Innovative Cardboard Tents Provide Emergency Shelter for Quake Victims
Japanese professor designs, fabricates, and delivers low-cost indoor shelters to victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake and tsunami.
What’s new: Since the 7.6 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day, more than 200 people have died and more than 20,000 have been displaced from their homes. As the government continues to struggle to provide relief, many are still living in makeshift shelters-including a unique set of corrugated cardboard tents designed, fabricated, delivered, and erected by Professor Keisuke Kitagawa (北川啓介), 49, an architectural engineer in the Department of Engineering at the Advanced Disaster Prevention Engineering Research Center of Nagoya Institute of Technology. He calls the tents "Instant House" (屋内用インスタントハウス). Now 10 families at Wajima Junior High School call them home.
Why it matters: Professor Kitagawa's corrugated cardboard shelters, which resemble Moorish tents, have literally saved lives, especially because of their ingenious design that can be assembled in 15 minutes. He has been perfecting the design since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
“Food, drinks and medical supplies had been delivered since we arrived, but each household had to bring their own bedding and warm clothing from their homes, which were either completely or partially destroyed. For the past three days, survivors have endured frigid temperatures due to power and water outages.” – Professor Kitagawa
The ceiling can be adjusted to control the temperature inside the tent, which has proven invaluable as the area has been plagued by power outages and freezing temperatures since the earthquake.
“Because bedding and warm clothes had not yet arrived, we met with city officials and delivered indoor temporary shelters, especially to evacuation centers where windows and walls had been destroyed and cold outside air is constantly coming in.”- Professor Kitagawa
The dimensions of these tents can be adjusted to suit the needs of the victims, and multiple tents can be linked together. Lighting can be adjusted with a door and window, and when sealed, each tent becomes relatively soundproof.
The 2.5-meter-high, pencil-like "houses" are used as a place for people to change clothes and diapers. They are also popular with children, who play in the warm houses and draw pictures on the cardboard.
Professor Kitagawa, who hails from the heart of the central region of Japan famous for monozukuri1, developed a design that can be quickly and cheaply manufactured in a factory and subsequently assembled by almost anyone including elementary school-age children.
What they're saying: Instant House has proven to be an instant hit with residents.
"I have a home now! My brother's room is here and my room is here! Now I can say, 'I'm home!’” – a displaced elementary school child
Professor Kitagawa received immediate positive reinforcement after helping to erect his donated cardboard tents on the first and second floors of a school building next to the gymnasium, as well as in the martial arts hall.
“I ran outside the gymnasium and cried when a kindergarten student whose house was completely destroyed told her mother in a loud voice, "We built a house!’” – Professor Kitagawa
Professor Kitagawa's design is also popular with older residents.
"I really appreciate it. The house is spacious and relaxing.” – a 27 year-old office worker from Kyoto who had returned to her hometown to spend the New Year’s holiday with her parents when the earthquake and tsunami struck
In 2004, Professor Kitagawa developed a house made of air-inflated panels sprayed with urethane material. In 2023, he provided these temporary shelters to the areas affected by the Turkey-Syria earthquake and the Morocco earthquake.
Professor Kitagawa plans to return to the Noto Peninsula next week with the help of a cardboard manufacturer and will also prepare greenhouses made of urethane for medium- and long-term evacuation.
“We want to help in any way we can.” – Professor Kitagawa
Go deeper: Professor Kitagawa is committed to continuing to research and develop solutions for disaster recovery and reconstruction. So he knew exactly what was needed after news of the massive earthquake that struck along the coast of the Sea of Japan on New Year's Day shocked the nation.
"After being invited to participate in the Chubu Lifeguard TEC 2023, a disaster prevention trade show held in Nagoya just the month before, I loaded the materials stored in my lab into a rented car and immediately drove to the Noto Peninsula. We continued to do what we could while learning about the current situation from city officials who were working day and night at the evacuation centers that had begun to open at various locations.” – Professor Kitagawa
What’s next: The Indoor Instant House, designed for humanitarian aid, went on sale on January 9. A single unit costs 12,000 yen (about $83). Professor Kitagawa hopes that his innovative design will be used around the world in the wake of future natural disasters.
Links to Japanese Sources: https://www.nitech.ac.jp/news/news/2023/10871.html and https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/833358
#instanthouse #monozukuri #keisukekitagawa #notopeninsulaearthquake #earthquake #tsunami #naturaldisaster #屋内用インスタントハウス #インスタントハウス #モノづくり #北川啓介 #能登半島地震 #災害 #地震 #津波
Japanese term for the art of manufacturing. The broader meaning encompasses a synthesis of the technological prowess, know-how, and spirit of Japanese manufacturing practices.
Very interesting. The bit I don't understand about the 30,000 people made homeless by the Noto earthquake is why it was necessary for any of them in winter to spend more than a few hours in evacuation facilities that lacked power, heat and food?
Even if all the roads were completely impassable, surely it should be possible to evacuate people by helicopters, buses or other means to the safety and comfort of hotels/ryokans outside the quake zone? That's about 500-600 Chinook missions. The Japanese military have dozens of Chinooks and US forces in Japan doubtless have dozens more. There are 1.76 million rooms in hotels and ryokans across Japan. And, if certain facilities are designated as evacuation centers, why are they not stocked with survival basics?
As an ignorant outsider looking in through "Japan Today" and NHK, it looks as though Japan's support for the survivors has been well below optimal and lives have been lost, which is both surprising and lamentable. I would have expected Japan's response to natural disasters to be both slick and well rehearsed; but apparently not: even 7-10 days after the quake, thousands were reportedly still without power, heat and food:
"Over 25,000 people remained in nearly 400 evacuation centers in Ishikawa Prefecture as of Wednesday afternoon" ten days after the quake (https://japantoday.com/category/national/gov't-to-aid-central-japan-quake-recovery-with-more-subsidies)
Puzzling. And why would anyone see a cardboard box as a suitable solution?!