USA was destroyed, the American flag still finds a way to wave in the breeze

            Among the 32,000 volunteers, several players, coaches, and staff from the NFL’s St. Louis As of August 2 2011, more than 750,000 cubic yards of debris has been removed from the Joplin area.  In addition, more than 49,000 containers of household hazardous waste has been collected and removed.  Fellow Missouri resident, Brad Pitt, along with the Joli-Pitt Foundation, has donated $500,000 to help with the cleanup and recovery efforts in Joplin.  “With devastation loss of 30% of the city, the Joplin community faces great challenges ahead.  Having spent much of my childhood there, I know these people to be hard working, humble, and especially resilient,” Pitt told a local reporter.  Along with Brad Pitt,s donation, FEMA has provided $5.6 million in housing assistance, which includes rental and home repair assistance.  Currently rebuilding, cleanup, and city planning is taking place in the devastated area of Joplin, MO.

Text
Pape, J. (2011, August 2). Volunteers Activate in Joplin Recovery. Retrieved November 1,
      2011, from http://www.disasternews.net/news/article.php?articleid=4252

Charity Awareness Through A Unique Colorful Watch Design

Travis Lubinski and Trevor Jones started an organization called Flex Watches.  Flex Watches was created to inspire change, as well as become a symbol for a vibrant, active life.  Through their organization, they have developed the 10 – 10 – 10 standard (10 colors. 10 charities, 10 percent).  They hope this standard will achieve many goals.  The first goal is to create a new unique solution to watch design.  The second goal is to team up with 10 various charities to spread awareness through 10 unique watch colors (each color represents a different charity).  The third goal is to give 10 percent of each sale to the respected charity.  The 10 charities are the St. Barnard Project, the APDA, the Be Perfect Foundation, Nika Water, Breast Cancer Awareness, First Descents, The Imerman Angels, Life Rolls On Foundation, the LOHN, and the Mariners Outreach.  The mission of the St. Bernard Project (orange watch) is to create housing opportunities for Hurricane Katrina survivors so they can return to their homes and communities.

Image 1 - The orange watch represents the St. Bernard Project

Image 2- The orange band that can be paired with any of the other 9 colors

The APDA (yellow watch) is the country’s largest grass root organization serving the Parkinson’s community.  Each year they provide 4.5 million dollars to help fund research and patient care.  The Be Perfect Foundation (green watch), founded by the Hargrave family assists spinal cord victims who lack the financial means to pay for their medical care.  Nika Water (blue watch) strives to end the cycle of poverty.  They also want to create awareness and knowledge to get people involved in bringing clean water to poverty-stricken countries.  Breast Cancer Awareness (pink watch) supplies money to help make the country and the world aware that breast cancer comprises 22.9 percent of all cancers in women, worldwide.  The charity strives to show, women and men, the warning signs of breast cancer, how to perform self checks, and where to get a diagnosis.  First Descents (purple watch) helps to improve the lives of young adults with cancer by offering outdoor adventurous activities to help increase their self confidence.  The Imerman Angels (grey watch) carefully matches a person touched by cancer (a cancer fighter or survivor) with someone who has fought and survived the same type of cancer (a Mentor Angel).  The Life Rolls On Foundation (white watch) is dedicated to assist and inspire young people affected by spinal cord injuries.  They use action sports as a platform to demonstrate infinite possibilities despite paralysis.  LHON (black watch) was developed for those individuals who work up one morning and realized they have lost their central vision in either one or both eyes. 

