Reuse and recycle potentials of the temporary houses after occupancy: Example of Duzce, Turkey

Abstract

Temporary housing reconstruction after the earthquake is a crucial issue regarding its social, physical, psychological and environmental effects. The needs of disaster victims for the temporary shelters and houses should be met rapidly. In that way the victims have chance for returning back to their daily life activities as soon as possible. Thus, national and international aids-resources used in post-disaster construction activities were mainly focused on sheltering and housing after the emergency phase. Consequently, temporary housing sites were frequently constructed as a solution on the aftermath of the disaster. The purpose of this study is to research temporary housing sites reuse and recycle potentials after occupancy in the case study of Duzce, Turkey. Solution proposals for obtaining the sustainability of the temporary housing sites were determined with respect to the observations made in production, occupancy, dismantling and evacuation processes of the temporary housing sites in a case study by taking the existing dwellers' expectations into consideration. The results showed the need for pre-disaster design and organization to accelerate reuse and recycle potentials of the houses and sites. The reuse and recycle recommendations of the case study can be used to boost the reconstruction of the disaster affected regions by the assistance of local and central government as well. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.