impact on shelter stakeholders
Governments will be able to set up cost efficient and affordable preparedness training in communities at risk, and scale up awareness of this simple shelter concept through education in schools.
Donors will evaluate the one third savings in valuable bamboo resources that the RSK can achieve and its ability to considerably reduce transportation costs.
Aid agencies will be able to benefit from huge economic and logistical savings achievable by using the RSK method of shelter construction. Manpower requirements will be reduced as displaced families will be able to build their own shelter frames at the point of tarpaulin delivery. Only one type of shelter will be needed for all types of climate and terrain.
Displaced families will be empowered to rapidly build their own highly versatile and dignified shelter to new standards of strength and efficiency. They will be able to adapt, maintain and upgrade their shelter for the first time in ways that have not previously been possible.
However, it is the improved ventilation provided by this shelter that can have the greatest impact on their lives. The WHO has reported that acute respiratory infections can be responsible for the highest proportion (24%) of deaths in an overcrowded refugee camp. Coronavirus is also an acute respiratory infection. Two of the main causes of rapid respiratory infection transmission in refugee camps are overcrowding and poor ventilation. It therefore follows that the RSK with its improved ventilation and ability to facilitate shelter spacing can potentially save many thousands of lives.
impact on the environment
Bamboo is a valuable but limited resource, especially at the site of a disaster. By using 33% less bamboo the RSK enviromental benefits are therefore considerable. Local "stripping" of branches and other timber materials for shelters in the emergency phase are reduced. In the longer term RSK upgrades could also save the use of local environmentally sensitive timber resources that would have been used for transitional shelters. Reducing bamboo transportation by up to one third will also help to reduce pollution.
the opportunity
It is rare that a new type of shelter can directly improve the health of beneficiaries, especially children, and at the same time improve the safety and welfare of dispaced families. If you or your organisation share any of these goals please make contact so that together we can begin to make a real difference to the lives of displaced families worldwide.
Shaun Halbert