Image 3 - The red watch represents the Mariners Outreach

Image 2- The red band that can be paired with any of the other 9 colors

Lubinski and Jones met Nathan Stodghill in San Diego, in the fall of 2011, during the taping of MTV’s The Real World.  Throughout Stodghill’s life, he has endured a number of suicides.  In addition, both Stodghill and his family has experienced their own family euthanize themselves.  Due to this Stodghill has developed The Living Memoir (TLM).  TLM is a forum about suicide awareness, and does so by providing four main aspects.  TLM is intended for people to remember the past (rewind section), live in the present (play section), think about the future (fast forward section), and unwind any emotions (eject section).  Along with providing awareness, TLM gives 20 percent of its profits to various suicide prevention foundations.  Currently Stodghill is working with Lubinski and Jones to develop another Flex Watch to support TLM.  To help support the Flex Watch Organization and their charities, people around the world can buy a complete watch ($30) or just the band ($15) on their website (flexwatches.com).  The purpose of this is to give the buyers the opportunities to mix-and-match the watches and bands to support multiple charities at the same time. 

Text

Created For People to Express Themselves in a Time of Crisis. Retrieved October

      25, 2001, from http://wwwthelivingmemoir.org

What is Flex Watches all about. Retrieved October 25, 2001, from http://flew

     watches.com

New Orleans Superdome: A Safe Emergency Shelter?

In August 1971, construction began on a 13 acre, 21 story tall stadium which was located in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Four years later, the 134 million dollar Superdome was opened to house its first NFL game, featuring the New Orleans Saints and the Cincinnati Bengals.  Since its opening, the 76, 468 seat Superdome has been used as a emergency shelter on a few occasions.  In 1998, the dome was used to house 14,000 people during Hurricane Georges.  During Georges, the dome did not experience damage due to the weather; however, the evacuees stole furniture and damaged property which resulted in thousands of dollars in losses.  In addition, there were great difficulties in supplying the thousands of evacuees with the needed necessities for a emergency situation.  In 2004, the dome was used again during Hurricane Ivan.  During Ivan, more than one thousand special-needs evacuees took shelter within Superdome. 

Image 1 - thousands of fleeing people waiting in line for shelter within the Superdome

In August of 2005, the massively strong Hurricane Katrina was on a collision course with New Orleans.  Even though the storm’s intensity was decreased from a category 5 to a category 3, just before making landfall, New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, demanded a mandatory evacuation of the city.  Even though, during the two previous uses of the Superdome as a emergency shelter, city officials still had not stockpiled enough fuel, food, and other supplied needed to handle the requirements of the prospected thousands of refugees taking shelter within the dome during Hurricane Katrina.  In 1999, the director of emergency preparedness or St. Tammany Parish told the Times-Picayune, “over the years, city officials have stressed that they did not want to make it too comfortable at the Superdome since it was safer to leave the city altogether.  It is not a hotel."

When Katrina came ashore, 9,000 residence and 550 National Guardsmen took shelter in the Superdome.  Once the levees around the city were breached, the number rapidly grew to 15,000 to 20,000 from those seeking refuge from the flood. During Katrina, officials set up security checkpoints, which confiscated alcohol, weapons, and illicit drugs from those seeking refuge in the dome.  Unlike previous hurricanes, Katrina sheared away much of the roof’s covering; therefore, water leaked into the stadium.  The storm and the leaking water, combined with the 20,000 refugees, caused$185.4 million in damage to the Superdome.  Due to this, the New Orleans Saints played their 2005 games in San Antonio’s Alamodome and Baton Rouge’s Tiger Stadium.

Image 2 - Lines blocks long were formed to gain emergency sheltering from the floods in New Orleans.

While the Saints called these two stadiums home for the 2005 season, the Superdome was still being used by thousands.  Due to high winds, leaking water, and extended use, many of the dome’s normal functions suffered.  One of those functions, the dome’s bathrooms, exemplified horrific conditions in the wake of Katrina.  The dome lacked power; therefore, the bathrooms did not have working lights.  This caused the people to be afraid to enter.  In addition, the toilets began to become backed-up.  The stench from the bathroom caused the refugees to find other options for a bathroom.  These options included empty bottles, boxes, and even in exposed corners.  Due to these hazardous bacterial conditions, many medical issues were formed the individuals started to get fevers, rashes, and experienced vomiting.  In addition, the individuals’ medications were quickly running low.  Most of which were needed to preserve homeostasis within their bodies.  One refugee, Becky Larue explained that she was down to her last blood pressure pill and had no idea when they would get out or when she could get the medical help she needed. 

