Joao Rocha Graduation Report

Graduation Project: Design of a Disaster Preparedness Solution for the Base of the Pyramid Page 1
Make Yourself Ready

The Design of a Disaster Preparedness Solution for the Base of the Pyramid
Technische Universiteit Delft - Industrieel Ontwerpen
João Landeiro Negrão Silva Rocha
1401971
Delft, 2010
2 João Rocha | TU Delft, Industrial Design Engineering, IPD
João Landeiro Negrão Silva Rocha

1401971
Integrated Product Design MSc Programme
2010
digitalgraphite@gmail.com
00351 911 948 596
Table of
31
Contents
A - Disasters
13 Introduction 33 1. Definitions
15 1. A Primer 34 2. Research Boundaries
19 2. Introduction 35 3. Origin of Natural Disasters
20 3. For who is this Project? 36 4. Considered Types of Natural Disasters
21 4. What is the result of this project? 37 5. Disaster Occurrence
22 5. Approach 38 6. Disaster Consequences
5.1 Research 23 6.1 Infrastructure
Consequences 39
5.2 Product 24
6.2 Social
5.3 Implementation 25
Consequences 40
26 6. Reading this report
6.3 Economic
Consequences 41
42 7. Conclusions
29 Context
30 1. Introduction
30 2. Need for Solutions 45
30 3. Challenges at the Base of the Pyramid B - Base of the Pyramid
30 4. Adequacy of Disaster Preparedness solutions 47 1. Introduction
48 2. Who is the Base of the Pyramid
51 3. BoP Disaster Preparedness
52 4. When Disaster Strikes
53 5. Disaster Risk Reduction
54 6. Conclusions
57 91
C - Disaster Preparedness E - Water
59 1. Disaster Management 93 1. Importance of Water
60 2. Cycles in Disaster Management 94 2. Approach
2.1 Mitigation 61 95 3. Expected Conditions
2.2 Preparedness 62 3.1 Urban Setting 95
2.3 Response 63 3.2 Water Supply
Condition 95
2.4 Recovery 64 97 4. Requirements
65 3. Preparedness as Project Focus 98 5. Water Treatment Principles
66 4. Typical Preparedness requirements 100 6. Selected Water Treatment Techniques
4.1 Equipping 67 101 7. Boiling
102 8. Chemical Desinfection
4.2 Planning 67 8.2 Chlorine
4.3 Staying Informed 67 Treatment (Bleach) 103
68 5. Disaster Preparedness and the Base of the Pyramid 8.2 Tincture of
70 6. Conclusions Iodine (Iodine) 104
105 9. Solar Disinfection (SODIS)
106 10. Water Storage
107 11. Sanitation and Hygiene
73 Techniques 108 12. Conclusions
74 1.Introduction
74 2. Four Basic Areas 111
F - Cooking
75 113 1. Importance of Cooking
D - Shelter 114 2. Approach
77 1. Importance of Shelter 115 3. Expected Conditions
78 2. Approach 3.1 little available 115
79 3. Expected Conditions food for consumption
3.1 Urban Setting 79 3.3 poor cooking 115
3.2 Social conditions
Rearrangement 80 116 4. Requirements
81 4. Requirements 117 5. Coping Strategies
82 5. Coping Stragegies 118 6. Rocket Stove
83 6. Shelter Elements 120 7. Conclusions
84 7. Cover
86 8. Unions
87 9. Operating Costs
88 10. Conclusions
123 4.1 Cultural
G - Communications Assessment
Questionnaire 146
126 1. Importance of Communications
127 2. Radios as means to communicate 4.2 Education
128 3. Approach Conditions
129 4. Type of Radio Questionnaire 146
130 5. Suggested Instituitions 147 5. Supporting Theories
5.1 Lifeline Energy 130 5.1 Cultural
Dimensions 147
5.2 Send a Radio 130 5.1.1 Collectivism 147
5.3 Ears to our World 130 5.1.2 Power Distance 148
5.4 Farm Radio 5.1.3 Future Orientation 148
International 130
5.1.4 Gender Egalitarienism 148
131 6. Conclusions
5.1.5 Humane Orientation 148
5.1.6 Assertiveness 149
135 Education Package 5.1.7 Uncertainty Avoidance 149

5.1.8 Performance
1. Introduction 136
Orientation 149
137 150 5.2 A Model for Learning
H - Education Approach 5.2.1 Students Characteristics 151
139 1.Introduction 5.2.2 Education Characteristics 151

140 2. Educational Approach 5.2.3 Education Context
2.1 Teaching Product Characteristics 151
Making Techniques 141
5.3. Experiential
2.2 Teaching Learning Theory 152
Educational
5.4. Kolb's
Techniques 142
Learning Styles 153
143 3. Teaching Disaster Preparedness
5.4.1 Assimilating 153
3.1 Organize 143
5.4.2 Converging 153
3.2 Research 144
5.4.3 Diverging 153
3.3 Plan 144
5.4.4 Accommodating 153
3.4 Make 144
3.5 Educate 145
4. Tools for the Educator 146
157
I - Designed Manuals
159 1. Introduction
175 Project Evaluation
160 2. Make Yourself Ready 177 1. Future Recommendations
2.1 Section 1,
introduction 160 1.1 1.1 Further Testing
2.2 Section 2, of Techniques
How to make a and Presentation 177
cooking stove 161
1.2 Strategies for
2.3 Section 3, Distribution of
How to make shelter 161 knowledge 177
2.4 Section 4,
How to treat water 162 1.3 Open-source
and Crowd-sourced
2.5 Section 5, contributions 177
How to get a
radio device 163 178 2. Results
164 3. Educator's Guidebook 178 3. Process
3.1 Section A, 179 4. Reflection
Introduction 164
3.2 Section B,
Method 165
3.3 Section C,
Disaster Preparedness 166
3.4 Section D,
Education 167
3.5 Section E,
Your Community 167
169 4. Information Accessibility
4.1 Language 169
4.2 Layout 169
4.3 Visuals 170
44. Questionnarire
Design 171
Acknowledgements
This project was my biggest academic endeavour so far and it clearly
changed me. There are too many people to thank for their support,
insight and or just fun.
Friends I shared a break with; colleagues that kept their interest high;
a client that asked me to see the bigger, more interesting picture and a
supervisory team that was always there.
However, the biggest thank you note of all goes to my parents.
For this gift, for their love and support and for making an effort to keep
up with the wandering wishes of a young designer-to-be.
There are also some people that perhaps even unaware of this, kept me
motivated, inspired or just sane. They deserve a special mention:
Fabrício Astúa, Juan de Borja, Madeleine Borthwick, Henri Eskonen,
André Jerónimo, Tomas Nielsen, Iñigo Olazabal, Dinis Ramos,
Ricardo Schoonewolff, Richard Verdoorn and Matjaz Zaccaria.
Obrigado!
João,
2010
Lard Breebaart, owner of Larddesign, was the Client of this project.

As a designer, he is very interested in mobility solutions for the urban
context. This is the reason we started working together in the first place,
when the project was focused on technical clothing for rescue workers.
Lard's inquiring attitude and constant curiosity were central to the
Ir. Lard Breebaart current project focus. Lard pushed me to look deeper into what happens
Project Client in a Disaster and welcomed what this project has come to be.
As a project client, I would say that he struck a fine balance between
allowing me to explore and pressing me with the difficult questions that
lead to better work.
Professor Iemkje Ruiter, from the Applied Ergonomics and Design sec-
tion of the Department of Industrial Design, was the Chair Professor of
this project. I initially asked her to be my chair professor because I was
expecting a big focus on traditional ergonomics and anthropometry. The
Ir. Iemkje Ruiter project changed in the meanwhile, but Professor Iemkje Ruiter was very
Chair Professor welcoming of the new directions it was taking.
Never limiting me on what I though it was pertinent to work on, Professor
Ruiter displayed a very motivating interest and curiosity in this project.
Although officially, she was this project's Chair Professor, the degree to
which she followed it showed a much bigger involvement
Professor Henk Kuipers is also from the Applied Ergonomics and Design
section of the Department of Industrial Design.
I had already had Professor Henk Kuipers as a mentor, during the Integral
Ir. Henk Kuipers Design Project, where I liked his pragmatic approach combined with an
Project Mentor eye for the underlying questions of a project.
Professor Henk Kuipers was also very welcoming to the changes I gradu-
ally introduced in the project, showing an encouraging level of confidence
in my work.
This project in 100 words

This project was the design of educational material that teaches popula-
tions in the Base of the Pyramid how to make their own Disaster Pre-
paredness supplies.
However, for techniques to be adopted, the mere giving of technical
instruction documents is not enough. It is necessary that there is a more
directed approach, appropriate to the considered community and its
specific cultural characteristics.
This project has two parts:

The design of a technical instructions manual, teaching the making of
supplies for Disaster Preparedness
The design of an educator's resource to guide non-specialists in
establishing Disaster Preparedness education initiatives in their
community.
Introduction A Primer; Introduction; For who is this Project;

What is the result of this Project; Approach; Reading this report
A wide reaching project requires clear

explanation of objectives and methods.
In this chapter, a complete overview of
Project areas and associated
approaches can be found.
If you have just 10 minutes to read
this report, this is the right section to
spend them.
1. A Primer It evolved until what it is today, an

educational package to teach tech-
This project started out as something
niques for the making of products.
completely different.
These products can be used for Disas-
In the beginning, it was about the ter, hopefully making a difference in
design of technical clothing for rescue people's lives.
teams. But as the research went on,
I found myself drawn to other fields
where I believe Design can participate.
I became aware that Disasters are hap-
pening more frequently, more violently
and more people are becoming victims
of a cycle of poverty and disaster.
Product design seemed unfitting to
address these problems and I started
questioning what other ways I had at
my disposal.
This project was born out of the
realization that my contribution as a
Designer of this day and age, is not
limited to products and physical reali-
ties.
What happened since I started this project
12
16 jan 2010 - 11 August 2010 DPR Korea: Floods - Aug 2010 Peru:
João Rocha | TUFloods and Landslides
Delft, Industrial - Apr 2010
Design Engineering, IPD
DR Congo: Floods - Jul 2010 Russian Federation: Floods - Mar 2010
Pakistan: Floods - Jul 2010 Solomon Islands: Cyclone Ului - Mar 2010
Sudan: Floods - Jul 2010 greenlight DR Congo: Floods - Mar 2010
Typhoon Conson - Jul 2010 meeting East Africa: Floods - Mar 2010
78 India: Floods - Jul 2010

Hurricane Alex - Jun 2010
Brazil: Floods - Jun 2010
Latin America: Dengue Outbreak - Mar 2010
Fiji: Cyclone Tomas - Mar 2010
Kazakhstan: Floods - Mar 2010
Natural Disasters Panama: Floods - Jun 2010 Madagascar: Cyclone Hubert - Mar 2010
(some multiple disasters) West Africa: Floods - Jun 2010 Southern Africa: Floods - Mar 2010
Myanmar: Floods and Landslides - Jun 2010 Serbia: Floods - Mar 2010
32 floods Bangladesh: Floods and Landslides - Jun 2010
Kyrgyzstan: Mudslides - Jun 2010
Haiti: Floods and Mudslides - Mar 2010
Chile: Earthquake - Feb 2010
16 storms Afghanistan: Floods - Jun 2010
Tropical Cyclone Phet - Jun 2010
Madeira: Floods and Mudslides - Feb 2010
Caribbean: Drought - Feb 2010
15 landslides Ecuador: Tungurahua Volcano - May 2010

Philippines: Floods and Landslides - May 2010
Pakistan: Avalanche - Feb 2010
Cook Islands: Tropical Cyclone Pat - Feb 2010
or avalanches Central America: Tropical Storm Agatha - May Ecuador: Floods - Feb 2010
2010 Afghanistan: Floods and Avalanches - Feb 2010
10 earthquakes Guatemala: Pacaya Volcano - May 2010
DR Congo: Landslide - May 2010
Mexico: Floods and Landslides - Feb 2010
French Polynesia: Cyclone Oli - Feb 2010
India: Cyclone Laila - May 2010 Solomon Islands: Floods - Jan 2010
Central Europe: Floods - May 2010 Egypt: Floods - Jan 2010
Sri Lanka: Floods - May 2010 occupied Palestinian territory: Floods - Jan 2010
Azerbaijan: Floods - May 2010 Haiti: Earthquakes - Jan 2010
China: Floods - May 2010 Mongolia: Dzud - Jan 2010
Gabon: Severe Local Storm - Apr 2010 Montenegro: Floods - Jan 2010
Afghanistan: Earthquakes - Apr 2010 Bolivia: Floods - Jan 2010
China: Earthquakes in Qinghai Province - Apr 2010 India/Nepal/Bangladesh: Cold Wave - Jan 2010
Colombia: Floods - Apr 2010 Pakistan: Landslides and Floods - Jan 2010
India/Bangladesh: Severe Local Storm - Apr 2010 Solomon Islands: Earthquake - Jan 2010
Tajikistan: Floods - Apr 2010 Tajikistan: Earthquake - Jan 201
Indonesia: Floods - Apr 2010
Brazil: Floods and Landslides - Apr 2010
Mexico: Earthquakes - Apr 2010
this is an
opportunity
for design
2. Introduction opportunity. Lastly, poor communities ily adaptable to specific realities and A few challenges are in place for this
also tend to be part of marginalized needs. For this adaptation, it provides project:
Disasters are increasing in impact.
groups assessment tools for the
Hydro-Meteorologic Disasters are in- - Disaster Preparedness has been tra-
(e.g. ethnic or religious minorities) and inexperienced.
creasing in frequency and potency due ditionally difficult to implement, even
while already neglected in the Pre- Traditional Disaster Preparedness solu-
to Climate Change. Geophysical Disas- in affluent regions. [2]
Disaster context, their situation quickly tions tend to include knowledge and
ters, albeit unaffected by Man, have
degrades after a major disruption technologies to aid in different areas - Differences in social, cultural and
resulted in harder hitting catastrophes.
takes place. of human survival. Typically they in- economic models create difficult con-
The reasons for this are many and in ditions for the implementation and
It is admitted that the listed aggravat- clude first aid, water, shelter, food and
some cases, intertwined, but many adoption of new or foreign technical
ing conditions are complex and not energy/communications. This project is
of them have very little of "Natural" knowledge.
liable to be effectively addressed in a no different and diverse solutions are
to them. Climate Change, exploding
Graduation Project, so I set myself for included in it. As the goal is to gather - Diverse solutions types are brought
urban populations, poor construction
something different. an easily adoptable Disaster Pre- together. This leads to difficult
standards, government corruption and
As there's very little (an euphemism) paredness solution, not all presented grouping of solution/implementation
poverty, all play a part.
that I can do to prevent the occurrence improvements were developed from strategy.
An earthquake in a desert will not scratch.
of Disaster, I've decided to design for - My contact with the BoP reality is
result in a Disaster, but assume it
the Post-Disaster situation. Several Some improvements advanced by done by proxy, contacting people with
takes place in a modern-day slum city
facts are influential for this: this project (e.g. water treatment) direct experience with it and reading
with an immense population density,
Most Disasters leave survivors are based on the tailoring of existing on the issue. A more direct experi-
low access to utilities and absent or
knowledge, adapted to the experience would be beneficial, but it is, at
incapable government and the very After a Disaster, basic services are enced educational level of BoP popula- the moment, impossible.
same physical phenomenon will spell interrupted and livelihoods have to tions. Others (e.g. shelter) are present-
tragedy. A quick look at recent Natural adapt ed as new technical capabilities to be
Disasters will show that their impact is
Assistance, even if quickly taught to threatened communities.
much stronger in the situation de-
scribed above (e.g. compare Haiti 2010 mobilized, takes time to arrive and
deploy
and Chile 2010 [1].
The results of this project are
Furthermore, in Disaster situations,
directed at the Base of the Pyramid
the poor communities suffer the most.
populations in the most Disaster
Besides generally poor quality of
stricken regions. It places great focus
housing, the lack of space leads the
in simple technologies and knowledge
poorest to often threatened land plots
made available and
(e.g. in hills, valleys or exposed shore
accessible to those in need.
lines).
While it is at the present, geographi-
Poor people are also often uneducated
cally and culturally uncharacterized,
and incapable of preparing for Disaster
its proposes solutions that are eas-
should they recognize the need or the
3. For who is this Project?
This project is destined to help BoP
populations, thus results are shaped
by the characteristics of this group
(e.g. income, household, education
level, social structure, etc).
At the same time, said populations are
deemed to be unable to directly access
and use the information provided by
this project. Some qualified interven-
tion is necessary to adapt and teach
the future users of the presented solu-
tions.
This intervention need not be external
or foreign, but simply educated and
minimally qualified to guide a commu-
nity in education efforts. This means
that the educators are the ones that
will have direct access to the solutions
proposed in this assignment. Tailoring
the information to be useful for the
educators becomes extremely impor-
tant.
In short:
Technical solutions were chosen based
on their adoption potential by the
threatened communities.
Presented material is edited to be of
best use to the community
trainers.
Project Results 4. What is the result of this

project?
The results of this project are
educational resources for threatened
communities to make their own Disas-
ter Preparedness supplies at little or
no cost.
Techniques were tested and presented
and strategies for the teaching of said
techniques are also included.
to make Besides the supply of technical guide-

lines, this project aims to support the
Cooking Water education efforts that will transfer said
Educators Instructions Stove Treatment
Booklet Booklet technical knowledge to the popula-
tions.
Radio
5. Approach Approach Outline

This assignment tackles the
problem of deficient Disaster
Preparedness in BoP populations from Research
a technical and systemic point of view.
This called for a plural
approach to the problem. Context & Methods
I recognize three different areas with
defined approaches:
Research
Product Implementation
Product Design
Implementation Plan Disaster Preparedness Supplies Education Strategies
Disaster
Preparedness
Education
Kit
Instructions and Education Material

5.1 Research in the BoP communities.

Research Approach
Humanitarian Design and Design for Disasters define the physical and ma-
Emergencies are popular topics. It terial environment where this project
is not uncommon for students and is expected to see application.
designers to try to tackle such prob- BoP Populations are the target user
lems as shelter, water access or food group, with its characterization, needs
Research security. Unfortunately this does not and capabilities.
always lead to actual application in the
field and long-term adoption. Disaster Preparedness knowledge
illustrates what are the common views
For this project, I wanted to on Disaster Preparedness
Context Methods overcome such familiar problems. The
used approach reflects this consid- The presented approach considers that
eration and aims at reaching actual in most incomplete design proposals
improvement of living conditions for on the topic fail due to an incomplete
Disaster Base of the Education those who survive Disaster. understanding of what are the real
& Effects Pyramid problems to be solved and/or the
On a macro-scale, my research ap- social, cultural and economical charac-
proach is hinged on the identification teristics of the target group.
Disaster
Preparedness of context of application and on imple-
mentation methods. "Context" includes
Disaster and Effects, Threatened
Populations and Disaster Preparedness
practices. "Methods" is related to Com-
munity Education methods that can be
used to empower those who will teach
Product Approach
Product Design
Shelter Water Cooking Communications
5.2 Product
Shelter Shelter Treatment Sanitation Stove Procurement
More related to the topic of Disas- Material Techniques Techniques Guidelines Making Suggestions
ter Preparedness, my plan is one
of simplification of requirements.
Existing research identifies
Preparedness requirements as a
factor that can negatively influence
the adoption of Disaster Prepared-
ness behaviors [3]
This simplification is pursued

through two principles:
Besides the simplification of access to These reflect basic human needs of Water treatment is another area where
- Reduction of material Disaster, I have divided the protection from elements, safe drink- one does not see Product Design per
requirements general Disaster Preparedness require- ing water, food provision and commu- se, but useful treatment instructions.
(reducing perceived complexity) ments in four areas: nications to be on the alert for assis- The reason for this is the belief that
tance efforts. the knowledge of water treatment is
- Reduction of costs Shelter more useful and flexible than set solu-
(increasing accessibility) Not all areas are best served by Prod-
Water uct Design because not all are liable to tions for the carrying and storing of
be addressed by the BoP populations. water.
Cooking
This is also beneficial for the education Communications, requiring a radio, are First Aid is not included because it is
efforts. Communications
an example of an area where people deemed as too complex to improvise
will no be able to produce their own upon and too expensive to stock up.
Preparedness supplies.
5.3 Implementation
Implementation Approach
It is by now understood that
Implementation educating and empowering communi-
ties as vulnerable as the Base of the
Pyramid can not be achieved by the
typical methods of Product Design.
Simplify Equip Advise With this in mind, I followed a three
access educators Strategies
tiered implementation
approach for this project:
Simplify access to Disaster Prepared-

