BUILD MORE TSUNAMI-SAFER HOMES

....they save lives

Today's Tsunami warning in the Indian Ocean is a reminder that we need more flood resistant homes. The Japanese Tsunami in 2011 and the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 that swept across the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Africa destroyed tens of thousands of homes and killed thousands of people. That most of the world's population lives on or near coastlines makes the problem more acute.

Fortunately, architects and engineers are designing homes that can resist powerful tsunami waves. The Prajnopaya Foundation charity is building 1000 tsunami-safe(r) houses in Sri Lanka to replace homes destroyed by the tsunami in 2004. Designed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and architects at Harvard Design School, they are intended to survive a ten meter-high tsunami like that which hit Japan last year.

Fixed to firm foundations, the tsunami-safe(r) house stands on stilts and its doors and windows are arranged in a line, so water can run straight through, under and over the building. The doors and windows get blown away, but the house remains. True, it would need to be redecorated and re-furnished after being hit by a wave, but that is easier than complete reconstruction. Moreover, survivors can continue to have a roof over their heads in the aftermath of a tsunami when flood waters have subsided.

In addition to protecting against tsunami we need to design homes to cope with storm floods and rising sea levels. Architects are coming up with many designs to protect against these dangers, including several already mentioned in this blog – see BUILD MORE FLOATING HOMES (14^th March 2012). Others include Flood House, a two storey land-based home designed by British architect, Pippa Nissen.

Flood House allows water to enter the ground floor while residents can continue to live on the upper floor. The kitchen, bathroom, living room and spare bedding would be on the upper floor where self-contained utilities, including electricity generator and water storage, would continue to function. The ground floor's one meter-high concrete dado wall makes it easier to clean after a flood. Flood waters would have to rise beyond two meters before the upper floor is inundated.

So, even if floods do become a growing problem across the world, an increasing number of flood and tsunami-resilient homes are being designed that would allow people to enjoy living by water, but without actually ending up in it. All that's needed is for planners, politicians and developers to help make these designs a reality. Many lives will be saved by doing this.