Image 3 - People waiting hours in line just to receive sheltering and the necessities needed for living

However, the refugees were not the only ones who were greatly affected in the dome.  The workers trying to help the refugees were also impacted.  One worker, Janice Singleton, said she was robbed of everything she had on her, even her shoes.  She also stated, “They tore the dome apart.  They tore it down.  They were taking everything out of there that they could take.”  Due to housing 20,000 people, the Superdome and the refugees experienced large quantities of trash.  Both inside and out, including the Superdome’s 50 yard concourse which connected it to the shopping mall was a sea of trash that was five feet deep in some areas.  Even though the workers were trying to keep the dome as clean as possible, they were greatly outnumbered.  Therefore, the only area that remained clean was the areas in which they were currently cleaning. 

Image 4 - A view of the conditions within the Superdome only days after Katrina hit New Orleans

Days later, public transportation started to arrive to the stadium to transport the refugees to safer conditions.  Conditions inside the dome, even though thousands were being ferried to Huston, remained unbearable.  In addition, much of the medical staff that had been working in the “special needs” area was some of the first to be evacuated.  This left the remaining thousands of people to continue to suffer medically and get worse.  In January 2006, work began to clean up and renovate the Superdome.  Nearly 4,000 tons of trash and debris were removed, along with 1.6 million square feet of damaged carpeting, 650,000 square feet of wall hoard, and 500,000 square feet of ceiling tiles.  On September 24, 2006, the Superdome hosted its first game or event since the 2004 season.  This game featured the New Orleans Saints taking on the Atlanta Falcons.   

Text

Superdome Evatuation Completed. (2005 September 3). Retrieved October 27, 2011

       from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9175611/ns/us_news-katrina_the_long_road_

       back/t/superdome-evacuation-completed

Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation Revitalizes a Revenged Community

In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a massive hurricane, slammed into Louisiana’s coast.  Katrina’s strong winds and enormous storm surge caused 80 percent of New Orleans to lie under water.  In December 2006, to help house some of the displaced people of the Lower 9^th Ward, Brad Pitt gathered a group of experts to brainstorm how to build green affordable housing on a large scale.  The Cherokee Give Back Foundation, GRAFT, William McDonough and Partners, John C. Williams (architect), Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Ellen DeGeneres came together to create the Make It Right Foundation.  This foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to helping former Lower 9^th Ward residence rebuild their lives and neighborhood.  The Make It Right Foundation’s mission is as follows:

To be a catalyst for redevelopment of the Lower 9^th Ward, by building a neighborhood of safe and healthy homes that are inspired by William McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle Design thinking, with an emphasis on high-quality design, while preserving the spirit of the community’s culture. 

            From the start, their primary goal was to provide 150 affordable, green, and storm-resistant homes.  After three years, the Make It Right Foundation has completed 50 homes, with 30 houses currently under construction.  They expect all of the 30 homes under construction to be completed in mid-to-late February, with every house meeting LEED Platinum status. 

Image 1 - Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation deploys pink tent structures to show where houses once were located.

The Make It Right Foundation, while providing affordable and sustainable housing, also aims to reconceive the role of landscape architecture in post-disaster rebuilding.  Due to the foundation no being a developer, they did not have the luxury of completing a comprehensive master plan; therefore, the designers had to look at the individual lots to see how far they could push the envelope of sustainability (socially and economically).  The first problem to tackle, since being located below sea level, is the Lower 9^th Ward’s storm water management.  Engineers discovered, for every rainfall event, on the eight block Make It Right housing community, 350,000 gallons of water were hitting the storm water and pumping systems. 