Reduce Educational Community
Preparedness Material Education ness resources
Requirements Guidelines Simple technologies that
BoP populations can put
together and use
DIY
Preparedness
Supplies
Equip Disaster Preparedness educa-
tors for the teaching of threatened
communities
Education material that
institutions can resort to
when educating
communities
Help institutions and individuals in

setting up education initiatives
Guidelines in establishing
education strategies
6. Reading this report
This report is further divided in three
main sections, corresponding to:
Context
(Disasters; Base of the Pyramid and
Disaster Preparedness)
Techniques
(Shelter, Water, Cooking and
Communications)
Education Package
(Education Approach and Designed
manuals)
The sections are, as much as possible,

self enclosed, which means that one
can choose which area is more inter-
esting to focus on and learn about it.
The idea behind it was to ease future
reference by eventual
students/teachers, interested in using
this project as a structure for Disaster
and BoP projects.
Besides this, the customary Conclu-
sions and Evaluation and Appendixes
are present, towards the end of this
volume.
References
[1] Slate Magazine, 2010. Article on Chile's Earthquake
- "Shaken, but not broken". [Online] available at:
http://www.slate.com/id/2246336/
[Accessed 05/03/2010]
[2] Paton, D. 2003. Disaster preparedness: a social-
cognitive perspective. Disaster Prevention and Man-
agement, 12 (3) pp. 210 - 216
[3] McClure, J. et al. 2009. Framing effects on prepa-
ration intentions: distinguishing actions. Disaster
Prevention and Management, 18 (2) pp: 187-199

Context
Disasters Page 31
Base of the Pyramid Page 45
Disaster Preparedness Page 57
1. Introduction 2. Need for Solutions 3. Challenges of the Base of 4. Adequacy of Disaster
To better understand what is the Looking at Disaster Data, it be- the Pyramid Preparedness solutions
expected context of application of comes evident that Disasters are The poorest people on the planet Disaster Preparedness, by simply
any eventual Disaster Prepared- more common, more destructive are, admittedly unfairly, the most placing a focus on continuation of
ness solution, I decided to study its and basically changing. common victims of Disaster. This life as normal as possible after a
three main components: Not only the hazards are often in happens not only because of their Disaster, implicitly hinges on the
the developing world, their conse- geographical location but also be- duplication of everything that one
Situation
quences, by virtue of worse infra- cause of their living conditions. needs to live in normal circum-
Target Group structure in general, are also more stances. This means extra material
If Disaster occurrence depends
Products damaging in those regions. mostly on Nature, the effects of and supplies that are more often
Disaster are compounded by popu- than not, outside the reach of
The tendency is for Disasters to
lations that do not know how to those who need them the most.
In this project, it meant the study continue on a raise and there is
of Disasters, their occurrence and a need for simple solutions that prepare, are often not are of all the The complexity of Disaster Pre-
effects; the study of the Base of the people everywhere can adopt. risks they live under and cannot paredness as it is usually suggest-
Pyramid and its characteristics and afford to mitigate their risks or pre- ed does not seem to match realistic
the study of Disaster Preparedness pare for Disaster. goals. This results discouraging and
and its functions. means low adoption of Disaster
Preparedness measures.
Comprehending these confirmed
the need of Disaster Preparedness
solutions that are easy, accessible
and adaptable.
Disasters
Definitions; Research Boundaries; Origin of Natural Disasters;
Disaster Occurrence; Considered Types of Natural Disasters;
Disaster Consequences; Conclusions
When proposing solutions to in-

crease Disaster Preparedness of
populations, it is important to
understand Disasters, their types,
origins and consequences.
In this light, the following
chapter is concerned to character-
izing natural hazards and disasters
and clarifying assumptions.
It is helpful in identify specific
needs and opportunities for
Product Design
1. Definitions Disaster The definition of “Disaster” is types of Natural Disasters [A4]. This
The Centre for Research on the Epi- therefore related with the concept can mean that some Natural Di-
The following definitions clarify
demiology of Disasters (CRED) has of “impact”, how an event affects sasters are more or less indirectly
some common terms throughout
defined “disaster” as: other systems. Depending on a affected by human action (e.g.
this project.
myriad of factors, the same event pollution, construction, mineral and
“(…) situation or event, which over- (e.g. an hurricane) can result in a forest exploration, among others).
Hazard
whelms local capacity, necessitating disaster or not. It all depends on
A source of danger or risk is an a request to national or interna- Technological Disaster
how much it affects the context
“Hazard”. In itself it has not effect tional level for external assistance where it takes place. A disaster is classified as Techno-
and should not be mistaken as a (definition considered in EM-DAT);
EMDAT also distinguishes two ge- logical when it is the direct result
disaster. As an example, an active an unforeseen and often sudden
neric categories of disasters: Natu- of technological (human) actions.
Volcano can be an hazard for the event that causes great damage,
ral and Technological [A3] Armed conflicts and disturbances
nearby population, but it does not destruction and human suffering”. often create conditions for situa-
become a disaster until it directly For a disaster to be entered into Natural Disaster tions classified as disasters. Other
affects said population [A1]. the database at least one of the
When a disaster is caused by na- examples are building collapses, in-
following criteria must be fulfilled: dustrial, transportation and nuclear
ture and has no direct human influ-
10 or more people reported killed. ence, it is classified as a Natural accidents [A5].
100 people reported affected Disaster. Some Natural Disasters,

although not directly controlled by
Declaration of a state of human interference might be the
emergency result of artificial interaction with
Call for international assistance[A2] nature. Global Warming has been
linked to an increase of certain
2. Research Boundaries Disaster Category/Effect Matrix
The abundance of knowledge on
the topic of Disasters prohibits a
complete depiction of the topic. Disruptive
For this project, the boundaries of
Disaster description are drawn at
"Natural Disasters", "Structurally
destructive Disasters" and the char- Chemical Spill Extreme
acterization of origin mechanisms,
Communication Temperature
frequency and geographic distribu-
tion. Disaster effects, although vari- Breakdown Epidemic
able with context can be described Transportation Famine
in a general way.
Halt Infestation
Limiting this section to Natural and
Physical Destructive Disasters helps
focusing the efforts to Disaster oc-
currences that can be forecasted
with a certain degree of confidence.
Also, it is more adequate as back-
ground research for a product that War Flood
is expected to be used during ma-
jor disruptions, probably provoked Explosion Slide
by structurally damaging Disasters. Building Storm
Excluding War, Natural Disasters are Collapse Earthquake
the most damaging Disasters.
Chemical Tsunami
Spill Vulcanic
Building Collapse Activity
Destructive
Technological Natural
Source: EMDAT - International Disaster Database, 2010

3. Origin of Natural Disasters Disasters can be of three main ori- Geophysical Origin
gins that contain most of possible All Disasters that originate from
Several classification systems exist
occurrences: Earth's internal physical processes
to organize all the known Natural
Disaster types. One of the most Hydro-Meteorological have a geophysical origin. These
comprehensive encompasses 5 processes take place under Earth's
main Generic Groups that are Geophysical surface and while their conse-
further divided up to 12 Disaster Biological quences are often visible, influenc-
Types and more than 30 Disaster ing these internal interactions is,
Sub-Types. This system is the one Of these three origins, only the first for the most part, outside human
used by EM-DAT, the International two will inform the design process. reach [A12].
Disaster Database of CRED [A6]. Biological Disasters are not struc- Biological Origin
For this study, a more concise turally destructive.
classification system is used, one Disasters have a Biological Ori-
that focuses on the most common Hydro-Meteorological Origin gin when they are caused by the
events. Also, given the general Disasters of Hydro-Meteorological exposure of living organisms to
nature of this research, a general origin include disasters created by: germs and toxic substances [A13].
overview is considered to be more “(...) deviations in the normal wa- This relates mostly with outbreaks
useful than a in-depth specialist ter cycle and/or overflow of bodies and epidemics of diverse nature
analysis. of water (…)” [A9] as well as disas- (Virus, Bacteria, Parasite and Prion
ters “(...) caused by short-lived/ infectious diseases). Also, highly
The used system is the one used disruptive or destructive interaction
by the United Nations’ International small to mesoscale atmospheric
processes (in the spectrum from between living organisms can be
Strategy for Disaster Reduction [A7] a considered a biological disaster.
on its compiled disaster statistics minutes to days)”[A10]. Also included
in this definition, are Climatologi- An insect infestation or destructive
from 1991 to 2005 [A8]. These sta- animal stampede can both be Natu-
tistics are focused on the 1991 to cal disasters, distinguished from
meteorological disasters in the time ral Disasters of biological origin.
2005 period, but in fact consider Besides direct human contamina-
the whole period of 1900-2005, scale, that ranges from seasons to
decades [A11]. tion, biological disasters can affect
providing a much useful overview human populations by reducing or
of statistical information on Natural As a rule of thumb, it can be said eliminating food/income sources
Disasters. 2005 is the latest year in that weather related disasters have such as crops or cattle.
the compiled information. an hydro-meteorological origin.
Disasters of Biological Origin are not
According to UN International Strat- considered for this project.
egy for Disaster Reduction, Natural
4. Considered Types of Natural
Disasters Disaster Types
Of the 12 recognized main types of
Natural Disasters, the highlighted 6 Natural
are described.
Disasters
Minor differences in Disaster sub-
type were ignored to create this
indicative account. For full descrip-
tion of all main and sub-types of
Natural Disasters, consulting the
Classification section of the EM-
Biological
Geological
DAT website is recommended. This Flood Earthquake Famine
Hydro-Meteorological
description is accessible at:
Http://www.emdat.be/classification.
Slide Tsunami Epidemic
Storm Volcanic Infestation

Activity
Extreme Avalanche
Temperature
Drought Subsidence
Wildfire
Source: EMDAT - International Disaster Database, 2010

World Disaster Occurence insect

1991-2005 infestation
epidemic
drought
wildfire
Hydro
Meteorological
extreme
Biological temperature
volcano
Geological
earthquake
tsunami 5. Disaster Occurrence
slide Looking at available information on
Disaster Occurrence and effects, it
windstorm
becomes clear that Hydro-Meteoro-
flood logical Disasters are the most com-
mon, being more than three fourths
of all reported Disasters.
Biological Disasters are also com-
450 mon, but create less damages, an
indication that they are not physi-
cally destructive.
350
A closer look shows that within
Hydro-Meteorological Disasters,
250
Floods and Storms are the most
common occurrences.
150 Both Disaster types kill relatively
few people (when compared with
50 volcanoes, for instance), but affect
vast numbers.
0
00
03
06
09
19 12
15
18
21
24
19 27
30
33
36
39
19 42
45
48
51
54
19 57
60
63
66
69
19 72
75
78
81
84
19 87
90
93
96
99
20 02
05
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
19
Biological Geological Hydro-Meteorological

World Disaster Effects

1991-2005 9%
0,4% 12% 0,08%
12%
30%
27% 58% 7%
22%
0,1% 23%
0,07%
1,3% 1,3%
0,08%
1,3%
12% 37%
43%
Affected People Killed People Economic Damages
(3 470 162 961) (960 502) (1192,95 .2005 US$ billion)
earthquake
epidemic drought volcano tsunami slide windstorm flood
Source: UNISDR 2005, from data on EMDAT 2005
6. Disaster Consequences
For the scope of this project, Di-
saster consequences are of major
importance. They characterize bet-
ter what hardships must survivors
face. Also, with a broader sociologi-
cal perspective, it is interesting to
understand how survivors react
and re-organize at several levels. A
thorough description of such condi-
tions follows.
6.1 Infrastructure Consequences disappearance of jobs, which af- Where in rural areas food produc-
In an Urban setting, the prime fects recovery and potential indus- tion and nature's proximity might
example of a constructed environ- trial contamination. Basic services' alleviate the needs of a suddenly
ment, Disaster consequences have facilities such as Law Enforcement, hit population, a city is a much less
the potential to be heavier than Traffic Control, Waste Management forgiving environment.
its less populated counterparts. and Medical Services might also be
The Population Density of cities is impaired, posing immediate and
invariably higher, which means that long-term consequences.
the space must be shared by more It was previously indicated that
people. The increased population cities demand plenty of resources
density many times implies multi- (e.g. water, food, fuel, materials)
story buildings, which pose added yet generate very little of those.
Disaster risks should they col- Cities must be constantly supplied
lapse. Even if there are no victims and if the supply disappears or is
of building collapse (an unrealistic hardly hit, their living conditions
scenario), the decrease in usable quickly degrade. As these resources
space leaves survivors with very rely on transportation routes,
little or no space where to live. should the routes be affected (e.g.
The physical destruction in urban downed bridges, flooded roads,
settings is not limited to living broken pipelines), the supply is
spaces. Industrial areas are also halted.
hit, creating two sorts of problems:
6.2 Social Consequences The Pro-Social Behavior that can ity of social units allows for some
As the artificial living space is be witnessed after a Disaster takes swift adaptation. As the scope of
changed by the Disaster's occur- several shapes at different times. what is "community" enlarges, it
rence, the social ties that lie within When a Disaster Forewarning is becomes harder to maintain social
are also changed. What is worth present, people might cooperate cohesion and some fragmentation
mentioning is that Social Conse- to minimize effects of impending is observed.
quences tend to be less negative catastrophe (e.g. building sandbag Socially speaking, cities are more
that most of imagine. In spite of dams, helping with evacuation). vulnerable to Disaster than rural ar-
commonly accepted predictions of During the Disaster (e.g. Flood) Pro- eas. The potential for tension situ-
Mass-hysteria, Disaster situations Social behavior is also observed. ations is significantly higher just as
tend to foster pro-social behavior, After the Disaster, Pro-Social Behav- strong community bonds exist in
especially visible within pre-Di- ior can be observed in the sponta- smaller networks.
saster groups (e.g. family, neigh- neous formation of neighbourhood
bors, household) [A15]. The degree watches [A17], informal search and
to which community cohesion is rescue and building/clearing efforts.
maintained before, during and after These are the effects on a medium,
a Disaster is related to the severity geographically limited and, in a
of said Disaster. The "sweet spot" is way, fragmented scale. Social Con-
located at a "medium severity" that sequences are different for an in-
is enough to alert for danger but dividual, a family, a neighbourhood
low enough to allow for altruistic and a city. At the beginning of the
behavior [A16]. Looting and pillaging spectrum, the sense of belonging,
do occur but are not the norm. the increased flexibility and agil-
6.3 Economic Consequences ported. Agreements cannot be are not the full picture of what is
The Physical and Social impact of a fulfilled and often penalties ensue. Economic recovery.
Disaster can be manifested on large This goes to say that the economic
scale economic terms, usually re- impact of a Disaster is beyond the
gion or country-wide. The destruc- recovery cost, also including lost
tion of infrastructure, the halting of financial momentum. Especially
industrial activity and immediate with developing nations, this can
assistance needs seriously hamper take several years. As an example,
normal Economic development. it is believed that hurricane Mitch
delayed Nicaragua's development
Amid all the consequences of by 20 years [A18].Economy often acts
Disaster, Economic consequences as some sort of middle layer be-
might be the longest to wane or to tween other human issues (politics,
be fully repaired. This is due to two education, society, etc). Producer
main factors: Economy's dynamic and Product of a society's status, it
nature and Economy's traditionally is often managed (or steered) in a
large inertia. slow, reactive way.
Economy is generally regarded as Stable, long-term economic growth
a dynamic reality, where growth takes time and favorable conditions
is the goal. As most of a nation's to sprout. When a Disaster disrupts
economic system relies on such a a region's economy, the reaction
growth, should it disappear, said to that event is often slow. Dona-
country finances are left unsup- tions and immediate financial help
7. Conclusions specific, many Disaster conse- seriously affect a region's devel-

quences are common across differ- opment. Any suggested Design
First, one can say that recorded
ent locations and types of Disaster solution should consider these
Disaster frequency is increasing
(e.g. loss of potable shelter, water, two facts. In the present project, I
[A14]
.More Disasters happen and
plenty of wounded, etc). Also given aimed at addressing social conse-
when they happen their effects are
the impact of Climate change in quences by using household/family
stronger than before. This means
Hydro-Meteorological Disasters, a as the social unit of reference. As
that there is a current need (likely
region's Disaster profile is likely to for future development aspects, I
to increase) of Disaster assistance
change with time. A balance be- try to empower Disaster survivors
efforts. Such efforts can happen in
tween highly specialized Disaster through the teaching of simple
many fronts and I propose Educa-
Management approaches and more techniques that require little invest-
tion and Product Design as one.
generic improvements is necessary. ment and can be used for other
There are several Natural Disas- scenarios outside a catastrophe.
This project is concerned with the
ter types that have potential for
basic generic requirements, closely Future Natural Disasters cannot be
widespread impact. Their effects
related with minimum human sur- avoided, but early preparation can
cannot usually be completely
vival needs. reduce their negative impact
cancelled and their consequences
carry enough momentum to affect As one can see, Disaster Conse- For more information on used data
regions in the long term. Assistance quences are more complex and on the topic of Disaster, please
in Major Disaster situations is dif- widespread than the physical harm- consult Appendix C.
ficult and the variety of potential ing of populations and destruction
sources of Disaster calls for flexible of buildings. Disaster consequences
and scalable initiatives. However change the way people behave and
References [A11] EMDAT - International Disaster Database.2009.
Explanatory Notes - Glossary - “Climatologi-
[A1] Canadian Center for Occupational Health and
cal”. [Online] available at: http://www.emdat.be/
Safety, 2010. OSH Answers - Hazard and Risk. [Online].
glossary/9#letterc
Available at http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hspro-
[Accessed 08/02/2010].
grams/hazard_risk.html
[Accessed 20/04/2010] [A12] EMDAT - International Disaster Database.2009,
Explanatory Notes - Glossary - “Geophysical”. [Online]
[A2] EMDAT - International Disaster Database.2009.
available at: http://www.emdat.be/glossary/9#letterg
Explanatory Notes - Criteria and Definition. [Online]
[Accessed 02/02/2010].
available at: http://www.emdat.be/explanatory-notes
[Accessed 08/02/2010]. [A13] EMDAT - International Disaster Database.2009,
Explanatory Notes - Glossary - “Biological Disasters”.
[Online] available at: http://www.emdat.be/glossary/
Explanatory Notes - Classification [online] available
biological-disasters
at: http://www.emdat.be/explanatory-notes
[Accessed 02/02/2010].
[Accessed 08/02/2010].
[A14] IFRC/RC International Federation of the Red
[A4] ADPC - Asian Disaster Preparedness Center.
Cross and Red Crescent, 1999, World Disasters Report
2008. Asian Disaster Management News, May-Aug.
[Online] available at: http://www.adpc.net/v2007/IKM/ [A15] Quarantelli, E. 1999. University of Delaware
ONLINE%20DOCUMENTS/downloads/2008/Oct/news- Disaster Research Center. Disaster Related Social
leter%2027%20Oct%2008%20(1).pdf Behavior: Summary Of 50 Years Of Research Findings
[Accessed accessed 08/02/2010]
[A16] Chang K. 2009. Community cohesion after a
[A5] EMDAT - International Disaster Database.2009. natural disaster: insights from a Carlisle flood Disas-
Explanatory Notes - Glossary. [Online] available at: ters, Disasters; 34, 2 26 October 2009, 0361-3666
http://www.emdat.be/glossary/9#letterd.
[A17] Slate Magazine, 2010. Article on Chile's Earth-
[Accessed 08/02/2010].
quake - "Shaken, but not broken". [Online] available
[A6] EMDAT - International Disaster Database.2009. at: http://www.slate.com/id/2246336/
Explanatory Notes - Classification. [Online] available [Accessed 05/03/2010]
at: http://www.emdat.be/classification.
[A18] IFRC/RC International Federation of the Red
[Accessed 02/02/2010].
Cross and Red Crescent, 2000, World Disasters Report
[A7] United Nations International Strategy for Disaster - "Nicaragua needs a break"
Reduction. 2009. Home Page. [Online] available at:
http://www.unisdr.org/
[Accessed 02/02/2010].
[A8] United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction. 2009. Disaster Statistics 1991 - 2005.
[Online] available at: http://www.unisdr.org/disaster-
statistics/introduction.htm
[Accessed 02/02/2010]
Explanatory Notes - Glossary - “Hydrological”.
[Online] available at: http://www.emdat.be/
glossary/9#letterh [Accessed 02/02/2010].
Explanatory Notes - Glossary - “Meteorologi-
cal”. [Online] available at: http://www.emdat.be/
glossary/9#letterm [Accessed 02/02/2010].
Base of the Pyramid Introduction; Who is the Base of The Pyramid; BoP Disaster Preparedness;
When Disaster Strikes; Disaster Risk Reduction; Conclusions
The target group for this

assignment are the poorest people
in the world, commonly addressed
as the Base of the Pyramid.
Such name illustrates the
disproportion between population
and wealth distribution, with BoP
being the largest segment of the
population with the least wealth.
In this section, an operative
description of general
characteristics of the BoP is given,
as well as an indication of what
have been the challenges in
implementing Disaster Risk
Reduction initiatives.
1. Introduction
"BoP populations" is a term not
directly exchangeable with "poor"
or "vulnerable communities", but
it is true that the most affected
by Disaster are usually part of the
BoP group. For the remaining of
this project, the Disaster threat-
ened populations will be addressed
as the "BoP". The most important
concept that I borrow from the
general BoP characterization is the
Individual Annual Income low income
2005 $US Purchasing Power Parity (people living with less 2 $ US/
day [B1]). Although the term is often
mature used to present untapped eco-
0,5 markets nomic possibilities, it will be used
billion
people
>20.000$ mostly as a socioeconomic label.
The characteristic low income is
2 emerging the main driver for hardship face
billion markets by BoP populations. Lack of income
people 3.260 to 20.000$ leads to little opportunity for free-
choice, which in turn can result in
exposure to weather and political
survival volatility, forced migration, low liv-
4 markets ing and working conditions or no
billion <3.260$ access to healthcare and education.
All of these contribute to higher
people
exposure to Disasters and their ef-
fects.
Source: World Resources Institute

