Global or local construction materials for post-disaster reconstruction? Sustainability assessment of twenty post-disaster shelter designs

Abstract

The number and intensity of natural disasters is growing every year, with 394 major events affecting over 268 million people worldwide in the past decade. The objective of this study was to identify whether it is more appropriate to use local or global materials in post-disaster reconstruction projects. Twenty transitional shelters were identified over 11 different locations worldwide, and their environmental, economic, and mechanical/technical performances were compared. The environmental and economic assessments were based on life cycle cost and life cycle assessment. In the mechanical/technical assessments, the relationships between hazard zones and their performances were assessed for earthquakes, wind loads and floods. Sustainability was assessed using a benchmark system that incorporates the results from these three categories. The results show that shelters with high technical performance can be achieved with low price/low environmental impact per functional unit regardless of the type of material used. Local materials withhold higher potential for low environmental impacts and costs and global materials have higher potential to produce better technical performances. Although local constructive systems can provide the best compromise between environmental impacts and cost, their structural design requires more effort.