As of now, New Orleans spends millions of dollars to pump an average of 65 inches of rain per year over the levees.  To help solve this growing problem, the Make It Right Foundation’s goal is to create a series of streetscapes and green street within the neighborhood.  The Make It Right Foundation used a $2.7 million community development block grant to help pay for the sustainable upgrades.  A system to control small scale flooding is greatly important to the Lower 9^th Ward.  In fact, the foundation’s housing community is located only 100 meters from where the original barge broke through the levy.  In the end, each house’s sustainable elements can decrease the users utility bills from $150 - $200 to $28 - $38 a month. 

Image 2 - Volunteers, Make It Right workers, and individuals around the country come together to construct the homes.

              Due to the Make It Right Foundation’s success in the Lower 9^th Ward after Hurricane Katrina, they plan on expand to provide sustainable housing to other revenged communities in New Orleans, as well as other cities across the United States.  With rising sea levels, climate change, and the need to completely rethink the way we design housing, landscape, and infrastructure, a long-term strategic plan is needed throughout the country.  However, as of now, there is only a few cities in the United States that would greatly benefit from the Make It Right’s collaboration.  The first city on the list was Newark.  They provided 56 multi-family housing units, in which 25 were percent of its occupants are disabled veterans.  Some of the areas that could be on their list could include Greensberg, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri.  The Make It Right Foundation is a multidisciplinary team that can understand technical, social, and ecological ramifications; therefore, they are able to make more informed decisions.  In addition, they have come together to discover every opportunity where you can create thing where they were previously before.

Image 3 - A Lower 9th Ward residence comes back home to her new Make It Right home

 Image 4 - Another Make It Right home that was completed in the Lower 9th Ward

The latest design to be built by the Make It Right Foundation (in October 2009) was the Float House.  The home, designed by Morphosis Architects, turns into a giant raft in the event of massive flooding, resembling Noah’s Ark.  Once flooding occurs, the house moves up and down on guideposts.  However, if the floods exceed twelve feet, the home will surpass the posts and float away.  His action has caused many concerns regarding gas leaks and live electrical wires.  These elements are on a break-off system to eliminate these risks. In addition, once the house is disconnected from its utilities, it can run on battery power for up to three days. 

While all previous Make It Right homes are built up off the ground, to keep the owners safe from a flood.  On the other hand, the Float House sits only one meter off the ground.  By doing this, the new home style provides two main elements the previous homes lacked.  The first element is eliminating the long flight of stairs.  This is beneficial for the elderly and disabled persons.  The second element is helping to bring back the street level porches, which were an integral part of the Lower 9^th Ward community.  The concept of the Floating Houses, much like that of a seatbelt, you hope it never gets used, but when it does, you are sure glad you have one.

Text

Donsky, A. (2009, October 9). Brad Pitt's MakeIt Right Foundation Unveils Floating

      House. Retrieved October 24, 2011, form http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009

      10/brat-pitt-make-it-right-foundation-unveils-floating-house.php

A 7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Turkey

Some experts and scientists say the increase in natural disasters is due to the increase in the average surface temperature.  An increase in the average surface temperature would create more tornadic thunderstorms, and an increase in the ocean’s temperature.  Therefore, there is a possible increase in the number of hurricanes per season, as well as an increase in their intensity.  In 2005, four hurricanes reached category 5 intensity (the strongest), which is only the fourth time in history that more than two category 5 hurricanes have formed in a single season (1960, 1961, 2005, 2007).  Once again, there has been an increase in a natural disaster.  However, this time it is earthquakes.  Since 2005, there have been ten earthquakes between magnitude 6.3 and 8.0. 