2. Who is the Base of the Percentage Population living on less than 2 $US:
Pyramid 2009
Defining who is part of the BoP,
besides the easy to understand
economic indicators, can also be
approximated through geographical
markers.
The map on the left clearly shows
that poverty incidence is somehow
clustered around sub Saharan Af-
rica, parts of Central and South East
Asia and South America. These are Under 2%
also Disaster Prone Areas, as one 2% - 5%
can verify in the section "Disasters" 6% - 20%
21% - 40%
of this report.
41% - 80%
61% - 80%
Over 80%
N/A
Source: UN Human Development Indices 2008

There is some discussion on what

World Distribution of Income defines the economic indicators for
2006 Base of the Pyramid groups. As this
120.000
project requires some capacity from
people that the target group, the poorest defini-
can benefit from project tions are deemed to be to limiting
100.000
people living and not realistic.
with less than 2$ US/day For such cases (e.g. population liv-
80.000
ing on less than 1,25 $US/day ), the
improvement of living conditions
60.000
to a minimum of self-capacity is
necessary to achieve, prior to any
40.000 Disaster Preparedness efforts. In
this light, the slightly more gener-
20.000 ous situation of people living with
less than 2 $US/day is the preferred
0 situation.
50 US$ 500 US$ 5000 US$ 50.000 US$ It should be noted that the proj-
OECD
ects's outcome can be applied to
World Sub Saharan Africa Latin America South Asia East Asia
other income tiers. This means that
less than 2$US is the lower bound-
Source: US National Bureau Of Economic Research, 2009
ary for application.
Although generalizing too much change a lot across BoP regions,
has its disadvantages, there is a from being focused on simple
tendency to for BoP participants to familiar life to placing an empha-
share some characteristics. These sis on personal success. The way
manifest themselves in an absent cultures deal with uncertainty and
or incapable government style and long term goals is diverse across
presence, usually pervasive cor- regions, but with BoP populations,
ruption, dependence on external there seems to be a relatively high
aid and a mix of highly traditional structuring of life, routines and
social structures and mutating norms. These provide rules to deal
social conventions due to internal with unforeseen situations and act
migrations and conflict. What this as "instruction manual for life".
means for Disaster Preparedness is Summing up, one can generalize Comparison of Typical Culture
that, for the most part, centralized BoP cultures along the following of Developing and Developed Country
Disaster Management is not ca- dimensions, as described by Gert
pable of reaching and helping most Hosteede [B2] :
Disaster victims. Also, victims are Uncertainty
usually not in condition to fend for High Power Distance Avoidance
High
themselves. Low Individualism Low
Social structures in BoP countries Variable Masculinity
tend to be highly hierarchical and Power
sometimes rigid, with little op- High Uncertainty Avoidance Distance Individualism
portunity for social mobility. Social Low Long-Term Orientation
conventions usually contribute for
this with a big focus on the mainte-
In regards to Disaster Risk
nance of community ties, central to
Reduction efforts, this means that
one's life. If ties are broken, one's
BoP populations require approaches
place in society is jeopardized. This
that respect social norms while Masculinity Long Term
requests for extraordinary effort
involving the community. Prescrip- Orientation
and drive for an individual's rise
tive pedagogical approaches seem
in society, critic and ostracization
to be more fitting and the respect
being the consequences for those Estimated Cultural Dimensions of Developing Country
for tradition might require long and Estimated Cultural Dimensions of Developed Country
who try and fail. What values are
preferred in driving one's life can iterative external education efforts.
3. BoP Disaster Preparedness not equipped with the knowledge Supposing that Disaster threatened Finally, tradition, religion and spiri-
to predict and plan for Disaster, communities had the educational tuality can take a part in the low
When BoP populations are affected
even if they have faced it before. resources to identify and reduce Disaster Resilience of populations.
by Disaster, they are usually unpre-
Unable to react for themselves, Disaster Risks (and this can hap- Diverse views of one's control over
pared (exceptions being commu-
communities are left unprotected. pen, both with or without external his/her life can lead to fatalist out-
nities highly adapted to seasonal
Governmental or external assis- help), commonly, they lack the eco- looks on life and Disaster. People
occurrences, like monsoons). There
tance could perhaps help in this, nomical capacity to implement any might feel that whatever happens,
are several reasons for this. The
but in reality, many times it is not improvements. No funds exist for had to happen and there is little an
most relevant are social, economi-
adequately deployed. Mitigation (e.g. Earthquake Proofing individual can do to improve his/
cal and spiritual/religious. Socially
Most times, people are dependent houses) or for Preparedness (e.g. her situation.
speaking, BoP populations are
on themselves and external aid. stocking up on food and medicine).
highly exposed because they are
4. When Disaster Strikes

Disasters, even of Natural origin
can be amplified or subdued by
artificial conditions. In the case of
BoP populations and their living
spaces, such conditions are typi-
cally very bad. Poor construction,
unplanned urban development, low
access to water, sanitation power
and communications, all create an
adverse scenario.
An example: if a flood happens
in an urban slum, it only adds to
already present misery. Assuming
that nothing could have been done
to prevent the flood (and this is
not always the case), its effects
are highly intensified by the artifi-
cial factors that make up the living
spaces of BoP populations.
5. Disaster Risk Reduction of governmental assistance. Com- The following 5 approaches are the From this list, the last three are the
mon educational approaches target most typically used by NGOs in Di- most related with the approach of
Since Disaster and their effects
school children and women, often saster Risk Reduction initiatives: this project.
are highly dependent on existing
resorting to community leaders,
conditions, many initiatives not Pressure authorities to improve
clergy and school teachers as pro-
directly related to Disaster can living conditions and response to
viders of training and knowledge.
have a positive effect. Education, Disaster
Health provision, Sanitation and Efforts to reduce Disasters have
Urban Planning, are all examples been made at several levels, from Improve conditions prior to Di-
of this. To improve the big picture, high level international political saster (e.g. housing, sanitation,
it is essential to take an integrated compromises to grassroots move- power and communications)
approach. ments that aim at educating com- Empower communities with skills
munities. and education, including marginal-
The resurgence of community
based development initiatives (e.g. It is the second case that has direct ized groups
education, health, finance, com- relation to this Project. Involve communities in Risk Iden-
merce and communications) helps tification and Contingency Plan-
communities to become more self- ning
sufficient at all levels. Such strate- Supply material and educational
gies have been used for Disaster resources both prior and post
Risk Reduction. Disaster
[B3]
These have shown considerable
success, especially for popula-
tions that are outside the reach
6. Conclusions
The populations in the Base of the
Pyramid make up the poorest, least
educated people on the planet.
These are also the people, in the
world, that are the most common
victims of Disaster, due to their fra-
gility and even geographic distribu-
tion.
Their main limitations are chronic
poverty and lack of access to
healthcare and education, com-
pounded by often shaky political
backgrounds.
This target group has a strong need
for Disaster Preparedness measures
that are simple to understand,
cheap to make and decentralized,
away from slow and heavy govern-
mental initiatives
References
[B1] Global issues. March 28 2010. Poverty Facts and
Stats [Online] Available at: http://www.globalissues.
org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats#src1
[Bccessed] 20/05/2010
[B2] Geert Hofstede, Cultural differences in teaching
and learning, International Journal of Intercultural Re-
lations, Volume 10, Issue 3, 1986, Pages 301-320, ISSN
[B3] Benson, C. & Twigg, J. 2001.NGO Initiatives in
Risk Reduction: An Overview, Disasters, 25(3): 199–215
Disaster Preparedness
Disaster Management; Cycles of Disaster Management; Preparedness as Project Focus; Typical Preparedness
Requirements; Disaster Preparedness and the Base of the Pyramid; Conclusions
Disaster Preparedness, as way to

reduce Disaster impact, is part of a
broader system of Disaster
Management.
In this chapter, a general overview
of Disaster Management is given
and the particular characteristics of
Disaster Preparedness are
presented.
Disaster Management is usually

carried on by governments and
development agencies. It can have
different scopes, from a global
perspective (e.g. United Nations
International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction) to community-level
initiatives (e.g. Istanbul's Neigh-
bourhood Disaster Support Project
- MAG [C3]).
In this project, I suggest a commu-
nity-level implementation, due to
1.Disaster Management the future. This complete, circular use this framework, just as people
simplicity and immediate effects.
approach to Disaster places a big trying to reduce risks from wind-
In the professional community of Its limited effect (it only affects the
emphasis on preventive action to storms will.
people that work with Disaster community where it is implement-
create readiness for when Disaster Even the name “Disaster Manage-
prevention and response, there ed) is compensated by the simplic-
strikes again.[C1] ment” implies that Disasters can be
is a wide belief that a Disaster is ity of its implementation.
defined by what happens before Disasters can be very different from somehow controlled. This frames
and after it. This means that to one another, and yet, this holistic Disasters as events that can be af-
reduce Disasters and their impacts, method of organizing their preven- fected by people's prior and poste-
it is necessary to consider all the tion and response is used for virtu- rior actions. [C2]
prior effects, all the created effects ally all of them. People working to
and what effects it might have in reduce Disaster from Tsunami will
Disaster Management Cycle

Mitigation
Recovery Preparedness
Staying
Equipping
Informed
Disaster
Happens
Planning
Response
Disaster Preparedness Sub Cycle
2. Cycles in Disaster phase, named “Mitigation”. Also, The 4 phases in Disaster Manage- It is clear that in this cycle, there
Management although the order remains the ment are: are two main periods: a pre-Disas-
same, different people and organi- ter and a post-Disaster period. In
Disaster Management happens in zations are responsible for differ- Mitigation the pre-Disaster period, one can
a cycle. The phases of this cycle ent phases, so there is an overlap find the Mitigation and Prepared-
Preparedness
always follow the same order, but between adjacent phases. [C4] ness phases and in the post-Disas-
their division and duration are not Response
ter, the Response and Recovery.
usually clearly defined. An exam- Recovery
ple: the actions taken after a Disas-
ter, known as the “Recovery” phase
tend to merge with the following
2.1 Mitigation sary and politically it can be hard

The mitigation phase is mostly fo- to defend. There are, obviously,
cused on the removal of the Disas- good examples of Mitigation action,
ter risk, usually with a long term but it remains a difficult phase to
scope. Examples of actions taken implement correctly.
during the Mitigation phase are Mitigation measures are deeply
the creation of laws that prevent contextual. This means a deep
certain buildings in risky areas, the knowledge of socioeconomic fac-
zoning of urban areas, [C5]moving tors, combined, naturally with
of people out of danger zones and knowledge about Disaster risk.
creation of committees and task
forces that will manage new regula-
tion and oversee their application.
Steps taken in Mitigation tend to
have good effects [C6] as they re-
move the danger from the living
space of people or remove the
people from the danger zone. How-
ever, Mitigation is usually difficult
because it requires committed ac-
tion with a long term focus. Un-
popular measures are often neces-
2.2 Preparedness ciated not with human survival but

Even the best mitigation measures with business survival. This is not
cannot predict all the possibilities the focus of this project.
of Disaster. This means that there Preparedness is a very “democrat-
is always a need for effective re- ic” phase of Disaster Management,
sponse to possible calamities. This as it can be taken both by govern-
response is the result of efforts tak- mental and private institutions and
en during the Preparedness phase. families. Generally speaking, when
It is during the Preparedness phase families work for Preparedness,
that plans for response are drawn, their objective is centred on the
equipment distributed and training survival of the family members and
overtaken. Also, people must stay the reduction of Disaster Damage.
informed about possible Disasters Preparedness is a continuous
at all times [C7] process that only ends when a
Preparedness is usually associated Disaster strikes. At that moment,
with creating conditions for good depending on how well people and
response in minimizing dam- institutions prepared, the Response
age and impact on people's lives, phase starts.
namely survival. There are also
other types of Preparedness, such
as business (e.g. a bank) that plans
what its own crisis response, asso-
2.3 Response
Disaster response, as the name im-
plies, is the reaction to a Disaster,
with the objective of addressing the
challenges and needs it creates.
Police, Firemen and Civil Protection
are the most visible players of this
phase. During the Response phase,
in reality, a lot of the assistance
and relief to victims, at least during
an initial phase, is given by the
survivors. But, as assistance gets
more complex (e.g. many people
to rescue, need for government
or foreign assistance supplies and
know-how or just high technical
complexity of rescue) civilian popu-
lations are replaced by specialized
public services.
2.4 Recovery Recovery measures depend on

As the first efforts from the Re- impact of Disaster and conditions
sponse phase produce results, it previous to its onset.
is time to start thinking how to One of the reasons why Recovery
recover from the Disaster. This is important is to bring normality
means both medium to long term back and to avoid the creation of
recovery and heavily based of plan- further emergencies (e.g. forced
ning of future developments. It is a migrations or social unrest).
good practice to include Mitigation [C8]
efforts in this phase (e.g. plan the
rebuild of a city, but with earht-
quake-proof houses).
Recovery often means the creation
of housing, the repair of infrastruc-
ture or the rebuilding of businesses
and agriculture.
The goal of Recovery is, quite
clearly, the return to normality as
fast as possible and preferably in
a way that can avoid repetitions of
Disaster.
3. Preparedness as Project Between Mitigation and Prepared-

Focus ness, the later is clearly easier to
implement. Disaster Preparedness
It is already known at this point, can be taken on by individuals and
that Preparedness is the phase that families and contributes to leave
I will focus my efforts on. The rea- people more independent from
sons for that are now presented. centralized assistance efforts.
First, it is known that all the pre- Good Disaster Preparedness can
ventive efforts to reduce Disaster also have positive upstream effects.
risk and impact are more effective When communities are prepared,
and efficient that reactive mea- they tend to be more organized
sures. and easier to help. As a side effect,
It is estimated that for every US when authorities know that certain
Dollar spent in prevention, up to communities are ready for Disas-
five can be saved in response. [C9] ter, they can focus their assistance
This already makes it clear that efforts (after a Disaster) on those
the focus of this project should be communities that are not as ready.
on the preventive stages of Disaster This reduces the logistical burden
Management. on centralized assistance.
Another reason why Disaster Pre-
paredness was selected as a focus
for the project was its accessibility.
4. Typical Preparedness Disaster Preparedness Sub Cycle

requirements
Disaster Preparedness on a fam-
ily level has three main areas of
action:
Equipping
Planning
Staying
Equipping Informed
Staying informed
[C10]
Because Disaster Preparedness

does not end until a Disaster hap-
pens, these steps should be taken
continuously up to that moment.
On a family (or “household”) level, Planning
such steps are described ahead.
4.1 Equipping planning considers how will the
Disaster Preparedness Kit recommendations
In the context of Disaster Prepared- family reunite if the Disaster catch-
Water – one gallon per person per day ness, equipping means getting a Di- es them while separated, what are
Food – ready to eat or requiring minimal water saster Preparedness kit. Ideally, the the roles of each one during an
Manual can opener and other cooking supplies emergency and what are communi-
Plates, utensils and other feeding supplies contents of the kit should depend
First Aid kit & instructions on the type of risk, but in practice, cation and evacuation procedures.
important documents & phone numbers most kits contain the same sort of Good planning includes the practice
Warm clothes and rain gear for each family member.
Heavy work gloves products. Most kits are made of of techniques and procedures to
Disposable camera supplies related with the immedi- be used after a Disaster. Examples
Unscented liquid household bleach and an eyedropper ate survival of the users during the could be the packing of emergency
Personal hygiene items including toilet paper,
feminine supplies, and sanitizer and soap aftermath of a Disaster. Disaster supplies, training coordination of
Plastic sheeting, duct tape and utility knife Preparedness kits typically carry: separated family members without
Tools such as a crowbar, hammer & nails, material and supplies for: communications and evacuation
staple gun and adjustable wrench routes.
Blankets or sleeping bags Water treatment and storage
Heavy duty plastic bags and a plastic bucket Planning is inexpensive, but re-
Cooking quires a level of risk awareness,
First aid availability and commitment that is
For each somehow uncommon. [C11]
For the family Sanitation
person
Communications 4.3 Staying Informed
Staying informed even in times of
Flashlight Disaster Preparedness kits can be calm is necessary to know what are
Radio
Whistle bought already prepared or can be the ways that authorities will use
Dust mask put together by each individual, us- to communicate an alert, how to
Pocket knife ing lists of recommended supplies. identify alert levels and the mea-
Emergency cash
Sturdy shoes, a change of clothes, and a warm hat 4.2 Planning sures to be taken.
Local map Staying informed also means know-
Permanent marker, paper and tape Planning is the creation of contin-
Photos of family members and pets gency procedures to respond to ing techniques that are useful in
for re-identification purposes possible future scenarios. For a prevention and response, such as
Extra prescription eye glasses, first aid or switching off gas sup-
hearing aid or other vital personal items family, this means identifying risks
Toothbrush and toothpaste at home, work and play for each plies.
family member and selecting strat-
Source: 72hours.org - The city and county of San Francisco
egies to cope with such risks. Good
5. Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Preparedness and the BoP

