Existing materials in emergency sheltering

Diagram 1.11: Process of assessment for selection of lightweight materials (Judson et al., 2009).

Lightweight Materials

1-Material selection 2- Physical shape 3- Function 4- Efficiency

95 Existing materials for immediate architectural needs consists of different types of petrochemical compositions and in some cases thin and low-cost compositions of aluminium to make lightweight shelters. During the second step of emergency sheltering, after unpacking and assembling the structure of emergency shelters, they should cover it with different materials such as waterproof cotton or tarpaulin. This area of emergency sheltering is one of the aims for this research to develop. These material options such as tarpaulin are designed for short term emergency sheltering and are durable for mid-term and long term temporary sheltering. Deformation of shelters or upgrading with readily available material by survivors is the result of applying these kinds of materials as survivors upgraded in Haiti 2 years after the earthquake (Figure 4.16). In addition, application of chemical material options or petrochemical material options in the long term cause environmental toxicity which this research developed this issue by application of bio-degradable material options.

These common materials in existing emergency shelters have different advantages and disadvantages from an architectural and engineering point of view. The most important advantage of the existing materials in emergency sheltering could be its availability and low cost which make it function properly worldwide. For instance, the price of a 10 metre roll of tarpaulin in shops in Bam is 480,500 Rials²¹(16 USD).

Disadvantages could be its toxicity in the long term, long-term degradability, and chemical processes for manufacturing. In addition, to fold and unfold, technical skills are required. Furthermore, existing materials for emergency sheltering are not durable and efficient for mid-term or long-term (Alloway and Ayres, 1997).

These factors affect the efficiency of the disaster response cycle and sustainability of emergency shelters. Therefore, with the environmental toxicity of the existing materials of emergency sheltering, which are mostly petro chemical materials, there is a gap in the global approach for sustainable development and sustainability of the existing emergency shelters. Environmental challenges and international agreements directly or indirectly confirm this issue (Oberthür and Ott, 1999).

21 This research uses local currency in Iran because the currency exchange rate from Iranian Rials to GBP changes daily. Every GBP on average is 52,000 Iranian Rials.

Figure 1.22: Tarpaulin as an existing water resistant material for coverage and Aluminium pole for structure

96 1.8.3 Sustainable developments in material science

Sustainability in material science and developments in this field are at a global scale and this happens with collaboration of all societies, particularly in developed countries, where more energy and materials for manufacturing and further developments are required. Investigation in Chapter One shows that the scale of the collaborations to save the environment depends on management of material use, technological and sustainable developments and implementation of renewable energies. Generally, governments control this huge scale management (Apelian, 2012). Effective sustainable development needs an efficient infrastructure and good management.

Sustainable development depend of three factors including society, economy and environment. There are different sustainable methods in material selection.

However Iran as a developing country, produces 1.7% of CO2 emission in the world which is equal to 571512KT. Recently, with the growth of an educated population, research centres in Iran and international knowledge exchange between Iran and developed countries different techniques in different industries including building industry have been implemented to improve the CO2 emission situation in Iran.

Conducting different workshops for people, TV and radio advertisements aim to educate normal people to maximize the socioenvironment (Fallahi, 2008).

With the development of technology and the contemporary world approach to sustainability, future materials and methods of manufacturing should be sustainable.

There are many restrictions in developed countries in terms of essential sustainable activities and guidelines on a national scale. Moreover, there are some agreements with the same approach on an international scale such as the Kyoto protocol.

(Oberthur and Ott, 1999).

Envireconomic

Socioenvironment Socioeconomic

Diagram 1.12: Sustainable development comes from intersection of three zones (Apelian, 2012)

Sustainable development

97

“Future world will require materials that are fully recyclable or biodegradable, as well as a whole new paradigm for designing components by adopting a

“cradle-to- cradle” philosophy that supports the remanufacturing of components from spent product into new products” (MRS, 2012:457)²².

Parallel with environmental toxicity, material waste, energy consumption and sustainable developments, records and statistics prove that sustainable developments are not enough to cope with climate changes or global warming as contemporary environmental challenges (Oberthür and Ott, 1999).

“Recycling is an integral part of any waste management system as it represents a key utilization alternative to reuse and energy recovery (waste to energy).” ²³ 1.8.4 Methods of sustainable development in material science

Recycling materials is a very important issue to achieve sustainable development. The importance of recycling and repositioning is clearly understandable to avoid using raw materials and prevent damaging nature, global warming, or increasing the cost of raw materials gradually. In Bam survivors were reusing building materials from their collapsed houses to reconstruct their new permanent shelters. Therefore, with knowledge of the value of waste materials, recycling collection is important. These methods also have many advantages to save the environment, materials and money.

Furthermore, the recycling of materials requires different technology. For example, different types of metals consist of different percentages of chemical materials, which might be inefficient or even cause environmental toxicity (Tsuchiya and Sumi, 1972).

This research has identified sustainable methods in diagram 1.2 and prioritises them for emergency sheltering according to the Bam situation. Generally, recycling technology affects the quality of the recycled materials. Recycled materials could be manufactured with different physical or chemical information. In some cases, the recycled item would be mixed with other polymers or chemicals to produce a new material with completely new technical properties. All of the recycling factories, chemical factories or natural resources in Bam, which can affect the material options in emergency sheltering, are identified. These sources of material for emergency sheltering in Bam are from the wood industry, chemical industry and paper industry.

Generally, everything on earth depending on their technical information is on the natural recycle system. Some such as glass bottles, or plastic products need a longer period to be degraded, for instance glass bottles take up to 1000 years to be bio-degraded and plastic products up to 400 years (Nash, 1995). This research, in Chapter Four, identifies short term bio-degradable material options as primary material options for short term temporary sheltering. In addition, it identifies long-term degradable

22 MRS April 2012. Materials for sustainable development. Materials Research Society, 37, P457.

23 Recycling research and technology website, earth Engineering Centre, Colombia University

98 material options as secondary material options to upgrade shelters for long term temporary sheltering.

Iran, as an industrial country in the Middle East, produces and exports different types of building materials to Middle Eastern countries. These material options are from different industries such as the wood industry, metal industry, chemical and petrochemical material industry. However, this research focuses on readily available material options in Bam for prototyping emergency sheltering.