ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 143
Liquid-proof building material is also required; bad proofing and finishing will not only allow
water to pass through houses external walls and building indoors, but also destroys their structure, e.g. Philippines’ most recent floods in 2014 destroyed hundreds of houses and infrastructures
completely. Philippines government organized hundreds of tents for occupants who lost their
houses, which is absolutely considered as an endurable solution. “Many residences are still using
the same tents until today, facing more issues than they faced in their original homes”, said by one
of the residents, Jason Fabra, 2014.
Other suggestions discussed by engineers and designers is to raise the ground level of the whole
area that is highly affected by the floods. This concept would help reduce the probability of the
water reaching occupied surface areas by creating a new ground layer on top of Philippines existing island layers, however, building materials, cost, time, and efficiency, make it not the best
sustainable solution to be conducted in the case of Philippines due to its current and poor economic status. As an alternative, solutions must be effective and economically sustainable to obtain much more efficient results, lower costs and earth/user friendliness.
Figure 6 below presents a flood resistant home, using one of the initial strategies; raised platform
from ground level. This idea of detaching homes from ground level was never the perfect solution. A house pillar heights are never enough, based on different flood water levels. In addition,
for the period of absence of floods in the rest of the year, design shows poor interaction with its
surroundings, space is wasted on ground level, hard accessibility and costly construction material
usage.
Figure 6: Flood resistance home design (Aussie Handmade 2014)
7.3 Flood Control Concept
Buoyant defined as the ability or tendency to keep afloat or rise to the top of a liquid or gas (Oxford Dictionaries 2015). The idea of obtaining object maximum balance on any depth or liquid surface, which allows an object, such as a small boat to flow high above water level. Instead of water
liquid overlapping boats’ roof and ends up sinking, this technique will allow a boat to smoothly
run on water surface. Nevertheless, the same strategy can also be used on bigger scale boats and
yachts. New idea was raised by using similar methods in houses designed to obtain balance in
houses during flood periods, and to make them work exactly as boat floating in a marine. Considering the area’s infrastructure in case of a flood; the new idea will play a massive support to
prevent their destruction, but instead to make them float and interact smoothly with their natural
surroundings.
Sustainable solutions for the Philippines built environment due to natural disasters
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