the Base of the Pyramid
Disaster Preparedness despite be-
ing the most accessible way for
families to prepare for Disaster, is
not widely adopted. In fact, it is
noted that Disaster Preparedness
measures have low adoption rates,
even in affluent regions [C12]. It was
Lack of
observed that for poor communi-
Information
ties are even less prepared. The
reasons for this lack of Disaster
Preparedness measures by the poor Lack of
Preparedness
communities are:
Lack of Information
Lack of Lack of
Lack of Risk Awareness
Capability Awareness
Lack of Capability
Lack of Information Lack of Risk Awareness Lack of Capability that people's adoption of Disaster
When people have no access to in- Before people decide to invest their A final, but definite obstacle to peo- Preparedness behaviors is nega-
formation, they do not learn how to time and resources on Disaster Pre- ple's adoption of Disaster Prepared- tively correlated with the perceived
identify risks or how to prepare for paredness, they must recognize the ness is their capability to change complexity of those behaviors.
Disaster. This also means having no risk they live with. This can be a their conditions. Populations from
access to real time warnings. Lack challenge if people are uninformed the BoP, besides often having a lack
of information is the first about what risks are present in of information and risk awareness,
barrier between people and Disas- their area. also lack the means to prepare.
ter Preparedness, but not the only Besides recognizing a risk (e.g. on This means lack of money to invest
one. the path of a landslide), people in Disaster Preparedness, lack of
must understand that they can social freedom to engage in Pre-
change their likelihood of being a paredness activities or even lack of
victim. Especially prevalent in some a basic living conditions that would
populations of the BoP (due to so- allow for a longer-term thinking.
cioeconomic and religious reasons) A sub-set of lack of capability as an
is the belief that Natural Disasters obstacle, is the perceived lack of
cannot be avoided and their con- capability that some marginalized
sequences are just fate. To fight off communities may face.
these beliefs is outside the scope A typical Disaster Preparedness
of this project, but it illustrates kit can be a daunting investment,
another difficulty in implementing given all the recommended prod-
Disaster Preparedness ucts and their price. It is proven
6. Conclusions
From all the things that can be
done in Disaster Management,
Disaster Preparedness is the most
accessible to families with little ex-
ternal support. Despite this easier
access, it still requires some com-
mitment and investment, which
can demotivate some people.
This points towards a direction of
simplification of requirements for
Disaster Preparedness. Reducing
the complexity, on the basis that
some Disaster Preparedness is bet-
ter than none and complexity can
be off-putting.
References
[C1] United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction. 2008. World Conference on Disaster Reduc-
tion [Online] Available at: http://www.unisdr.org/eng/
hfa/docs/Hyogo-framework-for-action-english.pdf
[Accessed on 19/04/2010]
[C2] see [C1]
[C3] Mahalle Afet Gonulluleri.2010. Website [Online]
Available at: http://www.mag.org.tr/tur/mag.asp
{Accessed 25/04/2010]
[C4] Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recov-
ery. 2010. Phases in Disaster Management [Online]
Available at: http://www.gfdrr.org/gfdrr/dm_phase_05.
htim
[Accessed 19/04/2010]
[C5] United States Federal Emergency Management
Agency. 2010. Federal Insurance and Mitigation Ad-
ministration (FIMA) [Online] Available at: http://www.
fema.gov/about/divisions/mitigation.shtm
{Accessed 28/04/2010]
[C6] see [C5]
[C7] San Francisco Department of Emergency Manage-
ment. 2008. 72 Hours.org manual [Online] Available
at: http://72hours.org/pdf/72Hours.pdf
{Accessed 30/04/2010]
[C8] David A. McEntire. 2004. The Status of Emergency
Management Theory: Issues, Barriers, and Recommen-
dations for Improved Scholarship.
[C9] World Food Programme. 2010 . Disaster Risk
Reduction [Online] Available at: http://www.wfp.org/
disaster-risk-reduction
[Accessed 30/04/2010]
[C10] See [C7]
[C11] Quarantelli, E. 1999. University of Delaware
Disaster Research Center. Disaster Related Social
Behavior: Summary Of 50 Years Of Research Findings
[C12] The Institute for Business & Home Safety, 2009.
Vulnerable Populations [online]. Available at http://
www.disastersafety.org/resource/resmgr/pdfs/vulner-
able_populations.pdf
[Accessed 16/03/2010]
Techniques
Shelter Page 75
Water Page 93
Cooking Page 111
Communications Page 123
1. Introduction 2. Four basic areas
Based on the previous research, the For the Disaster Preparedness solu-
following criteria were established: tion that I suggest, I've grouped the
supplies and techniques in 4 areas:
Simplify Disaster Preparedness
requirements Shelter
Simplify access to Disaster Pre- Water
paredness Access Food
Communications
I've simplified the requirements
of Disaster Preparedness require-
ments by reducing the list of basic These areas correspond to the basic
material and to frame Disaster needs of people after a Disaster Cluster Activation in Haiti 2010 Earthquake Relief
Preparedness as an activity more and while not complete to typical
related with the acquisition of ma- Disaster Preparedness standards,
terial supplies and basic technical provide means for people to make
knowledge, instead of the whole a minimal Disaster Preparedness
spectrum of measures previously kit.
13 Agriculture
presented in section E Practices from previous assistance Early Recovery
12 Nutrition
This reduction accepts that the efforts provide a glimpse of what
11
more complete Disaster Prepared- professionals in Disaster Manage- 10
ment believe it is more important Protection Camp
ness requirements better prepare 9
Coordination &
in Disaster situations. To under- 8 Health
people for Disaster. Their only Management
Shelter and NFI
drawback is that there complexity stand this, the assistance to the 7
Food Aid WaSH E
6 ECT
actually drives people away from January 2010 Haiti Earthquake was Logistics
5
adopting them. studied and the accompanying
No. of Clusters
4
graph was made. In it, one can see 3
when each “Assistance Cluster” 2
was activated. Non-Surprisingly, 1 Coordination
Health, Shelter and Non Food
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Items, Food, and Water, Sanitation
days after Disaster
and Hygiene were the first on the
ground. Survival Operations Recovery
Shelter
Importance of Shelter; Approach; Expected Conditions; Requirements;
Coping Strategies; Shelter Elements; Cover; Unions;
Operating Costs; Conclusions
After a Disaster, lack of food and

water receive plenty of attention,
but a sometimes forgotten need is
shelter.
People are very good at improvising
shelter with available materials, but
sometimes, even these are lacking
In this chapter, approaches and
techniques for shelter are
presented and explained
1. Importance of Shelter
After a Disaster, traditional
construction might be compro-
mised, forcing the Survivors to
arrange for new living quarters.
The capacity for building shelter
relies on knowledge that most
people in one way or another,
have. But besides the practical and
technical knowledge to build shel-
ter, Survivors need shelter material.
Shelter is important not only for
its protection functions, but also
because of its psychological effect,
of protection and a relative stability
and dignity.
Aproach to Shelter
Shelter Material
Knowledge Knowledge
Making
Tarp to Tarp Making with
Tarp to Line with ClothesIron
Cooking Pan
2. Approach
Not everything is destroyed after a
Disaster. History shows that people
are quick to take advantage of
whatever means are available.
At the same time, it is unrealistic
to assume that a Disaster scenario
can provide for all Survivors. Also,
Survivors might need relocate, leav-
ing behind some of the improvised
structures that protected them.
Shelter is a very cultural issue, and And one of technical knowledge This is no replacement for tradi- for shelter fabrication, that I think
for different groups, it will be mean to fabricate shelter materials and tional typologies that are deeply holds more promise.
different typologies, features and features. ingrained and probably very well I believe it can effectively result in
capacities. Because of this I sug- Certain elements are common in adapted to the local context. shelter-ready materials, but also, I
gest an open approach, proposing shelters of different kinds (e.g. But can help survivors in making think it can end up being a valu-
adaptable procedures. structure, cover, stakes, pitching shelter without using more materi- able know-how for Survivors, even
lines) and I suggest alternative als than necessary or under situa- outside the frame of a Disaster. It
My approach is two fold: one of
ways of achieving the same effect. tions where traditional typologies might have other applications, be a
general knowledge that can be
do not work. commercial venture or just an
used regardless of specific type of
shelter. It is the second side of my inspiration for further
approach, the technical knowledge improvement.
3. Expected Conditions amenizing presence. When it comes If this has physical challenges per
to shelter, these aspects play a se, the social ones are also very
All Disasters are different, but there
noteworthy part. relevant. Proposed shelter should
are some common points among
Population Density and the elimina- acknowledge this and aim to ame-
many of them. Here are listed some
tion of Pre-Disaster shelter mean liorate such conditions through
3.1 Urban setting that space is at a premium and flexibility and privacy
As introduced in the chapter "Di- people will be closer together. The dependence on outside sup-
sasters", cities present their own plies means that Survivors will
challenges, related with their have to make do with whatever re-
population density, dependence on sources are already available, after
outside supply and lack of Nature's the Disaster.
3.2 Social Rearrangement is one more reason not to design a

Despite the debunking of Disaster specific product.
Hysteria myths ( see section A "Di-
sasters"), it is still expectable that
Post-Disaster Conditions change
some social dynamics, partially
fueled by the likely halting of basic
services.
One's Disaster Resilience is posi-
tively correlated with belonging to
Pre-Disaster groups [D1]. The relation
between such groups affects social
cohesion [D2]. Of these pre-Disaster
groups, there is no better than fam-
ily or household. [D3]
Because the social sphere is not
static, shelter should be able to ac-
commodate changing needs, taking
the family as the basic social unit.
This means that any shelter sug-
gestions should allow for flexible
use and people's adaptation. This
4. Requirements
With a drawn picture of what are
the human needs concerning
shelter, it is possible to list what is
required from this area of the as-
signment. Suggested shelter
solutions must:
Provide shelter or means to

achieve shelter, effectively pro-
tecting users from weather and
privacy invasion
(minimum 1,6 m2; ideally 2,7m2
covered)[D4]
Be cheap, light and adaptable.
Guide users in making/adapting
shelter to their needs
Teach users in shelter material
fabrication techniques
5. Coping Strategies
The suggested way for people to
acquire enough Shelter material is
to have families produce their own
plastic tarp.
The suggested techniques are
simple enough to be taken upon
individually, but group making can
also be very engaging and econom-
ically efficient.
For families to make their own
plastic shelter material, they would
have to assess how much material
they need.
To help such assessment, in the
final educational solution, proposed
by this project, there are indica-
tions for this.
These are mentioned in previous
section, "requirements".
6. Shelter Elements: Connections of BoP populations and their daily These elements combine the most
Openings/closures experiences with poverty. adaptation potential with the fact
Shelter, regardless of what type it
In this project, the following fea- that they are the least intuitive
is, usually has the following ele-
tures are explored and given solu- aspects of shelter making.
ments. This account illustrates what is nec-
essary to achieve in terms of shel- tions for: People all over the world have been
Stakes making shelter in culturally appro-
ter production, within this project. Cover
Pitching lines (and adjustment) priate manners, fitting to local chal-
However, not all of the listed ele- Connections lenges. Providing them with ideas
Structure ments will be re-designed for this
Openings/Closures on the listed components allows for
Cover project. I feel this avoids what more flexible shelter making.
would be a rather patronizing view
that are collected, selected, cleaned
and fused together. [D5]
Siem told me that the specific
technology used for the RagBag®
material was patented, so I had to
look elsewhere.
While researching for shelter solu-
tions, I found Ruby Sprengle, a
Product Design student from the
University of Oregon. Unaware of
RagBag®, she had also starting
fusing plastic bags together with
an clothes-iron, to create tarps that
can be used as shelter. She calls it
the UtilitQuilt. [D6]
I contacted her to know more about

the process and was very happy to
find out it is extremely easy.
Coincidentally, when I mentioned
the idea to the Client of this
project, he showed me his own
7. Cover revenue sources for impoverished plastic sheeting, it cost me 15 Euro. experiences with the
populations. This deserves more This is not a lot by western stan- technique, this time using a T-shirt
The suggested cover material is
study before any further claims are dards, but it is much more relevant print press.
easy to produce, scalable, and
made. for people that live with less than
made from waste.
For the cover material, I suggest 2$ US a day.
Besides being very inexpensive,
using fused plastic bags, made into I had heard about RagBag®
making the shelter from waste
large patches of sturdy, water proof through I. R. Siem Haffmans, who I
might have collateral benefits of
tarp. met in a internship interview.
creating commercial demand for
some types of refuse (e.g. plastic At the beginning of this project, RagBag® produces bags and purs-
bags) and eventually create more when I bought a 4m X 3m piece of es made from recycled plastic bags
It was decided to try to improve on The clothes iron method was also A relevant aspect is that a movable
the technique, to make it acces- used, which is fairly simpler and recipient allows for very flexible
sible to virtually anyone. gives better results due the faster use (as opposed with a press, for
In the process, it was discovered heating up and easier temperature instance).
that similar results are attainable control. Because of the improvising nature
with a simple container where hot This project describe both of the explored techniques, figures
coals are put. Such container must techniques, thoroughly tested by on production output are ap-
have an heat resistant handle (I the author. The decision to use one proximate. The heat needed for the
used an Wok) and can be pressed technique over the other should process can shrink and deform the
over the plastic bags. be guided by what resources are raw material, creating a fluctuation
available. in sizes, output rates and costs.
the material.
Connecting the material to other
components in the middle of the
tarp, however, calls for a technique
that does not permanently dam-
age the shelter material. Any holes
would reduce the water tightness
of the material and should be
avoided
For this I suggest a common camp-
ing trick that requires minimal
material.
8.3 Connecting tarp and tarp,

temporarily
Although no set shelter configura-
tion is suggested, the ability of
closing a shelter can improve its
quality and comfort. Openings/
Closures diverge from connections
in the sense that they allow for
repeated cycles of operation.
An entrance done with this tech-
8. Unions Like most of suggested solutions, material. In this case, connecting nique might require several closing
these are simple implements, easy different tarps allows for the mak- points, much like a shirt is closed
The described cover making tech-
to understand and build upon, ing of larger pieces of shelter cover. by several buttons.
niques allow for virtually any size
made from waste material.
and shape of cover material to be 8.2 Connecting tarp and pitching For each closing point, the follow-
made, but this does not help Introduced here, these techniques line ing material is needed.
ad-hoc modification of shelter. are fully explained in Appendix D
Connecting pitching lines to tarps
For that purpose, I describe the 8.1 Connecting different tarps: at the edge of those should be no
following connections systems to problem and puncturing the mate-
connect different shelter tarps and When conditions call for a different
use of existing material, it is use- rial for this possibility does not
pitching lines. reduce the sheltering function of
ful to have ways of adapting said
15 bags = 1,65 Euro
Estimation of Costs 1m² of shelter material
(1 bag = 0,11 Euro)
Cambodia, 2010
10m = 1 Euro
(1 m = 0,10 Euro)
It takes roughly 3 bags to make a
square meter of 2-ply shelter
Plastic Bags + Oven Paper Energy material:
Material Costs Operating Costs 3 bags = 0,33 Euro
(avoidable) (fixed) (1 m2 = 0,33 Euro)
The oven paper can be used sev-
Required fire 0,1/m2 1,5 kg Charcoal/m2 eral times. With the Fire Plastic
Resources 3/m2 Bag Fusing technique, 30cm last
electricity 0,075/m2 0,022 kWh/m2
for around 3 m2 and with Electrical
Plastic Bag Fusing, 60 cm (due to
Cost of fire EUR 0,01 EUR 0,12 different covering methods) last for
Resources EUR 0,33
electricity EUR 0,0075 EUR 0,002 around 8 m2.
Oven paper with fire:
0,30 / 3 m2 = 0,1/ m2
Cambodian GDP per capita: EUR 663 Oven paper with iron
0,60 / 8 m2 = 0,075m/m2
Using Cambodia as an example of
application and my results as a
9. Operating Costs same period Common resources
benchmark, I calculated the prices
To further understand what are the In all the experiments conducted, Regardless of employed technique, for 1 m2 of shelter material. It
costs of producing shelter mate- black polyethylene garbage bin the garbage bags and oven paper becomes very clear that electrical
rial, I estimated the starting invest- bags where used to ease material were used. Although it is expected power is the most efficient way to
ments and running costs for both procurement during the project. that the target users will not buy produce shelter material.
Plastic Bag Fusing Techniques. The vast majority of plastic bags bags purposely for the making of
shelter, an indicative price is given Fire based production costs:
The output rates already show an are made of polyethylene, so the
and the same happens for the oven EUR 0,46/m2
advantage of EPBF over FPBF, with results are relevant even if users
resort to other types of bags. paper: Electric based production costs:
the first having more than twice
EURO 0,3395/m2
the output of the second, for the
10. Conclusions
Shelter material is very important
for Disaster Preparedness, especial-
ly if there is a possibility for people
to stay away from home for several
days. The typical cost of "regular"
plastic sheeting was deemed to be
too expensive for the BoP,
Luckily, the plastic bag fusing
technique works rather well. Even
more, it can be done with or with-
out electricity.
This allows for families to make
their own Disaster Preparedness
supplies for shelter, fulfilling the
simplicity criterion.
References
[D1] Chang K. 2009. Community cohesion after a natu-
ral disaster: insights from a Carlisle flood Disasters,
Disasters; 34, 2 26 October 2009, 0361-3666[D2] Rules
of three
[D2] Quarantelli, E. 1999. University of Delaware Disas-
ter Research Center. Disaster Related Social Behavior:
Summary Of 50 Years Of Research Findings
[D3] Trost, Jan, ed; Hultaker, Orjan, ed. Family and
disaster. Uppsala, International Library, Mar. 1983.
p.43-62. (International Journal of Mass Emergencies
and Disaster : Special Issue : Family and Disaster
[D4] OXFAM. 1989. Plastic Sheeting - its use for emer-
gency shelter and other purposes. [Online] available
at: http://plastic-sheeting.org/ref/Plastic-Sheeting-
revision3-1989-web.pdf
[Accessed 22/03/2010]
[D5] RagBag. 2010. Website [Online] Available at:
http://www.ragbag.eu/.
[Accessed 13/04/2010]
[D6] UtilityQuilt. 2010. UtilityQuilt Blog [Online] Avail-
able at: http://utilityquilt.blogspot.com/2010/02/
beginning.html. [Updated 17/02/2010]
[Accessed 13/04/2010]
Water
Importance of water; Approach; Expected Conditions;
Requirements; Treatment Strategies; Treatment Techniques;
Water Storage; Sanitation and Waste Management; Conclusions.
In a Post-Disaster situation, Water

deserves special attention.
Water supplies are very fragile
against damage or contamination.
Water being so necessary for sur-
vival, it is crucial to include in this
project techniques to treat water.
In this chapter, these techniques
are presented.
Priorities in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 1. Importance of water age, exerted work and environmen-
tal conditions.
It is a known fact that life requires
water to thrive and humans specifi- Besides human hydration and
cally need around 2 liters of water cooking , water is also needed for
daily [E1] to survive. This number hygienic and sanitary purposes. Es-
excludes water that is taken in the pecially in a Post-Disaster situation,
Hygienic
food, also very important. where basic services are interrupt-
Behaviours
ed, there should be some attention
The World Health Organization plac-
to prevent the spread of disease.
es severe Dehydration at 2% loss of
body weight due to fluid losses. For this reason, when considering
Basic water needs, some water must be
After this point, proper hydration
Sanitation factored in for personal hygiene
balance requires more than simple
and facilities management.
fluid intake and asks for special-
ized strategies. It seems clear that As water gets used it might require
the best approach to the problem re-treating or proper disposal.
is to ensure a sufficient supply of
Enough
potable water to avoid falling into a
Clean Water
state of dehydration.
How much water is needed by an
individual depends greatly on a
Source: World Health Organization - Water Sanitation & Health, 2002 number of factors such as gender,
2. Approach Household Water Treatment and dressing the

Storage methods are simple, de- second. Besides Water Treatment,
There are several approaches that
centralized approaches to water Storage also takes an important
can be taken to address the issue
management. Their applicability role, more so in cases of biological Available
of water supply to Disaster affected Water
is positively influenced by their contaminants. Biological contami- Resourcess Supply
populations. For this assignment,
low requirements and appreciable nants, due to their potential for
Household Water Treatment and
effectiveness in combating water- growth, present the biggest threat
Storage (HWTS) was chosen for its
borne disease. to cross-contamination of previ-
scalability, focus on simple, easy
Widely advocated for non-Crisis ously treated water. Type of
solutions and implementation po-
tential. The World Health Organiza- situations, HWTS have the potential- Water Storage approaches hinge on
tion (WHO) states that HWTS: ly to be used after Disaster affects two main principles:
water supply.
1. Dramatically improves microbial 1 - Identification of treated and
In some situations, populations untreated water and vessels
water quality
might already be familiar with HWTS
2. Significantly reduces diarrhoea methods, which positively influenc- 1 - Separation of treated and
es their application after Disaster potentially untreated water and
3. Is among the most effective of
strikes. vessels.
water, sanitation and health inter-
More on Water Storage can be
ventions It is important to note that fighting found in part 10. "Water Storage"
4. Is highly cost-effective waterborne disease is much easier
5. Can be rapidly deployed and than to reverse chemical or inert
taken up by vulnerable groups. [E2] contamination. HWTS techniques
typically are not capable of ad-
Type of Urban Area