On October 23, 2011, the Kandilli Observatory experienced a 3.8 magnitude earthquake in eastern Turkey.  Sixteen minutes later, to add to the ten earthquakes since 2005, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the same area.  A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Karamursel Koeali tried to describe the events to reporters, “it shook for 15 seconds and we were 200km away from the epicenter.  As I have experienced many quakes from my past, I knew it was too far [away] and a strong one.”  Since the 7.2 earthquake, 500 aftershocks have rattled the area.  The largest of the aftershocks measured a magnitude 5.4 on the Richter Scale.  Turkey lies on one of the world’s most active fault zones.  In 1999, two earthquakes, with a magnitude of 7 or higher, struck northwestern Turkey, killing 18,000 people.  Experts say that if a 7.0 magnitude earthquake were to strike Istanbul, which is Turkey’s largest city, the death toll would easily be in the tens of thousands.    

Image 1 - The tremendous earthquake caused unthinkable damage to hotels and apartment buildings

The massive 7.2 earthquake, architecturally, has changed the landscape of eastern Turkey.  Since the earthquake, onsite engineers have been performing rapid assessments of the area’s buildings.  Of the 16,448 buildings checked thus far, 2,208 were deemed uninhabitable and 3,373 were damaged but habitable.  In addition, 2,000 buildings either suffered catastrophic structural failure or were completely toppled.  The economic loss, on the building scale, could be as high as $260 million.  This figure assumes that the building’s loss contributes to 40 – 50 percent of the total loss (assumes severities of 45- 50k for uninhabitable buildings, and 10k for habitable but damages buildings). Due to a high number of damaged buildings and being afraid to reenter them, thousands of people have spent two nights, in either cars or tents, in near-freezing winter conditions. 

Image 2 - In the middle of a street, both cars and buildings become demolished unit

Like the buildings in the area, the residence of eastern Turkey has also been dramatically impacted.  Authorities have estimated the death toll to be 432; however, they estimate to greatly increasing the number once rescue missions are completed.  In addition to the death toll, 1,300 people have been injured.  The following is a story from an article about three kids’ struggle to be rescued. 

The boy, his sister and a cousin were trapped in the building’s third-floor stairway as they

tried to escape when the quake hit.  A steel door fell over him. 

“I fell on the ground face down. When I tried to move my head, it hit the door,” he said.  “I tried to get out and was able to open a gap with my fists in the wall but could not move my body further.  The wall crumbled quickly when I hit it.” 

“We started shouting: Help! We’re here,” he said.  “They found us a few hours later, they took me out about 8.5 hours later…. I was OK but felt very bad, lonely…. I still have a headache, but the doctor said I was fine.”

“They took me out last because I was in good shape and the door was protecting me.  I was hearing stones falling on it,” the boy described.   

Image 3 - Residence search through the rubble of what once was their homes

In the aftermath of the earthquake, hundreds of rescue teams, throughout Turkey, were rushed to the devastated areas, while the Turkish Red Crescent shipped tents, blankets, and goods.  The numbers show that the Turkish Red Crescent supplied the victims with the following: 83 vehicles (50 of which were ambulances), 5 search dogs, 2,013 tents, 10,000 blankets, 2,292 water supplies, 5 mobile catering trucks, and 2 portable kitchens.  Even though these numbers look promising to the survivors and the displaced individuals, the sent supplies were only enough to help half of the needing people.  Therefore, half of the displaced victims were forced to either find another form of shelter or to sleep outside in the freezing winter weather.  One resident, Baran Bungar, described the lack of assistance.  “The aid is coming in but we are not getting it.. We need more police, soldiers, and supplies.”  Due to the lack in supplies, the Milliyet newspaper reported that there have been fistfights in from of some aid trucks.  To compact the issues further, only 15 percent of the area’s inhabitants have some form of insurance. 

