A collaborative state effort is creating temporary shelters local residents could use after a natural disaster.
The Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency teamed up with architecture students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa to create a prototype of a temporary shelter called Wiki Hale.
The 8-by-8-foot prototype uses inexpensive standardized parts, and is easy to set up and store.
Project lead Amber Ternus says this effort came from identifying challenges with getting immediate support after a hurricane or tsunami.
She says getting portable trailers and homes wouldn’t be viable.
"The project began without any specific design concept in mind. We just had a problem, and we’re looking for creative ways to find a solution," Ternus said.
"Some of the parameters, it needed to be something suitable for a variety of tropical climates – so for high heat, high humidity, heavy rain. All of those features needed to be addressed, and then it needed to be also very easy to put up, take down and store," she told HPR. "And then above all, it had to be very affordable."
Ternus says the Wiki Hale effort is still in its early stages — and there will be field testing and more research to improve the prototype.