Inland Urban Area
Shoreline Urban Area
3. Expected conditions of reservoirs, sewer or industrial water is present in many other- Saline water can be distilled (or be
contamination of water reserves, wise overlooked sources. It is the filtrated through Reverse Osmosis)
The impact of a Disaster is depen-
among other often unforeseeable scarcity of water that leads to the to remove the salt content.
dent on where it takes place and
consequences [E3]. tapping into alternative sources of This will not be covered in this
which system it affects. As a conse-
3.2 Water Supply Condition water. project.
quence of this specificity, it would
not be accurate to draw a unique Water supply can be unfit for hu- This project does not deal with the
scenario with the expected condi- man consumption in more ways collection of water.
tions related to water supply. than one. It might be simply in-
For this reason, this project is 3.2.2 Saline Water:
sufficient, be too saline or simply
based on two different but equally chemically and biologically contam- Fresh water has less than 1
extreme scenarios of water condi- inated. For each situation there are grams of salt parts per liter, above
tions following a Disaster. steps to be taken that can improve that limit and water becomes preju-
the condition of the water supply. dicial to consume. The increased
3.1 Urban setting salt contents require more meta-
Urban areas require plenty of re- 3.2.1 Scarce Water: bolic work to be processed and in
sources but produce very little. If water is in short supply, return, more water is consumed by
the solution is to harness all pos- the body, accelerating dehydration
With water, the situation can be
sible sources of water. Moisture is
[E4]
.
similar, especially if a Disaster has
affected the infrastructure that a possible source of water and can
ensures the water supply of the be created with fresh vegetation
city. Such breakdowns could be and water-based fluids (includ-
interruption of water lines, leaking ing urine). The general fact is that
3.2.3 Contaminated Water: Choice of water treatment for types of water from various sources.
Water Contamination poses a seri-
ous problem in Disaster situations
not only because it is a common Developing Developing/
occurrence, but also the character- Country Developed
istic uncertainty of Disaster effects Tap Water Country
Water
makes it extremely hard to esti-
clear cloudy
mate which contaminants might be Primary Concern and Treatment surface surface
present. To further complicate mat-
ters, not all contamination is easily Primary Concern
addressed without complex, large
Giardia species, enteric bacteria
scale and highly technical methods. Bacteria, Giardia species, some viruses
A complete list of possible generic All enteric pathogens, inc Cryptosporidium
contaminants follows [E5]: Unpleasant taste plus microorganisms
Disinfectants Method Used

Disinfectant By-products
Inorganic Chemicals
Micro-organisms
Organic Chemicals
Radio nuclides
Of this list, all but Micro-Organism

contaminants need purification appear discouraging, it is important
technologies not practical for small to refer that not all these contami-
scale purification. Technologies nants are necessarily present in
such as reverse Osmosis, Activated any given water supply.
Carbon, Kinetic Degradation Fluid,
Regardless of type of Urban area,
Sediment Filters and Iron Reduction
in Disaster situations populations
Filters are not within reach for the
are advised to consider all available
target population.
water supplies as contaminated or
Although the extent of the list, brackish , exceptions being intact
coupled with the amount of “unpre-packaged supplies.
treatable” contaminants might
Water Treatment and Storage Requirements 4. Requirements

The preceding paragraphs draw
a picture of what are basic water
needs and possible Post-Disaster
Available conditions in relation with the sup-
Resources ply of water. These help define the
requirements for the selected water
Little technical procurement and treatment tech-
know-how niques.
The suggested water procurement
and treatment techniques must:
No Specialized
Treatment Supplies Result in an increase of available
Water 2l - 7,5l
potable water supplies
consumption
Needs (person/day) No Specialized Provide each person covered by
Analysis Supplies Preparedness efforts with a mini-
mum of 2 liters of drinking water,
scalable to a full 20 liters, for
consumption and hygiene
12,5l Little or
hygiene/sanitation No Water Guide the user in the evaluation of
(person/day) water sources
Uncertain Water Remove or inactivate biological
condition contaminants
Eliminate or reduce particulates
Unusable or Use only cheap and easily attain-
Contaminated Water able, simple, generic materials
Water Require very little technical
Supply Condition knowledge
Have application potential for
off-Disaster periods.
Source: World Health Organization - Water Sanitation & Health, 2002
5. Water Treatment Principles ple requires that the contaminants
themselves are liable to be affected
Water treatment techniques are
by such action. In cases where
based around two main principles:
contaminants are impervious to in-
Inactivation of contaminants or activation techniques (e.g. Radon, a
Separation of contaminants. radioactive water-soluble gas) they
have to be physically removed from
water altogether.
Where the first revolves around
changing contaminants’ structure Advantages of Treatment through
(killing biological contaminants Contaminant Inactivation:
or decomposing chemicals, for
instance); the second hinges on Effective on some contaminants
physically removing contaminants that cannot be reliably removed
from water. from water
Expectedly, the type of contaminant Typically requires simpler infra- Comparison Water Treatment Principles
dictates what treatment techniques structure than separation tech-
are appropriate and in some cases, niques best suited for technical resource
a contaminant can be addressed by Disadvantages of Treatment trough contaminant complexity availability
Water Treatment Principle type
both treatment principles (e.g. Fil- Contaminant Inactivation:
tering, killing with UV light, killing typically high high
low
with heat or chemicals for Giardia Used additives might be ineffec-
chemically typically low medium
Lamblia Protozoa). tive or harmful if incorrectly dosed inert high
Inactivation of Contaminants Additives might create unforeseen

Contaminant Type: Resource Availability: typical resource availabil-
chemical and biological products chemically reactive - vulnerable to ity in civilian, non-technical groups
Affecting the structure of a con- chemical interaction
taminant can be done through Additives might be sensible to en- Operational Burden: operational requirements
vironmental conditions, changing Chemically inert - not vulnerable in terms of process supervision and operating
chemicals, microbes, heat and to chemical interaction costs
Ultra-Violet radiation. The same their effectiveness
Technical Complexity: required infrastructure
principle applies to all options; the Typically require some reaction and technical know-how to operate
contaminants’ chemical bonds are time
affected to a point that it effectively
changes its properties and stops
being a health concern.
Treating water through this princi-
Separation of Contaminants Finally, distilling is based on the Advantages of Treatment through

The physical removal of contami- different evaporation conditions for Separation of Contaminants:
nants is mostly done through filter- different substances. As a sub-
stance evaporates before others, it Effective on some contaminants
ing, but sedimentation/flotation impervious to inactivation
and distilling can also be consid- is separated from them. The evapo-
ered contaminant removal tech- rated content can be captured and Involve no use of potentially
niques. In the case of filters, their condensed again for a more pure harmful additives
porosity defines what contaminants result. This is a known way of treat- Tend to be faster operating that
are removed. Types of filters are ing water, that as it evaporates, inactivation techniques
Activated Carbon, Reverse Osmosis leaves impurities behind. In drink-
ing water matters, this also results Disadvantages of Treatment through
Membranes, Kinetic Degradation Separation of Contaminants:
Fluxion and Sand (fast or slow) in a pure water that has no miner-
Filters. als, something that is surrounded
Filter condition is crucial for
by some controversy related to its
Sedimentation/Flotation separation effectiveness of filtering treat-
effects on human health if it is the
of contaminants is also possible ments
exclusive water source for extended
and takes advantage of the me- periods of time. Typically require more complex
chanical separation between water infrastructure
and contaminants as precipitates Distilling does not remove contami-
or as lower density floating depos- nants that have lower evaporation
its. In either case, the deposits are temperatures than water (e.g. Vola-
physically removed from the treat- tile Organic Compounds, harmful
ment basins. with long term exposures).
6. Selected Water Treatment
Techniques
Water being so important for sur-
vival, it recommended that one has
access to more than one method
of procuring and/or purifying water.
In this project, 4 techniques are
suggested along with guidelines to
help in the selection of the most fit
for a given environment or situa-
tion.
The requirements presented in
section “4. Requirements” are the
evaluation criteria that dictate the
suggestion of the introduced
techniques. Boil Chlorine
The techniques are:
Boiling
Chemical Disinfection
Chlorine
Iodine
Solar Disinfection
All techniques should be included

in a basic water treatment cycle as
pictured on the right.
Iodine SODIS
Time/Temperature Chart
70
saffezone
safezone
65 enteric
viruses
shigella
60
salmonella
7. Boiling
Boiling is a trusted method for kill- 55 ascarias
ing micro-organisms in water and taenia
has been widely used since ancient
Temperature (oC)
times. What is often misunderstood 50 entamoeba

about boiling is its effectiveness,
that is higher than what most esti-
mations used to predict. A common vibrio
45
misunderstanding is that water cholerae
must be boiled for some time,
which is unnecessary and in fact, 0,1 0,3 1 3
wasteful. Time (hours) Bringing water to a rolling boil is for 65˚C) becoming pasteurized.
Heating water up to 70˚C is enough useful in the sense that it clearly
Source:Feachem et al. 1983 Conclusion
to instantly kill all microbes poten- signals a known temperature that
tially present in the water. Even is above the instant pasteurization Boiling is the surest way of inacti-
lower temperatures can kill all Boiling is the recommended meth- temperature (70˚C). vating micro organisms in water, on
pathogens, as long as there are od by a few major organizations a household basis.
Besides that, the gradual raise of
maintained for enough time, as the [E6]
as an emergency water purifica- temperature up to boiling point Largely used by several communi-
graph on the left illustrates: tion technique. It’s effectiveness (and afterwards, down to drinking ties, it still has some drawbacks,
in killing micro-organisms is only temperature) means that water is most especially its fuel needs and
shadowed by its high resources likely to be above at an high tem- presented danger.
requirement. perature for some time (e.g. 15min
8. Chemical Disinfection Despite the differences in effec-

tiveness, both Chlorine and Iodine
Another Contaminant Inactivation
based water treatment techniques
technique, Chemical Disinfection
are described. Even less than per-
can be done several ways. For the
fect purifying methods are better
context of emergency water pu-
than no water treatment at all and
rification Iodine and Chlorine are
the ubiquity of Chlorine based solu-
the suggested disinfectants due to
tions is a strong reason to explain
their effectiveness and availability
its use. Also noteworthy, there is
for the non-specialist. Chlorine and
evidence that long term drinking
Iodine are found diluted in bleach
of Iodine-treated water can bring
and first aid kits, respectively.
Thyroidal problems, problems to
There is some confusion on ef- iodine sensitive persons, pregnant
fectiveness of either method, with women and children. In fact, most
some sources claiming that Chlo- references advise for the seeking of
rine based treatments are more medical advise prior to starting to
effective than Iodine based treat- consume iodine treated water [E8].
ments. Most of collected evidence
points otherwise and academic re-
sources indicate that Iodine based
treatments are more effective at
disinfecting water than Chlorine
based treatments [E7].
8.1 Chlorine Treatment (Bleach) in opaque containers. Household and almost 100% effectiveness.
Chlorine (specifically Hypochlorite) Chlorine loses its potency and it Unfortunately the strong smell of
is the major water disinfectant is recommended that open bottles Chlorinated water often faces rejec-
used for municipal water treat- bleach to be discarded after 30 tion by those who could benefit
ment and has no know toxicity or days [E11]. from it, although it is expected
carcinogenic effects when used for Murkiness, Cloudiness or extremely that during Post-Disaster situations
water disinfection [E9]. cold water affect treatment effec- people will be more flexible in their
tiveness for all chemical treatments demands on water taste if clear
In an Emergency context, Chlorine health advantages are understood.
can be used to disinfect water with and in the specific case of Chlorine,
success rates superior to 99,99% such water characteristics call for a A known method of improving taste
[E10]
, if instructions for application, doubling of the Chlorine dose [E12]. is to add instant juice powders to
dosage and timing are followed. If the Chlorine in bleach concentra- the water. Tea is also an option.
Chlorine is readily found in house- tion is not known, recommenda-

hold bleach, a cheap and easily tions say to use 10 drops of bleach
accessible supply. For water dis- per liter.
infection purposes, non-scented, Conclusions
non-colour-fast bleach. Non-Chlo-
rine Bleach is not appropriate for Chlorine Based Water Disinfection is
water purification. an acceptable method to inactivate
water borne pathogens. It has an
Chlorine evaporates easily and interesting combination of easy ac-
is affected by sunlight, which is cess, low impact on human health
the reason why it is always sold
8.2 Iodine Treatment (Iodine) Iodine use point towards a careful mended. For the scope of Disaster
Iodine is a more effective water consideration of advantages and Preparedness, simpler, less risky
disinfection chemical than Chlorine disadvantages of Iodine as a water methods do have an advantage.
and under the right circumstances, disinfectant, the seeking of medical The required knowledge to confi-
will be effective at killing patho- advise prior to the resort to Iodine dently employ a method affects
gens at rates superior to 99,999% based water treatments and the that method's usability, often con-
[E13] limitation of the time such treat- nected with method adoption rates.
ments are used. High complexity of a treatment
In an typical household, Iodine can
usually be found in the first aid For 2% Tincture of Iodine, the leads to poorer usability and hence,
cabinet as a 2% Tincture of Iodine recommended disinfection dose lower adoption rates by target
preparation. Iodine is sensitive to is 4 drops per liter of water to be population, rendering the system
light and this is why, like bleach, it treated. Like with Chlorine, Iodine virtually useless.
also is packaged in opaque contain- doses should be doubled if the wa- This method is presented on the
ers. ter to be treated is murky, cloudy basis that it might be the only ac-
or very cold. cessible method for populations
Iodine can have harmful effects
on the Thyroid, and general health Conclusions at risk and should an absence of
of pregnant women and children. Iodine based water treatments other resources be observed, it
Even persons not especially sensi- should not be taken lightly, given could very well be a lifesaver.
tive to Iodine might develop health their known impact on human
problems with continued drinking health. Their effectiveness might
of Iodated water [E14]. outweigh these disadvantages, but
General recommendations on an informed decision is recom-
As SODIS involves a continued
exposure of the water filled bottles
to the sun, one of the main con-
cerns when applying the system is
the positioning of the water to be
treated. The perfect medium in a
developing world setting is alumini-
um or corrugated iron sheets, often
used as roofing.
The SODIS project has been exten-
sively researched on several levels
besides mere water treatment,
including application, training of
instructors, cultural adaptation or
geographical distribution of sun-
light. A look into the full official
documentation is recommended at:
http://www.SODIS.ch.
Conclusions
SODIS advantages are easy to
understand. Its effectiveness and
lack of needed resources is highly
9. Solar Disinfection (SODIS) SODIS as a water treatment tech- Aftim Acra in 1984, through UNICEF. enabling.
nique, its simplicity, low cost and Laboratory tests by EAWAG took If the logistical hassle of collecting
Micro Organisms are vulnerable to
effectiveness can be initially hard place and having proved the ef- enough PET bottles is solved, this
heat and Ultra Violet radiation, both
to believe. However, regardless of fectiveness of the method in killing method holds great opportunity.
amply provided by the Sun. SODIS
innate scepticism one might have, all sorts of pathogens, the system
is a method to purify water based
this method has been developed started to be field tested in 1999.
solely on the exposure of water to
by the Swiss Eawag: Swiss Federal SODIS works better with clear water,
sunlight. This method involves the
Institute of Aquatic Science and clear skies and strong sun, but
bottling of water as clear as possi-
Technology since 1991. The initial it can also be tailored for cloudy
ble in PET bottles and the exposure
idea of Solar Water Disinfection had days, when instead of 6 hours, it
of theses bottles to sunlight for at
been presented for the first time by requires two full days of exposure.
least six hours on a sunny day [E15].
10. Water Storage
Biological contamination of water is
a ongoing process that cannot be
fully stopped. It can be interrupted
and contained, but any compro-
mised water source requires a full
treatment cycle before it can be
regarded as disinfected again.
For this reason, the issue of cross-
contamination is a relevant one
and strategies to avoid it should be
in place.
Household Water Treatment and
Storage, due to its small scale
and context specificity is better
served with general guidelines that
introduce the dangers of cross-
contamination, rather than specific
prescriptive measures.
The prepared educational materials
have a too big of a scope to allow
for a extensive description of water
storage methods. Instead, a num-
ber of simple, general advice on
the topic was presented, along with
sources for more specialized infor-
mation. You can find this advice on
the Appendix E.
11. Sanitation and

Hygiene
"Major health risks due to inade-
quate excreta disposal after disas-
ters arise in urban areas following
damage to existing systems, or
when parts of a city receive large
numbers of displaced or homeless
people, so putting increased pres-
sure on facilities that may already
be under strain (...)" [E16]
As every emergency situation is dif-
ferent (e.g. nature of settlements,
available space, number of users),
what is here suggested is a number
of general guidelines to be followed
at all times, that can be easily
adapted to existing conditions.
These guidelines can be found in
Appendix E.
12. Conclusions
Water being such a necessary
survival resource, it is crucial that
people have ways to get safe drink-
ing water.
This chapter proves that there are
few simple techniques that people
can use, that will disinfect contami-
nated water.
These will be included in the
educational package for Disaster
Preparedness. Even thought they
are not instructions for the making
of a product, they are quite useful
in a Disaster situation.
References [E7] Ongerth, J. E., et al. 1989. Backcountry water
treatment to prevent giardiasis. Am. J. Public Health
[E1] World Health Organization, 2003, Domestic Water
79:1633-1637.
Quantity, Service, Level and Health. [Online] Available
at: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dis- [E8] Backer H.Water disinfection for international and
eases/WSH03.02.PDF wilderness travelers. Clin Infect Dis 2002; 34:355–364.
[Accessed 19/04/2010]
[E9]Backer H.Water disinfection for international and
[E2] World Health Organization, 2007, Combat- wilderness travelers. Clin Infect Dis 2002; 34:355–364.
ing waterborne disease at the household level.
[E10]Backer H.Water disinfection for international and
[Online] Available at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/
wilderness travelers. Clin Infect Dis 2002; 34:355–364.
publications/2007/9789241595223_eng.pdf
[Accessed 19/04/2010] [E11] Center for Disease Control & Healthcare
Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee,
[E3] Joel Garreau, 2001.” Nature’s Revenge”. The
2008.Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in
Washington Post. [Online] Available at: http://www.
Healthcare Facilities. [Online]. Available at http://
washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?Pagename=article&
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/PDF/guidelines/Disinfec-
node=&contentId=A24688-2001Aug31
tion_Nov_2008.PDF
[Accessed 20/04/2010]
[Accessed 20/04/2010]
[E4] United States Geological Survey, 1996. Glossary
[E12] United States Environmental Protection Agency,
of water-use terminology - "Saline Water". [Online]
2009. Ground Water and Drinking Water - Emergency
Available at: http://water.usgs.gov/watuse/wuglos-
Disinfection of Drinking Water. [Online]. Available at
sary.html
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html
[Accessed 20/04/2010]
[Accessed 20/04/2010]
[E5] United States Environmental Protection Agency,
[E13] Kahn FH, Visscher, 1975. BR: Water disinfection
2009. Ground Water and Drinking Water - Drinking
in the wilderness-A simple, effective method of iodi-
Water Contaminants. [Online]. Available at http://
nation (Information).West J Med 122:450-453
www.epa.gov/safewater/hfacts.html
[Accessed 20/04/2010] [E14] Pearce EN, Gerber AR, Gootnick DB, et al. Effects
of chronic iodineexcess in a cohort of long-term
Home Water Purifiers and Filters, 2010. Heavy Metals.
American workers in West Africa. J Clin. Endocrinol
[Online]. Available at http://www.home-water-purifi-
Metab 2002;87:5499 –502
ers-and-filters.com/lead.php
[Accessed 20/04/2010] [E15] Swiss Federal Institute of Environmental Science
Home Water Purifiers and Filters, 2010. Iron and Man- and Technology (EAWAG) & Department of Water and
ganese. [Online]. Available at http://www.home-water- Sanitation in Developing Countries (SANDEC), 2002.
purifiers-and-filters.com/ironmanganese.php Solar Water Disinfection - A guide for the application
[Accessed 20/04/2010][8] United States Environmental of SODIS. [Online]. Available at http://www.sodis.ch/
Protection Agency, 2009. Indoor Air Quality - Volatile methode/anwendung/ausbildungsmaterial/doku-
Organic Compounds. [Online]. Available at http:// mente_material/manual_e.PDF
www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html [Accessed 20/04/2010]
[Accessed 20/04/2010]
[E16] World Health Organization, 2002, Environmen-
[E6] United States Environmental Protection Agency, tal health in emergencies and disasters: a practical
2009. Ground Water and Drinking Water - Emergency guide. [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/wa-
Disinfection of Drinking Water. [Online]. Available at ter_sanitation_health/emergencies/emergencies2002/
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html en/index.html
[Accessed 20/04/2010] [Accessed 11/05/2010]
Cooking
Importance of Food; Approach; Expected Conditions;
Requirements; Coping Strategies; Rocket Stove; Conclusions
More Disaster resilient than water

supplies, food is still object of
concern after a Catastrophe.
If the target for this project were
not so destitute, it could be sug-
gested that people stocked up on
food. However this is not possible.
Instead of focusing on the stocking
up of supplies, I suggest the
making of an efficient stove.
In this chapter you can find out
why.
1. Importance of Cooking
Physiologically speaking, food
needs come in third after Shelter
and Water. This is reflected in its
given emphasis on this project.
Besides this physiological aspect,
food and food preparation also play
a big part in domestic finances and
social life.
Cooking can occupy a significant
part of a family's budget, not only
with ingredients, but also with the
fuel and related products.
Since it is not expected that people
in the BoP can stock up on food
supplies, the selected approach is
suggest faster, more efficient ways
of cooking. This is done through
the suggestion of a special kind of
stove.
2. Approach which allows for healthty indoor

use The stove can be produced by
Because of the lack of disposable
a household with common supplies
income and chronic food shortages
often found in the garbage.
faced by the target group, Food
Preparedness cannot hinge on the Also, once its operating principles
stocking of resources. are understood, it his a simple
technology to reproduce and adapt.
It is unrealistic to expect that poor
It has ample Off-Disaster applica-
people that often struggle for daily
tion potential, leading to possible
food, will set reserves aside for a
branching effects on people's lives.
possible (not certain) upcoming
Disaster. [F1]
To address this problem, it was
decided to improve people's food
situation through the providing of
better cooking conditions, instead
of through saving of cooking ingre-
dients or instruments.
The fabrication and use of a "Rock-
et Stove" are proposed.
A "Rocket Stove" consumes less
firewood and can be smokeless,
3. Expected Conditions 3.3. Poor cooking conditions