Text

Hacaoglu, S. (2011, October 25). Turkey Earthquake 2011: Thousands Spend

      Second Night Outdoors. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.huffing

      tonpost.com/2001/10/25/turkey-earthquake-2011_n_1030005

Operational Priorities in Post-Disaster Events

Some areas of the world have used the recent increase of natural disasters to spark their interest in developing emergency operation plans for use in post-disaster situations.  Marin County, for example, has developed a recovery committee aimed to direct short and long-term recovery efforts in accordance with these emergency operation plans.  In addition, to the recovery committee, a Post-Disaster Housing Task Force has been developed to provide Tier One (short-term) and Tier Two (long-term) sheltering options.  A few of the tasks the Post-Disaster Housing Task Force will provide would include: indentifying needed resources, establishing sheltering sites, providing outreach programs (to keep the victims informed), and providing special need victims with special considerations.  In the Task Force’s plan, they list four post-disaster procedures which include accelerating repairs to moderately damages buildings, develop short and long-term housing, and expedite the repairs of significantly damages buildings.  Within these four procedures, the Task Force has added seven steps. 

Image 1 - Displaced people stranded on an onramp waiting for public transportation after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans

The following seven steps are cited directly from Marin County’s emergency plan.  The first step is “determining the need.”

·         Conduct damage assessment inspections and evaluate the impact on total housing stock

·         Estimate the number of victims that may need assistance

·         Identify and register victims

·         Establish system for tracking victim status and contact information

·         Identify scope of post-disaster housing services to be provided

·         Housing, furnishings, utilities, moving, pet needs, transportation

·         Establish criteria for selecting and prioritizing assistance to victims

·         Income, length of time as a Marin resident and special needs

The second step is to “identify and obtain needed resources.”

·         Coordinate efforts with community-based organizations

·         Apply for state and federal assistance

·         Contact the American Red Cross to review the potential for establishing a Rental Housing Replacement Fund

·         Review availability and suitability of temporary housing technology

Image 2 - FEMA trailer beginning to arrive to start developing a temporary FEMA trailer village

The third step is “selecting temporary housing site and housing technology.”

·         Review suggested site selections criteria

·         Coordinate with local communities

·         Enter into agreement with property owners

                  ·         Placing sites along existing transit routes and hubs

The fourth step is “coordinating the delivery of services.”

·         Assist in providing access to licensed contractors

·         Support private companies in obtaining, transporting, and storing construction materials to speed repairs and reconstruction

·         Consider off-site temporary and long-term storage of personal goods

·         Coordinate for delivery of services to sites

·         Establish project management system

·         Contracting, Access, and Utilities

Image 3 - A FEMA worker hooking up the trailers utilities

The fifth step is the “transition from emergency shelter to temporary housing

·         Develop and execute legal agreements

·         Assign victims to Tier I and ii housing

·         Assist victims in relocating to new housing (packing, shipping, unpacking)

·         Establish and Support neighborhood networks in the new housing area

·         Close emergency shelters

The sixth step is to “manage temporary housing.”

·         Coordinate the delivery of public, safety, health, mental health, and social services

·         Facilitate access to services that will assist victims in identifying permanent housing options

·         Close down Tier One housing

The last step is the “transition from temporary to permanent housing.”

·         Track progress of moving to permanent housing on case-by –case basis

·         Consolidate housing stock and close low-density sites

·         Close down Tier Two housing

·         Supervise scheduled demolition/ recycling and/ or re-use of temporary housing

Image 4 - After the trailers are set up, temporary buildings are constructed to house public gatherings

 

Below is a list of criteria that was used to help guide in the site selection process

Physical Characteristics

·         Size Useable area of one acre or greater

·         Slope relatively flat – no greater than 10%

·         Drainage sufficient drainage on site and downstream

Utilities

·         Water feeder

·         Sewer trunk

·         Electricity peak load capacity

·         Telephone voice and data capacity

·         Physical access routes for pipes and overhead lines

Transpiration

·         Roads within 5 miles or major roadways

·         More than one entry/exit route

·         Transit direct access to existing system or access sufficient for new system

Subjective Evaluation Measures

·         Access to churches and community centers

·         Proximity to the original homes

·         Schools impact on local schools

·         Access to local stores and restaurants

Text

Post-Disaster Housing Annex Marin Operational Area Emergency Operations Plan. (2003

       December). Retrieved October, 19 2011, from http://www.co.marin.ca.us/disaster