By Stephani L. Miller
On May 2 and 3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis ripped across the southern portion of the Union of Myanmar (also known as Burma) in Southeast Asia, destroying 95 percent of buildings, killing an estimated 127,990 people, and displacing more than 2 million people, according to the American Red Cross. A few days later, the nonprofit Architecture for Humanity activated fundraising efforts to support volunteer architects, engineers, and other building professionals in-country when rebuilding begins.
In 24 hours, the San Francisco-based organization had raised $10,000; 48 hours after fundraising started, the total doubled. "This tells you what the design community can do when they get together," says co-founder and managing director Kate Stohr.
In the wake of the May 12, 2008, 7.9 earthquake that leveled much of China's Sichuan Province, the organization is requesting that architects help post building information, links to such information, and earthquake-resistant design strategies onto its Open Architecture Network to assist building professionals and architects on the ground in China with recovery and rebuilding efforts. Post-disaster, these professionals frequently work without the immediate access to design libraries and technical resources that most architects working in an office have available.
When local professional resources are inadequate, Architecture for Humanity-supported teams develop low-cost housing and larger-scale community solutions that are regionally and contextually appropriate for areas in crisis—such as those destroyed by hurricanes, tsunamis, or earthquakes—and provide engineering support to the organizations working to rebuild communities. In a post-disaster situation such as Myanmar's, "our primary goals would be to provide architecture and design services in the ways they're most needed," Stohr says.
That means schools, community spaces, hospitals, and civic buildings to serve the neediest sectors of society are the first projects targeted. "This is the meat and potatoes of what enables a community to function," she says. "Often you can't even begin to do large-scale housing works until you have the community space to meet and effectively deliver services."
Architecture for Humanity has begun mobilizing project teams that will donate their design services and expertise to Myanmar's rebuilding efforts. The organization will then reach out to other relief organizations in-country to offer partnerships.
Stohr expects that the organization's work in Myanmar will be more complicated than many previous efforts because the country's government has closed the door to foreign aid from all but other Asian countries.
Architecture for Humanity continues to raise funds to support efforts in Myanmar. Ideally, Stohr says, its leadership would like to achieve the same level of involvement it managed for post-Katrina efforts, not only supporting design professionals but funding the building work as well. This enables the organization to monitor work and ensure structures are built as designed.
The widespread destruction of homes and other buildings in Myanmar from the cyclone and the utter devastation wrought by the earthquakes and aftershocks in China may serve as a wake-up call to those governments and to others worldwide that buildings need to be better constructed to address extreme weather and geological events.
One way average architects can help is to post their housing solutions for hurricane, flood, and earthquake zones to the Open Architecture Network (www.openarchitecturenetwork.org), making them available to those working on rebuilding projects in disaster zones around the world.
For more information on donating or volunteering, visit www.architectureforhumanity.org.