Food supplies are more Disaster On the other side, for those who
Resilient that water supplies. Food have food, cooking can be a chal-
storage typically resists better than lenge for other reasons. One of
water (e.g. a burst box will keep those is the need for cooking fuel,
some of its contents). This means that after a Disaster might have low
that food supplies do not immedi- availability. As an example, in Haiti,
ately disappear in a Disaster Occur- after the 2010 earthquake, a short-
rence. age of cooking fuel was felt.[F2]
Fuel is only a problem, assuming
3.1 little available food for
that stoves or ovens are in place.
immediate consumption
This is not always the case, as
There is however, a problem. Also sometimes families abandon their
as mentioned before, the target previous homes leaving them be-
populations usually have very little hind [F3]
available food and any surviving re-
sources are likely to be consumed
within few days (if more than one).
Stocking up at the household level
is extremely difficult and external
aid approaches might be necessary.
4. Requirements
The described approach and con-
ditions for the preparing of food
create a picture of what is expected
from any proposed solution.
The suggested solutions for food
preparation must:
Create cooking capacity after a

Disaster Situation
Allow for scalability and adapta-
tion
Use as least materials and re-
sources as possible
Require little technical knowledge
Have application potential outside
Disaster settings
5. Coping Strategies
Fabrication of cooking aids after the
onset of Disaster is possible, but
hardly the most effective way of
achieving best results. The urgency
of the situation and the potential
lack of specific resources hinders
the process. Making the stoves
prior to the Disaster is the recom-
mended strategy.
The presented stove design re-
quires virtually no tools other than
a way to cut tin. This means that
theoretically any family could do it
at home. There is however, a ad-
vantage is working with established
groups (e.g. schools, hospitals,
churches and community sessions).
Not only centralized material gath-
ering can help in getting some sup-
plies, a more efficient way of tool
sharing can be in place.
6. Rocket Stove
travels upwards, more fresh air is
The Rocket Stove is a design by Dr. sucked in into the stove, fueling
Rocket Stove Functioning
Larry Winiarski, that started devel- the fire.
oping it in 1982 for the Approvecho
The focusing effect of the chimney
Research Center, in Oregon, US. [F4] cooking pot
is also beneficial for the heating
It was developed from the begin- of pots and pans, meaning that no
ning to be an alternative to inef- heat escapes, as it happens with
ficient stoves that require logs of hot air flow
an open fire.
wood to operate. Designed to be
easy to produce and cheap to ob- The Rocket Stove design takes ad-
tain, it is a perfect fit for develop- vantage of the fact that a low mass insulation
ing countries.[F4] stove will not suck in the heat
generated by the fire (as opposed
The rocket stove is a characterized as with an heavy, dense stove). chimney
for having an heavily insulated
chimney, and a very focused deliv- This design allows for more ef-
ery of heat.ZI5] ficient combustion and therefore,
lower fuel needs. Because the
fuel
By keeping the chimney insulated heated chimney burns away the
from the outside, less heat is lost smoke, a well made rocket stove
through the chimney. This heated fresh air inlet
can be used indoors with no nega-
chamber heats up the air, com- tive health effects.
pletely burning the fuel. The heated
air is focused on the pot and as it Source: Aprovecho Research Center
A good rocket stove will only need
minimal fuel (e.g. twigs, wood
splinters)
Rocket Stoves have been exten-
sively introduced in developing
countries with success. Because
their innovation does not disrupt
old habits (like a Solar oven does,
for instance), people are quicker to
adopt it.
I made a rocket stove from simple
materials that can be expected
to be found in most developing
countries. This experiment 1s a
benchmark for the teaching of the
technique. My used materials are
described between brackets.
The Rocket stove can be made from and materials with a large thermal this means using less than perfect
different materials and is eas- mass will absorb a lot of heat. insulating materials, such as clay.
ily adapted. Its size and building For this reason, sand or clay are In said cases, it helps if the insula-
blocks can be changed and once not good insulators. Chimneys in- tion is mixed with hay or hollow
the general principle is understood, sulated with them will lose a lot of weeds, cane, etc.
people can iterate on the design. heat to them. Wood ash is the rec- Rocket stoves are adaptable and
The insulation between the chim- ommended insulation, if kept dry. scalable because changing their
ney and the body of the stove can When making stoves from alterna- architecture or size, while keeping
be made of several materials. The tive materials, sometimes one will the insulated chimney principle will
only rules to remember is that be forced to adapt. In some cases make the result just as effective.
trapped air is the best insulator,
7. Conclusions
It took me roughly one hour to fab-
ricate the stove (which have cost
roughly 7 Euro because I used new
supplies to make it). When testing
it, it took some iterations on the
design (reducing space between
chimney and bottom of pot, bend-
ing top of stove inwards to create
pot support and focusing flame
with the chimney cover).
When everything had been opti-
mized the system was quite ef-
ficient, bringing 1,5l of water to
a rolling boil within 10 minutes.
It required around 0,5kg of wood
pieces to do so.
The Rocket stove is a good cooking
device that can actually be used
outside Disaster circumstances. Its
simple requirements and construc-
tion allow for the teaching of its
fabrication and local production,
both before and after the Disaster.
References
A1] Survival Topics, 2010. How Long can you live
without food [Online]. Available at http://www.
survivaltopics.com/survival/how-long-can-you-live-
without-food/
[Accessed 24/05/2010]
[F1] The Institute for Business & Home Safety, 2009.
Vulnerable Populations [Online]. Available at http://
www.disastersafety.org/resource/resmgr/pdfs/vulner-
able_populations.pdf
[Accessed 16/03/2010]
[F2] World Food Program/ Womens Refugee Commis-
sion., 2010. Cooking Fuel Needs in Haiti:A Rapid As-
sessment [Online]. Available at http://www.reliefweb.
int/rw/RWFiles2010.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/
KHII-83T9MR-full_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf
[Accessed 24/05/2010]
[F3] Visíon Mundial, 2008. Testimonies - Families from
Villa Victoria Visit their Flooded Community [online].
Available at http://www.visionmundial.org/historias_
de_vida.php?id_historia=14&id_idioma=2
[Accessed 24/05/2010]
[F4] Aprovecho Research Center, 2009. ARC's History
[Online]. Available at http://www.aprovecho.org/lab/
aboutarclist/mission
[Accessed 24/05/2010]
[F5] Appropriate Technology Encyclopedia, 2009.
CCAT Rocket Stove[Online]. Available at http://www.
appropedia.org/CCAT_rocket_stove
[Accessed 24/05/2010]
Communications
Introduction; Importance of Communications; Radios as means to communicate;
Approach; Type of radio; Institutions; Conclusions
In Post-Disaster situations, having

access to updated information is of
the highest importance.
Unlike other areas contained in this
project, having access to
Communication means does not
hinge on the making of products or
individually applicable techniques,
but on the request for external
help.
In this chapter, the approach to
the acquisition of radio devices is
presented.
1. Importance of
Communications
A common characteristic that
Communications have with the
other presented Disaster Prepared-
ness capabilities, is that they can
be useful even before a Disaster
strikes.
In fact, access to good and fitting
information can mean more aware-
ness to impending risks and more
knowledge on how to mitigate and
avoid such risks.[G1]
In a Disaster situation, three types
of information are often useful:
Description of Disaster
Post-Disaster advice
Assistance information
It is common that early warnings (e.g. aftershocks of an Earthquake), In a nutshell, proper communica-
are sent out from "traditional" characteristics of the past Disaster tions allow people to receive useful
media outlets (e.g. radio and and available Assistance. information that will let them take
television), merging seamlessly It is easy to understand that infor- immediate and near-future deci-
with people's daily routines, where mation about what sort of Disaster sions more confidently.
such means of communication are affected the community and what
already in use. problems might still be present,
It goes without saying that when can help people in making their
people do not have access to own evaluation of the situation.
updated, meaningful information, The availability of accurate infor-
they are much more likely to be mation empowers people to take
taken by surprise by a Disaster. decisions on their future conduct,
This possibility of constant alert- with the confidence of being well
ness to the hazards of Disaster informed.
merges nicely with the Disaster Pre- The availability of assistance and
paredness requirement of "staying plans for future assistance are also
informed", as outlined in chapter E relevant, as they guide people in
"Disaster Preparedness" selecting the best courses of action
After the Disaster, Communications (e.g. stay or evacuate, where to
gain a more urgent character as evacuate, what to take and so on).
they provide a channel for the com-
munication of still ongoing threats
2. Radios as means to - Radio information can be trans-

communicate mitted in real-time, allowing for
last minute updates and the
In emergency situations, radio is a immediate correction of obsolete
favorite communication medium. information
Virtually all advice in Disaster Pre-
paredness recommends the posses- - Radios can reach illiterate and
sion of a radio to be able to receive blind people
[G2]
Post-Disaster information.
Radios have a few advantages over Unfortunately, when compared
other means of communication: with other techniques/products
described in this project, radios are
- Radio devices are relatively the most technically complex, very
cheap to acquire, operate and likely to be outside the fabrication
maintain capabilities of our target group.
- Radio emissions are relatively It is also considered that if a per-
cheap and fast to produce (when son has the means and the knowl-
compared with other real-time edge to build a radio, it would be
means of communication) cheaper and more reliable to actu-
- Radio signals can reach a lot of ally buy one.
people at the same time, with no
blocking of signal due to overloads
3. Approach Approach to the providing of Radios
Due to the increased complexity of
radios, very difficult to assemble by
our target population, a different
approach is followed in this sec-
tion.
request
The objective is to make sure
people have access to radios and it
is irrelevant if they are or not made
by their future users.
As there are several institutions
that dedicate themselves to the
distribution of radio devices to
populations in need, I suggest their
recruitment.
The suggested way for people go
about acquiring their radios for
Disaster Preparedness is to request
help from local or external institu- Base of the Development
tions that have such capacity, Pyramid Institution
To this end, in the booklet "Make
Yourself Ready", the section de-
voted to Communications contains to lend seriousness and trans- ously by several people and it can
contact information and advice on parency to the communities that be a significant investment, its
how to use such contact informa- request help. sharing is encouraged.
tion. One can say that although people For full details on the suggested
The included contacts are those of are not directly responsible for the method for the requesting of ra-
some institutions that work directly assembly of the radios, they are dios, please consult Appendix G
with the provision of radio listening responsible for the running of the
devices to those in need. radio requesting initiative.
This advice is based on preparation Worth of noting is that, because
and serious assessment of needs, one radio can be used simultane-
4. Type of Radio Additionally, the power supply of

such radios should allow for off-the
This project is directed to the Base
-grid charging and preferably, in
of the Pyramid and acknowledges
more than one way.
its challenges. Some of these
challenges are related to a lack of Luckily there are already plenty
stable power supply ( voiding the of such radios on the market. Not
use of rechargeable batteries) and coincidentally, these are the most
also to the conditions that these often offered by the institutions
devices are expected to face (e.g. that distribute such products.
extreme temperatures, low support
and unexperienced users).
Naturally, radios destined for the
Base of the Pyramid must be
sturdy, reliable and forgiving. Also,
they should be able to pick up a
wide assortment of frequencies in
several spectrums (AM and FM).
5. Suggested Institutions 5.1 Lifeline Energy 5.3 Ears to our world 5.4 Farm Radio International
http://lifelineenergy.org/ http://sendaradio.org/ http://www.farmradio.org
The institutions that are suggested
as possible providers or radios are Lifeline Energy is mainly active in Ears to our World is an humanitar- Farm Radio International is a differ-
the following: Africa and has been mostly associ- ian organization that specializes in ent type of institutions as it does
ated with helping the information the distribution of radio technolo- not directly provide people with
Lifeline Energy needs for Agriculture, Education, gies to individuals, primarily chil- radios. What it does is to provide
Send a Radio (from FEBA) Emergencies, Enterprise, Environ- dren and teachers, in the develop- radio content in the form of scripts
Ears to our world ment, Health and Peacemaking. ing world. and information on agricultural
In the past, Lifeline Energy was While its primary focus is on practices that can help people in
Farm Radio International their agricultural work.
known as “Freeplay Foundation”. schools, its reach now encom-
passes other community facilities, Its action is best felt before a Di-
The first three more directly in- 5.2 Send a Radio the visually impaired, and, when saster, even for so-called “normal
volved with the physical distribu- Send a Radio is an initiate where required, disaster relief. life”. The information it provides
tion of radio devices. The fourth people can pay for radios to be allows people to be more efficient
works mostly with the providing of offered to those in need. In this in planning, growing and harvesting
radio show scripts to improve edu- case, it would mean that somebody their agricultural products.
cation of agricultural practices. It would be offering a radio and the
might an useful contact in periods Send a Radio project would make
of recovery or mitigation. it reach the people that need it the
most.
6. Conclusions
A deviation from other ways of
guaranteeing access to the neces-
sary supplies, the requesting of
radios is proposed.
Main advantages of such approach
are the smaller economical burden
and the more reasonable expecta-
tions of future user's behavior.
One can say that if an user is con-
cerned on how can he or she ac-
quire a radio for Disaster Prepared-
ness purposes (and others, during
pre-Disaster times), it means that
in his context, the devices are not
available in enough numbers or at
a competitive price.
These eventual obstacles led me
to provide ways for people to get
Radios in a perhaps more realistic
way.
References
[G1] San Francisco Department of Emergency Manage-
ment. 2008. 72 Hours.org manual [Online] Available
at: http://72hours.org/pdf/72Hours.pdf
{Accessed 30/04/2010]
[G2] Lifeline Energy, 2010, Lifeline Radio. [Online] Avail-
able at: http://www.lifelineenergy.org/lifeline_radio.
html
[Accessed 11/05/2010]
Educational Package
Education Approach Page 137
Designed Manuals Page 157

1. Introduction
The educational nature of this
project is fully explained in this
section. It begins with a descrip-
tion of what is the approach to the
education of the BoP populations
and then presents the resulting
designed manuals.
This approach considers the roles
of a potential educator, recom-
mended methods to implement
education activities and appropriate
design of instruction manuals.
Education Approach Introduction; Educational Approach; Teaching Disaster Preparedness;

Tools for the Educator; Supporting Theories
The focus this project has on the

transference of knowledge requires
a basic understanding of
educational theory to be pertinent.
In this chapter, the general educa-
tion approach is described, along
with supporting theories.
1. Introduction that reduces the requirements for can be use to build and procure
people to prepare for Disaster. the needed Disaster Preparedness
From the study of Disasters it was
These requirements are of means, supplies.
concluded that there was a need
for Disaster Preparedness solu- knowledge and motivation. To Due to the specificities of each
tions for typically neglected and increase access to Disaster Pre- possible application cultural con-
underprivileged populations. From paredness material means, one can text, it also became necessary to
the study of these populations, it propose simpler, cheaper solutions, include advice for non specialists
became evident that their main which in turn will work towards an in Disaster Education, to be able to
problems in preparing were those increase in motivation to prepare make arrangements for the teach-
of access to information and re- (it stops being acceptable to think ing of the previously mentioned
sources for Disaster Preparedness. “Disaster Preparedness is outside techniques.
From the study of Disaster Pre- my reach”)
paredness solutions, it was clear To improve people's about Disasters
that traditional approaches to Di- and Disaster Preparedness knowl-
saster Preparedness were excluding edge, one can propose the transfer
neglected populations that are not of useful knowledge to the popula-
being materially supported by the tions.
state and/or external institutions.
In effect, this results in my pro-
To effectively design Disaster Pre- posal being an education package
paredness solutions for these poor that covers the teaching of basic
and uneducated populations, it Disaster Preparedness theory and
is necessary to take an approach the teaching of techniques that
2. Educational Approach Educational Approach

