Preliminary study on the rapid assembly emergency shelter

Department of Civil Engineering, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 46000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: yllee@utar.edu.my

Abstract

Floods are the most common natural disaster that occurs in Malaysia, especially during the monsoon season. Emergency shelter is provided immediately to provide a safe and secure place for the victims to stay after a disaster. The typical emergency shelter provided by the government is an indoor emergency modular. However, the victims’ privacy and safety cannot be ensured, and feel uncomfortable. Hence, a better emergency shelter that is easy to assemble, dismantled, light, and strong should provide to the victims. The proposed conceptual design of a rapid assembly emergency shelter is a stackable shelter. The shelter can be stacked when the floor is separated from the shelter’s body and the beds are folded. This design allows many emergency shelters to be transported to the evacuation site in one trip. The material for the shelter’s body is natural fibre reinforced polymer composite. The natural fibre selected is jute, as the production of jute is high. The floor’s material is hollow composite wood decking, while the material for footings, bed, window, door and roof window is high-density polyethylene (HDPE). With the simple design of the shelter, the installation procedure also becomes very easy and can be installed by non-professional people.