Based on the previous explanation,
the selected Educational Approach
is two-tiered:
The teaching of product making

techniques instead of design of
specific product solutions
The teaching of education
techniques for those who will be
responsible for the teaching of the
material solutions.
Base of the
Pyramid
Cultural Interface
Agent
2.1 Teaching product making solutions in the form of informa-

techniques tion. This removes the challenge of
Specified product solutions for Di- funding, logistical costs and appro-
saster Preparedness by those in the priateness of an external solution
Base of the Pyramid pose a prob- to a new context. It replaces these
lem of accessibility. Any product so- challenges with the obligation that
lution will need to be acquired by the people that receive the infor-
or given to the people that need it. mation, must be responsible for the
This creates logistical problems that making of the proposed products.
leave out more isolated popula- It is believed that the suggested
tions, but also requires more funds techniques, explained in the book-
to be implemented. Any product let "Make Yourself Ready", are sim-
design solution will have to be pro- ple and cheap enough to be acces-
duced, and this means costs. These sible enough for the people in the
cannot be support by those in the Base of the Pyramid. To reinforce
Base of the Pyramid and also limit this belief, there is the empirically
how much governments and other proven improvisation capability of
institutions can help the people in those who live with very little.
need. To teach the material making tech-
Teaching product making techniques to the people, a visually-rich
niques, on the other hand, allows technical manual was designed.
for a simpler, cheaper transfer of
2.2 Teaching educational techniques
Cultural Interface Agent
Teaching techniques, instead of
suggesting the acquisition of prod-
ucts does ease the access of poor
people to Disaster Preparedness
solutions. However, this teaching of
techniques is usually not straight-
forward between different cultures.
[H1]
Since the cultural context where
the information was compiled (The
Netherlands, 2010) is different from
the expected contexts where the
information will be consulted (re-
gions in the Base of the Pyramid,
unknown period), one can assume
that it is not enough to present the Cultural Interface
information in a static way. Agent Base of the
Pyramid
It becomes necessary for the
people who will benefit from these
techniques, to translate (not only
in language terms) into contents
that they can understand. This
translation requires a shared cul-
tural interface between the writing drawn form (probably being more a religious leader, a civic leader, a was designed. Its name is “Educa-
of the suggested technical manual used to empirical teaching meth- representative of the government tor's Guidebook” is a companion to
(“Make Yourself Ready”) and the ods), the shared cultural interface or another external institution). the technical manual “Make Your-
teaching of its contents to the poor, cannot be expected to be a stereo- self Ready”.
This person might not be ex-
mostly uneducated and radically typical individual from the BoP. [H2] perienced in teaching Disaster
different populations in the Base of
Someone more accustomed to writ- Preparedness. In fact, this per-
the Pyramid.
ten and drawn technical advice, son might not be experienced in
Because people in the Base of the that at the same time, can com- teaching whatsoever. To allow for
Pyramid are often illiterate or inex- municate with people from the BoP, non specialists to teach the prod-
perienced with technical informa- is necessary. This person can be a uct making techniques previously
tion presented as the written and local cultural elite (e.g. a teacher, described, an Educator's Guidebook
Implementation Method
1
Organize Research 2
3.2 Organize
Educate In this first step, there is a focus
5 Plan
on creating working conditions
3
for the rest of the duration of the
project. This means the creation
of preliminary objectives (prior to
Research), an assessment of avail-
able resources (in terms of time,
Make
people, funding and material), like
4 INEE proposes.
This step is purposely left open,
with no prescriptive account of
3. Teaching Disaster This method has 5 steps, initiated The suggested method is: steps, but with the above sugges-
Preparedness by someone responsible for the tions for tasks.
education of the community in Organize
There is a suggested method for At the end of this step, there is
terms of Disaster Preparedness. Research some information (e.g. some of
the using of these educational
resources. It is partly inspired by Plan the available resources) and some
existing guidelines for the estab- assumptions (e.g. people in the
Make
lishment of educational activities community are not prepared for
Educate Disaster).
[H3]
.
3.2 Research some confirmed information and This is a good moment to involve 3.4 Make
At this stage, the future educator advice on how to use such infor- the community, via some selected Closer to the end, now it is time
has some assumptions in regards mation to plan better educational participants. to make the necessary arrange-
to his/her community knowledge initiatives. There is also a possibility for the ments for the activities planned in
about Preparedness, its educational 3.3 Plan need of appropriate educational the previous stage. This includes
level and what are the education material (e.g. rehearsing an educa- the reservation of space for the
conditions. It is time to assess Armed with the collected informa- tive play). educational event (e.g. the local
these objectively. For this purpose, tion, this is the moment where school or even an outside area in
the educator, preferably working in At the end of this stage, there are
the educator can use the “What are strategies and outlines of the next the community). It is also now that
the Education conditions” question- a group, will determine what are educational material is prepared,
the best ways to reach the people two phases
naire, found at part E5 of the “Edu- based on what was concluded from
cator's Guidebook”. Also available in the community with Disaster the research phase.
and useful at this stage is the “How Preparedness advice and the tech-
niques in the booklet “Make Your- At the end of this step, there are
is the local culture” questionnaire, ready materials for the teaching of
that will allow for a culturally sensi- self Ready”.
Disaster Preparedness.
tive adaptation of educational strat- Such planning should consider
egies. Naturally, it is still necessary what are the educational starting
to work on getting the cooperation points, who will cooperate in the
of other participants that can help teaching of people, if there is a
with their time, influence, knowl- necessity to gather materials and
edge or resources. tools before, what is are the sched-
At the end of this step, there is uled periods for teaching and the
teaching spaces.
3.5 Educate
This is the final phase in the pro-
cess. In this phase, the educator
will teach the community on Disas-
ter Preparedness and its associated
techniques. This is the moment
where the educational materials is
used and its effectiveness tested.
Should the previous steps have
been properly followed, there is a
good chance that people will cap-
ture some of the knowledge. As in
traditional schooling, there are ad-
vantages to the repeating of learn-
ing opportunities, with the added
benefit that much of the research
and planning work is already done.
At the end of this phase, people
should be more familiar with Di-
saster Preparedness and the tech-
niques suggested in “Make Yourself
Ready”.
4. Tools for the Educator Both questionnaires were designed helps the educator to understand orient the educator's study of the
to be simple and indicative, rather the implications of the results for educational conditions around him/
To empower to future educators,
than extensive and authoritative. structuring of teaching activities. her.
it became necessary to suggest a
way to ensure a fit between the These questionnaires bridge the lo- 4.2 Education Conditions The groups are subdivided in
suggested techniques and the cal context and educational theo- Questionnaire smaller subgroups, according to
communities that will be taught ries. (“How are the education condi- the type of question and option for
such techniques. The “Educator's tions”) answering.
Guidebook” present basic notions 4.1 Cultural Assessment
Questionnaire This second assessment tool has Like the first questionnaire, this is
of cultural differences and their also accompanied by an interpreta-
effects on learning. To make this (“How is the local culture”) three groups of questions, focused
on three areas: tion guideline, that nudge the edu-
information useful, two assessment This questionnaire presents the cator in extracting the most useful
tools were designed. educator with five groups of ques- What people in the community conclusions
The first assessment tool was a tions, each group covering a Cultur- think about Disaster Preparedness
al Dimension that has been associ- While the first questionnaire is
questionnaire to gauge cultural What is the educational level of more useful to adapt teaching
dimensions and extract conclusions ated with cultural teaching/learning
preferences. Each of the five groups people in the community approaches, this second question-
on their effect for students' prefer- naire is more appropriate to get a
ences regarding teaching/learning. contains four simple questions that How is the educational system in
the educator must answer based the community picture of what are the expected
The second assessment tool was on his knowledge of observable conditions for hypothetical future
another questionnaire that intend customs in the community. educational efforts (in the topic of
on shedding light on what are the Again, this questionnaire is not Disaster Preparedness).
Educational Conditions of the com- At the end of the questionnaire, an extensive probe into the topic
munity. there is a interpretation guide, that of education. It is a simple aid to
5. Supporting theories attention to specific areas where 5.1.1 Collectivism

cultures are known to diverge Collectivism is related to how
Due to the breadth of the goals
and it also allows the educator to people of a culture relate to each
for this project, it was necessary
“evaluate” his/her current cultural other. Its opposite is “Individual-
to resort to supporting theories to
context. ism”. A culture might be more
inform the educational suggestions
that were made in the "Educator's The used dimensions are not those inclined towards “Collectivism” or
Guidebook" of Gert Hofstede [H4], but those of “Individualism”. In Collectivistic
the [H5] Globe Study, by Sage. These Cultures, people tend to belong to
These were:
dimensions are: groups (e.g. family, caste, neigh-
Cultural Dimensions bourhood, etc) that are very close.
Collectivism People in Collectivistic societies will
A model for learning
Power Distance consider their groups as a major
Experiential Learning Theory factor of their personal identity.
Future Orientation
Learning Styles In individualistic societies, the op-
Gender Egalitarianism
posite happens. People are more
Humane Orientation independent and while they also
5.1 Cultural Dimensions
Assertiveness belong to groups, groups are not
The notion of Cultural Dimensions their main identity. In individual-
Uncertainty Avoidance
as culture characterizing assets istic societies, people look after
was introduced in the “Educator's Performance Orientation themselves (and immediate family)
Guidebook”. It is presented for two and expect others to do the same.
reasons: It draws the educator's
5.1.2 Power Distance 5.1.3 Future Orientation life. Instead of setting goals and and will not have much of an active
Power Distance is related to how Future Orientation is how much plans, people are more likely to be voice in community decision mak-
much people of a Culture will ac- people in a certain culture encour- inflexible and do things the same ing.
cept an unbalanced distribution of age behavior that is focused on way, regardless of changing circum-
stances. 5.1.5 Humane Orientation
power among its people. While in the future and not on the present
some Cultures, everybody is seen situation, like planning or sav- 5.1.4 Gender Egalitarianism Humane Orientation has to do with
as equal to the others, with similar ing money. Cultures with a strong a culture’s appreciation of benevo-
Gender Egalitarianism can be lence, kindness and generosity.
rights and duties; in other Cultures, Future Orientation will promote understood as how equal are Men
different people have different priv- the delaying of instant gratifica- Putting others above oneself is
and Women in a society, regarding considered to be a good and noble
ileges and responsibilities. One can tion versus impulsive action (e.g. their rights and obligations. Natu-
say that the “Power Distance” is saving for a better house, instead thing to do and a valued character-
rally, cultures that are more gen- istic in people.
lower in the first example (because of spending money on immediate der egalitarian will allow women a
everybody has the same “Power”); pleasure). Also, cultures that score greater freedom and equal access At the same time, in highly humane
and higher in the second example high in Future Orientation usually to education and work. oriented cultures, self-enhance-
(because there is a difference in see material success (e.g. getting ment can sometimes be consid-
how much power people have). rich or having plenty of posses- On the opposite side are cultures ered merely self serving and self
sions ) on the same level of spiri- that have a low Gender Egalitarian- gratifying and hence, little humane
A simple indicator of an high ism score. In these, Women and
Power Distance in a culture is when tual realization (e.g. being happy oriented.
and fulfilled). Men do not do the same work and
people of that culture occupy the there are divisions on what is con- Competition, personal success and
same social position during all their On the opposite, where Future Ori- sidered to be appropriate for either ambition are on the natural oppo-
lives because their are not allowed entation is low, people do not save sex. Women are usually limited to site of Humane Orientation.
to achieve a greater status. as much and have a less planned taking care of the home and family
5.1.6 Assertiveness people are more important that 5.1.8 Performance Orientation
Assertiveness is the measure of achieved results. Performance Orientation reflects
how much a culture supports the 5.1.7 Uncertainty Avoidance how much a culture cherishes and
belief that people should be tough, rewards innovation, high quality of
aggressive and persistent in their Uncertainty Avoidance involves work and constant improvement.
efforts to achieve success. Cultures the extent to which, in a culture, Cultures that have a high score
where assertiveness is high, people vagueness is tolerated. Cultures for Performance Orientation have
have respect for the strong and with an high Uncertainty Avoid- a preference for demanding objec-
successful and competition is seen ance, try to reduce the amount tives that will take one out of his/
in a good way, as it forces people of ambiguity and undefined situ- her comfort zone and accomplish
to achieve and fight for their objec- ations. This happens through the better results. Time is seen as
tives. In these societies, there is a implementation of formalities and linear, mono chronic and a sense or
belief that one can control his/her procedures. These cultures usually urgency is also common
reality and results are more impor- resist change and take risks only
after some moderate thinking. Where Performance Orientation
tant than relationships. is low, the opposite is observed.
There is, obviously, the other side Cultures with a low Uncertainty People tend to prefer a pleasurable
of the scale, where people prefer Avoidance are much more open take on life, less competitive and
to avoid confrontation and accept to new, unfamiliar situations and more collectivistic.
life as it is presented to them. For are more keen on taking risks.
people that are not very assertive, Work and private life may not be
persistence in the face of adversity as “scripted” as in the uncertainty
is sometimes seen as pointless and avoiding cultures and people en-
courage a more risk-taking attitude.
A model for learning
Inputs Outputs Transfer Condition
Student
Characteristics
Capability to learn
Belief in own capability
Motivation
5.2 A model for learning Involvement
To inform the educator in what fac-
tors influence learning and reten-
tion, a model from Baldwin and
Ford [H6], focused on the transfer of
Education
training was used. This model hold Characteristics
Generalization
that there are three types of factors Learning and
Principles of learning
that influence learning and reten- Training Content and Retention Maintenance
tion of knowledge. These are: Training Delivery
Cognitive Style
Student Characteristics
Education Characteristics
Education Context Characteristics Education Context
Characteristics
This model is included so that the Support from teachers
educator can have a reference for Support from colleagues
what areas he/she can work on, to Opportunity to apply
ensure effective transfer of knowl-
edge.
Source: adapted from Baldwin and Ford, 1988

5.2.1 Students Characteristics 5.2.2 Education Characteristics 5.2.3 Education Context

Teaching something to a student It is easy to understand that the Characteristics
that is motivated, curious and posi- way you teach something will influ- Teaching/Learning are part of a
tive is much different than teaching ence how well people will learn it. process, which why so many fac-
a student that does not want to This is why people teach different tors influence it. The Environment
learn, is indifferent to what is being things in different ways. A father where these take place also has
taught and does not believe in his will teach a son how to fish, by an importance. This environment
ability to learn or extract anything taking him with him and showing is not just the physical place (e.g.
useful from what is being present- the child how it is done. A teacher class room), but the more general
ed. The following characteristics are teaches mathematics with lessons social ambient that surrounds peo-
important to ensure in a student: and exercises. You can see example when they are being educated.
ples of this all around you. There are a few factors that influ-
Minimum level of capability to
learn The following list shows what ence the education environment:
things affect the Educational meth-
Belief in own capability for learn- ods the most: Support from teachers
ing Support from colleagues
Motivation and interest in learning Principles of Learning
Opportunity to use knowledge
Involvement with the education Training Content
efforts Training Delivery
Cognitive Style
5.3 Experiential Learning Theory Experiencing modes:

Experiential Learning Theory
David Kolb has identified Learn-
[H7]
Abstract Conceptualization
ing style preferences, listed in his (“thinking”)
Kolb's Learning Style Inventory Concrete Experience
[H8]
. These learnings styles have (“feeling”) Concrete
been associated with personal and A Experience
Diverging
cultural characteristics. This means Conversion modes:
that it possible to suggest a teach- Reflective Observation
ing approach that is more adequate (“watching”)
to a certain cultural context, pro- Active Experimentation
vided that one characterizes such (“doing”)
context (done with the assessment According to this theory, learning Active Reflective
tools). Experimentation Observation
happens in a cycle, where expe-
To understand Learning Styles, it is riencing and conversion modes
necessary to understand the under- alternate between each other. There
laying Experiential Learning Theory, is not one possible “entry point”
also advanced by Kolb. This theory or “exit point” in the cycle. Rather Abstract
holds that all learning is in fact, than this, learning can start at any Converging Conceptualization
A
the conversion of experiences into of the experiencing modes and
knowledge. The theory advances complete a cycle (going through the
that there are two experiencing remaining conversion modes and
modes and two conversion modes. experiencing mode).
5.4 Kolb's Learning Styles 5.4.1 Assimilating tions and then try those solutions. 5.4.4 Accommodating
Personality and cultural character- People that like to learn in this These people find technical issues People with a preference for this
istics define what experiencing and way, prefer a concise, logical ap- more important than human issues learning style like to use other
conversion modes are preferred. proach. Ideas and concepts are (e.g. the need to solve the problem people’s analysis, and prefer to
There are four possible combina- more important than people. These is more important that saving face) take a practical, experiential ap-
tions: people require good clear explana- and are best at finding practical proach. They are attracted to new
tion rather than practical opportu- use for ideas and theories. challenges and experiences, and to
Abstract Conceptualization + nity. These people like the idea of spe- carrying out plans. They commonly
Reflective Observation cialization and the opportunity to act on ‘gut’ instinct rather than
= Assimilating They are very good at understand-
ing very varied information and test real-life situations. logical analysis.
Abstract Conceptualization + organizing it a clear logical format. People with an Accommodating
Active Experimentation 5.4.3 Diverging
People with an Assimilating learn- learning style will tend to rely on
= Converging ing style are less focused on people People with a Diverging learning others for information than carry
Concrete Experience + and more interested in ideas and style have plenty of cultural inter- out their own analysis. This learn-
Reflective Observation abstract concepts. The find abstract ests and like to gather information. ing style is prevalent and useful
= Diverging topics more interesting than practi- They are interested in people, tend in roles requiring action and initia-
cal knowledge. to be imaginative and emotional, tive. People with an Accommodat-
Concrete Experience + and tend to be strong in the arts.
Active Experimentation ing learning style prefer to work
5.4.2 Converging People with the Diverging style in teams to complete tasks. They
= Accommodating prefer to work in groups, to listen
[H9] People that prefer this approach set targets and actively work in
to learning like to solve new prob- with an open mind and to receive the field trying different ways to
lems. They like to think about solu- personal feedback. achieve an objective.
References
[H1] Royer, James M. (1979) Theories of the transfer of
learning. Educational Psychologist, 14, 53-69.
[H2] World Health Organization. 2007.How to improve
the us of medicines by consumers [Online] Avail-
able at: http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/
WHO_PSM_PAR_2007.2.pdf
{Accessed 15/07/2010]
[H3] Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergen-
cies. 2010. Minimum Standards for Education [Online]
Available at: http://www.ineesite.org/index.php/post/
inee_minimum_standards_overview/
{Accessed 12/07/2010]
[H4] Geert Hofstede, Cultural differences in teaching
and learning, International Journal of Intercultural Re-
lations, Volume 10, Issue 3, 1986, Pages 301-320, ISSN
[H5] Robert J. House, Paul J. Hanges, Mansour Javidan,
Peter W. Dorfman, and Vipin Gupta. Culture, Leader-
ship and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societ-
ies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004
[H6] Baldwin, T.T., & Ford, K.J. (1988). Transfer of
training: A review and directions for future research.
Personnel Psychology, 41, 63-105.
[H7] Boyatzis, R. E. & Kolb, D. A., 1991, Educational
Psychology 11(3,4), 279-295.
[H8] Kolb, D. A., 1984, Chapter 2. In D. Kolb, The expe-
riential learning: Experience as the source of learning
and development. NJ: Prentice-Hall.
[H9] see [H7]
Designed Manuals
Introduction; Make Yourself Ready; Educator's Guidebook; Information Accessibility
This project resulted in two written

and illustrated manuals that
contain information on how to
make Disaster Preparedness
products and how to teach the
making of those products .
These booklets are designed for
easy distribution and maximum
accessibility, regardless of reader's
cultural context
In this chapter, these documents
are described, along with the
principles that were followed to
ensure their appropriateness.
1. Introduction
As previously introduced, the
physical result of this project is an
educational package, comprised of
two booklets. One booklet (“Make
Yourself Ready”) contains visual
and textual descriptions of the
necessary steps to make Disaster
Preparedness supplies. The other
booklet (“Educator's Guidebook”) is
a more textual document, that con-
tains guidelines and suggestions for
a person interested in teaching the
contents of “Make Yourself Ready”.
In “Make Yourself Ready”, clearly a
simpler document, theoretic infor-
mation on Disaster Preparedness
or active principles behind some
techniques (such as UV killing of
germs) were avoided altogether.
In the “Educator's Guidebook”,
more abstract notions had to be
presented (such as Cultural Dimen-
sions and Experiential Learning
Theory) but still, their sometimes
obscure terms were presented side-
by-side with more casual, natural-
sounding names.
2. Make Yourself Ready
Make yourself ready is divided in
5 sections. Each part can be taken
independently and each technique
is also possible to be removed from
the rest of the manual without
losing necessary information or
advice.
The 5 sections are:
Introduction
How to make a cooking stove
How to make shelter
How to treat water
How to get a Radio
This order of the parts was chosen

on the basis of keeping product
making techniques before less
concrete instructions (such as wa-
ter treatment methods and advice
on how to request radio devices).
The expected effect of this order 2.1 Section 1, Introduction Its first part (“What is this book- The second part (“What does it
is that people can start with the let?” explains the nature of “Make want to teach?”) describes the type
What is this booklet? Yourself Ready” as an instructions of products in book, lists the tech-
more product-oriented techniques
and see, first-hand the results of What does it want to teach? manual for the making of Disas- niques and mentions the focus on
their work. This can be motivating How is this booklet made? ter Preparedness products. I also adaptability of them. It also makes
for people to learn the latter skills, informs the reader on what is the a reference to the “Educator's
that do not result in new, usable use of the book, its target audi- Guidebook” as a source of informa-
The first section of “Make Yourself ence, who should make the prod- tion on teaching techniques.
artefacts. Ready” is divided in 3 parts. It in- ucts, if these are only requirements
forms the reader for what to expect for Disaster Preparedness and if it
throughout the rest of the booklet. is allowed to copy the book.
The last part of this section (“How it. It also explains that there a ben- This section has 6 parts and be-
is this booklet made?”) further efit in making more than one and sides the introduction, there are
hints at the adaptability of used lists simple modifications that can two techniques to produce shelter
materials, what kind of measure- be made. material and three techniques to
ments are used and where extra The second part (“Cooking Stove”) make unions to use this material.
information can be found. contains the visual description of The first part (“Introduction”) ex-
2.2 Section 2, How to make a the needed to produce a stove. plains what kind of shelter material
cooking stove It also includes a list of tools and will be made, what possible uses
materials will it have, what materials are
Introduction required and an estimation of cost
2.3. Section 3. How to make shelter per square meter.
Cooking Stove
Introduction The second part (“Shelter material
This section is divided in 2 parts, Shelter material (using Electricity) (using Electricity)”), explains how
one of them being an introduction to use a clothes iron to produce
Shelter material (using Fire) shelter material from plastic bags.
and the other being the instruc-
tions themselves. Union (tarp to line) The third part (“Shelter material
The first part (“Introduction”) ex- Union (tarp to tarp, fixed) (using Fire)”), shows how to use a
plains what kind of stove is being variation of the previous technique
Union (tarp to tarp, movable)
suggested, what kind of materials to produce shelter material, with a
can be used, what is the expected cooking pan with hot coals inside.
cost of a stove and other uses for This require no electricity.
The fourth part (“Union (tarp to 2.4 Section 4, How to treat water cost of treating water, depending
line)”) describes how make con- on the technique and , while pro-
nections between the produced Introduction viding extra sources of information,
shelter material and rope, without Boiling water lays out some cares that should
damaging or puncturing the shelter Bleach be taken on the topic of sanitation
material. This allows for the reuse and hygiene.
of the material. SODIS (also known as Solar Disin-
fection) The second part (“Boiling water”),
The fifth part (“Union (tarp to tarp, describes the needed steps to boil
fixed)”) includes the instructions to Tincture of Iodine water to treat it. It is pictured as
attach several tarps to each other, using the previously described
making a larger piece of shelter This section has 5 parts, including cooking stove.
material. This technique does dam- the mandatory introduction. The third part (“Bleach”), suggests
age the shelter material with little ways to treat water with the Chlo-
The first part (“Introduction”)
holes, one per connection. rine found in household bleach.
serves to clarify what kind of water
The sixth part (“Union (tarp to tarp, treatment techniques are suggest- Since this method requires some-
movable)”) has the final technique ed. It also provides simple advice how precise dosing of chemicals,
regarding shelter. This technique is of potential water sources and it also suggests an easy way to
an adaptation of the “Union (tarp how to select a technique from the calculate how much a liter is.
to line)” technique and is useful for booklet. It provides an estimate of
making of temporary and adjust- needed water for each person and
able connections, such as shelter gives advice on the proper storage
doors. of water. It alludes to the variable
The fourth part (“SODIS (also known 2.5 Section 5, How to get a radio vidual radio for each family and it
as Solar Disinfection)”), contains device further describes what kind of radio
the instructions to treat water by device is people need.
exposing it to the sun. It also in- Introduction
The second part (“Which institu-
cludes advice on how to select the Which institutions can I contact? tions can I contact?”) has the
proper water bottles to do it and a Request a Radio contact information and a short de-
simple turbidity tester that can say scription of four institutions that do
if the water to be treated is clear humanitarian work by distributing
enough. The final section in “Make Your-
self Ready” contains three parts radios to the populations in need.
The last part (“Tincture of Iodine”), and is slightly different from the The last part of the last section of
explains how to use the Iodine other sections due to its particular this book (“Request a Radio”) has
found in the anti-septic Tincture approach to the issue of acquiring a six step guide to request radio
of Iodine to treat water. Because radios. devices from the previously listed
Iodine has some adverse health organizations. It places its focus on
effects for pregnant women, it also The first part (“Introduction”) pres-
ents the importance of information more administrative steps, rather
alerts to this fact. than technical prescription.
before and after a Disaster, it also
lists the advantages of shortwave
radio as a source of information
and explains that this chapter
is not about buying or making a
radio. In this part, it is mentioned
that there is no need for one indi-
3. Educator's guidebook
The “Educator's Guidebook” is also
divided in 5 sections, but not cor-
responding to the same 5 sections
of “Make Yourself Ready”. Due to
the complexity of its contents, the
“Educator's Guidebook” is better
used if kept together.
The 5 sections of the Educator's
Guidebook are:
Introduction
Method
Disaster Preparedness
Education
How is your Community
The order of the parts reflects a

structure of an initial explanation of
the purpose and methodology sur-
rounding the book (“Introduction”
and “Method”), followed by neces-
sary theoretical background (“Di- This Educator's is much less visual 3.1 Section A, Introduction booklet?”) presents the document
saster Preparedness” and “Educa- than “Make Yourself Ready” be- as resource for people that want
cause of its more abstract contents What is this Booklet? to teach the contents in “Make
tion”) and finally a more operative
chapter (“How is your community”) and the more educated nature of What is Disaster Preparedness? Yourself Ready”, it also advances
that contains tools to assess com- its expected reader. What things will I teach? that the book was made for “non-
munity and use such knowledge to specialists”. It presents the book
empower the use of the previously as simple, accessible companion to
The first section of the “Educator's the more pragmatic “Make Yourself
introduced theory (Disaster Pre- Guidebook” has three parts that
paredness and Education) Ready”.
lay a foundation for what the book
will be. The first part (“What is this
The second part (“What is Disaster The second section of the “Educa-
Preparedness?”) introduces the tor's Guidebook” also has three
concept of Disaster Preparedness parts. In the first ("What will be my
as something that people in a com- roles?”) , it is explained that some-
munity can do and hence, become one interested in starting Disaster
more ready to face Disaster, should Preparedness teaching activities
it happen. should expect to have several
The last part (“What things will I roles in a project, depending on its
teach?”), refers to “Make Yourself status.
Ready” as the source of technical The second part (“What method
knowledge. It also explains that should I follow?”) describes the
more information about Disaster overall method to apply the knowl-
Preparedness can be found in the edge in “Make Yourself Ready”
“Educators Guidebook”. and in the “Educator's Guidebook”
to teach Disaster Preparedness to
3.2 Section B, Method a community. This method is also
What will be my roles? explained in the current report sec-
tion, ahead.
What method should I follow?
The final part (“What are the condi-
What are the conditions for a good tions for a good project?”) gives
project? some simple, valuable advice about
running a project of this kind.
3.3 Section C, Disaster Preparedness
Introduction
How can families prepare for
Disaster?
What products to get?
What plans to make?
How to stay informed?
How to convince people to prepare
for Disaster?
This chapter has more parts than

the previous chapters, but has
roughly the same size. Because it
is has more concrete information, it
was assumed that it could be more
easily passed on to students, so
it was divided in more sections to
ease browsing.
The first part (“Introduction”) is
used to explain the concept of the
Disaster Management Cycle and its
four phases, explaining each phase the three principles of Disaster It should be interpreted as a guide should stay informed about Disas-
and justifying Disaster Prepared- Preparedness (“Get Equipment”, to upgrade one's Disaster Prepared- ter risks and ways to avoid them.
ness as the best phase for families “Make plans” and “Stay in- ness Kit, should he/she be able. The final part (“How to convince
to work on. formed”). It also lists the products The fourth part (“What plans to people to prepare for Disaster?”)
in “Make Yourself Ready” as the make?”) lists the basic necessary is directed towards the potential
The second part (“How can families basic things to have.
prepared for Disaster?”) explains plans for emergencies, namely of educator and mentions what are
simple rules for Disaster Prepared- The third part, (“What products to communication and family reunifi- the basic conditions for people to
ness efforts (e.g. the whole fam- get?”) presents the reader with a cation. invest in Disaster Preparedness
ily must participate, it should be more complete list of Disaster Pre- The fifth part (“How to stay pre- (“Awareness”, “Information” and
a continuous effort) and explains paredness supplies, based on rec- pared?”) suggests how people “Capability”).
ommendations from the Red Cross.
3.4 Part D, Education the learning process. This is based 3.5 Part E, Your Community
on the work of Baldwin and Ford
Introduction [I1]
and is used here to bring atten- Introduction
What matters in teaching/learning? tion to the fact learning depends How to study my community?
How do people learn? on more than the student and the How is my local Culture?
teacher.
What are the local Education Con-
This section is one of the most The third part (“How do people ditions?
abstract, dealing with teaching and learn?”) introduces Kolb's Experien-
What tools do I use?
learning. It is divided in three parts tial Learning Theory and Learn-
[I2]
that guide the educator in acquiring ing Styles [I3]

to suggest that some
a new point of view on education teaching methods are more ad- This last section has 5 parts and,
and how learning happens. equate than others, depending on like the previous section, has a
the people who are being taught. somehow abstract content related
The first part (“Introduction”) This will also be used later on, to with cultural assessment.
serves to clear some initial no- interpret the cultural assessment
tions (e.g. one does not need to be suggested in the last section. The first part (“Introduction”),
a teacher to teach and it is pos- initiates the topic by explaining
sible to teach children, women and what is important to characterize a
men). community, mentioning its culture
and educational conditions (for the
The second part (“What matters scope of this project). It also says
in teaching/learning?) presents a why it is important to do such a
model of what factors influence task (to ensure fitness between
community and teaching approach- them and interpret the results.

es) and what needs to be adapted The fifth part (“What tools do I
to the community (“what is taught” use?”) contains two questionnaires
and “how it is taught” and respective result interpretation
The second part (“How to study my guidelines. This part starts with
community”) regards methods and a simple introduction to say how
goals of the study and how will the precise are the questionnaires, who
results be used to adapt the teach- should answer the questionnaires
ing of Disaster Preparedness. and how long should they take to
The third part (“How is my local fill in.
Culture?”) is an important one, Such questionnaire is a simple
where the notion of “Culture” is tool, complete with an interpreta-
described in simple terms, along tion guide that helps to understand
with an overview of 8 Cultural what are the needs for Disaster
Dimensions. More information on Preparedness education and level
the previous chapter, "Education of education of people. It also
Approach". includes questions to gauge the
The fourth part (“What are the lo- availability of teaching support (e.g.
cal Education Conditions?”) starts schools ) in the area.
by explaining what are “Education All questions are phrased in simple
Conditions” in this project and pro- ways, and the possible answers are
ceeds by explaining how to gauge clear.
4.1 Language
In both produced documents
(“Make Yourself Ready” and “Edu-
cator's Guidebook”), the chosen
tone was a simple, direct way.
Topics were often titled in the form
of questions to which the text
answers and jargon was avoided.
When topics required the use of
more obscure vocabulary (to en-
able a further study by the readers,
should they desire it), the original
terms were presented side-by-side
with more mundane names.
4.2 Layout
Both books follow a similar layout,
with adaptations for the more text
dense “Educator's Guidebook”. The
layout is in the common A4 interna-
tional paper and uses only shades
of black and hints of blue that
translate well into greyscale. The
documents were made easy to pho-
4. Information Accessibility the information from the designed There were 4 main areas of con-
tocopy, with strong contrasts and
manuals and make it accessible cern:
These resources were designed block colors. Another feature of the
people that do not share the de-
to be used by people that are not Language layout is the careful division of sec-
signer's cultural background.
specialists in Education or Disaster tions, clearly labeled. This allows
Preparedness. Further more, they However, this solves the problem Layout
for a clear division of topics and
might be from a different cultural only partially and great care was Visuals eases the browsing of the books for
context, with different conven- taken to design the two documents Questionnaire the search of specific contents. This
tions on written and visual com- in a way that minimizes confusion search is eased by the inclusion
munication. This project takes the and misunderstanding. of side bars, titled after the docu-
approach of using an intermediate ments' sections they belong to.
cultural interface that can take
4.3 Visuals
The visuals, besides following the
simple color scheme of the rest of
the documents', followed rules of
clarity to communicate to illiterate
populations. [I4]
Graphic elements were hand
drawn, to ease the interaction with
them and negate a possible “too
designed look” that could be inter-
preted as dry or daunting.
In the visuals, care was also taken are also common. To indicate sat- In the drawn images, multiple
to include pictures of people, often isfactory or unsatisfactory actions, similar objects were drawn multiple
families, making the products smiling or frowning faces, respec- times, instead of a single time with
or using them afterwards (each tively, were used. Also to make indication of repetition (e.g. using
section in “Make Yourself Ready” obvious the visual flow within “3X”).
starts with such a picture). illustrations, arrows were added Finally, measurements are indicated
when necessary. Arrows were also using familiar body sizes such as
To ease interpretation of drawn
used to display the displacement of inches or hands, and liquid mea-
objects, scale was maintained as
parts, but using a different visual surements were displayed by using
much as possible, for the same
style from the “visual flow indicat- familiar containers of known capac-
repeating objects. Scale references,
ing arrows”. ity (e.g. 0,33cl Soda cans).
such as hands or familiar objects
4.4 Questionnaire Design

To ease comprehension, question-
naires were accompanied with
instructions to fill in and interpret
and grouped in ways that simplify
rules of interpretation. Also, the
type of possible answers were se-
lected to force an answer from the
person filling them in (e.g. 4 point
scale or “what is missing?” type of
questions). [I5]
In as much as possible, the pro-
posed questions were phrased in
an evident way, that suggests how
should they be interpreted (e.g.
“what is missing?” type of ques-
tions).
References
[I1] Baldwin, T.T., & Ford, K.J. (1988). Transfer of
training: A review and directions for future research.
Personnel Psychology, 41, 63-105.
[I2] Kolb, D. A., 1984, Chapter 2. In D. Kolb, The expe-
riential learning: Experience as the source of learning
and development. NJ: Prentice-Hall.
[I3] Boyatzis, R. E. & Kolb, D. A., 1991, Educational
Psychology 11(3,4), 279-295.
[I4] World Health Organization. 2007.How to improve
the us of medicines by consumers [IOnline] Available
at: http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/
WHO_PSM_PAR_2007.2.pdf
{Accessed 15/07/2010]
[I5] Philip Gendall. 1998. Marketing Bulletin,, 9, 28-39,
Article 3
Project Evaluation Future Recommendations; Result; Process; Reflection.
Taking a look back at my graduation

project, for which I have been working
since January 2010, I see a clarity that
was not present in the beginning.
This allows a reflection on this proj-
ect's process, its results and
recommendations for future work.
1. future recommendations teachers and friends with experience tion. I am very confident that the end
and by taking a critic look at available result is easily distributed as a product
Because a design project is never over,
data. In addition, I also experimented or digital file, but I'd like to have a
there is always a little more that one
my self some of the presented tech- more grounded distribution strategy.
can put into it. Especially in a project
niques. Such strategy could specify partners,
like this, that evolved a lot from its ini-
It is however, undeniable, that this contexts, and even possible redesigns.
tial challenge (“Design Technical Cloth-
ing for Urban Search and Rescue”), project could really benefit from a I believe this is still possible to do, but
there are many surprises along the first hand experienced application. the lack of interest from the contacted
way. Often, these surprises become This would be useful to confirm or institutions and the limited time con-
opportunities for further refinement. debunk all sorts of informed assump- tributed against this.
tions, such as BoP living conditions or
These are things I think could benefit 1.3 Open-source and Crowd-sourced
exposure to Disaster. Such experience
further work on this project. contributions
would give me a much more solid
1.1 Further Testing of Techniques confidence in the appropriateness of As a product of knowledge, a compila-
this project. tion of techniques for impoverished
and Presentation
I tried to contact a few organizations populations , “Make Yourself Ready”
It was admitted in the beginning of
that do humanitarian work but these makes more sense as two open docu-
the report, that this project suffers
efforts produced no fruits. ments. The educational package even
from not having been tested on the
has a focus on adaptation of educa-
field. Although I am quite confident 1.2 Strategies for Distribution of tional activities, so it is quite reason-
and proud of my work, I understand
knowledge able to consider the release of the
that reality can be quite different from
The reason why I gave this project documents into the public domain.
research or academia. In this project
I tried to tackle this by consulting the such a grassroots, low-tech approach, Better than this would be to create an
best sources I could, by talking with was to increase its possible applica- open platform (such as a wiki website)
where everybody could participate. 2. Result tion had actually been reached during other project I have had in the past,
For better results, it would be neces- the project. But considering all factors, and not only because it did not result
At the end of this project, two booklets
sary to have some platform manage- I think the result is good, is relevant in a physical, commercial product. The
were produced. Although part of the
ment in place, to pose challenges and and has potential for real-world whole process involved much more re-
same package, these documents have
guide people's contributions. There change. search that other projects I have done.
very different contents that drew upon
are plenty of opportunities to make This is because of the large number of
different areas of knowledge. Rather
this project live longer and evolve with different areas that were studied, but
time. I do not have all the sugges-
than highly specialized publications 3. Process it was definitely an interesting experi-
that could offer nothing that had not Because of the organic feel of this
tions right now, but I am sure that the ence, that I doubt I will have again in
been offered by traditional Disaster project, with new areas arising and
a continuation of this effort relies on a professional context.
Preparedness sources, I preferred a old ideas abandoned, I was forced to
more people, cooperating with their One thing I learned in this project,
broader approach that equips a poten- adapt my working style. I did so by
particular experience. This could mean process-wise, was the need to increase
tial user with a minimum knowledge. trying to increase the independence
a new take at Disaster Preparedness communication with stakeholders dur-
I believe this allows for greater acces- of each project area. This means that
education, one based on the bridging ing execution. I sometimes felt that
sibility of contents. someone interested in educational the-
of several distinct areas of knowledge. it was necessary to complete whole
A cross-pollination of sorts I'm very happy with the results of ory, coming across my project, would
sections of the project, before submit-
this project, as I feel that they have not need to read the report to extract
ting them for evaluation and comment.
brought something new on the table. something useful. The challenge was
In hindsight, this appears to have
My only possible gripe with the to keep the independent areas some-
decreased my communication with the
designed contents was the quality of how related. I think I achieved this by
Client and the Professors, while I was
the drawings, that sometimes, despite virtue of the main architecture of the
holding back to perfect content before
my efforts, did not reach the levels I project with the three defined areas
delivery.
though it could/should reach. of Context, Techniques and resulting
Naturally, I'd be more satisfied if the Educational Package.
previously introduced recommenda- This project was a departure from
4. Reflection
Because it was different from what
I am used to do, this project forced
outside my comfort zone. It was a bit
daunting, but refreshing anyway. Many
were the times that I was researching
for this project, completely fascinated
by the things I was learning. In fact,
it made think about future academic
challenges.
This project was also very personal.

Not only it started through my initia-
tive, it was also a very free assign-
ment. This freedom and its consequent
responsibility, made me more aware of
all the little details in a project and the
importance of clear results.
This personal feel was no doubt only
possible because of the trust every-
body has put into me. Whenever I sug-
gested a change that was approved, I
always felt that people were convinced
about its benefits. This has, naturally,
increased my confidence in my work.
A final note is that this assignment,

dealing with the worst type of events,
happening to the most fragile people,
made me more aware of the huge
opportunities to make a difference
through design.
It might be the naivete of the young,
but I would say that it has changed
me.
For more information, please do not forget to consult the Appendix section.
João Rocha, 2010

Digitalgraphite@gmail.com

Joao Rocha Graduation Report

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Graduation Project: Design of a Disaster Preparedness Solution for the Base of the Pyramid Page 1

Make Yourself Ready

João Landeiro Negrão Silva Rocha

135 Education Package 5.1.7 Uncertainty Avoidance 149

139 1.Introduction 5.2.2 Education Characteristics 151

Lard Breebaart, owner of Larddesign, was the Client of this project.

This project in 100 words

This project has two parts:

Introduction A Primer; Introduction; For who is this Project;

A wide reaching project requires clear

1. A Primer It evolved until what it is today, an

78 India: Floods - Jul 2010

15 landslides Ecuador: Tungurahua Volcano - May 2010

Project Results 4. What is the result of this

to make Besides the supply of technical guide-

5. Approach Approach Outline

Instructions and Education Material

5.1 Research in the BoP communities.

Shelter Water Cooking Communications

This simplification is pursued

Simplify access to Disaster Prepared-

Help institutions and individuals in

The sections are, as much as possible,

When proposing solutions to in-

100 people reported affected Disaster. Some Natural Disasters,

Source: EMDAT - International Disaster Database, 2010

Slide Tsunami Epidemic

Storm Volcanic Infestation

Source: EMDAT - International Disaster Database, 2010

World Disaster Occurence insect

Biological Geological Hydro-Meteorological

World Disaster Eﬀects

Source: UNISDR 2005, from data on EMDAT 2005

7. Conclusions specific, many Disaster conse- seriously affect a region's devel-

The target group for this

Source: World Resources Institute

Source: UN Human Development Indices 2008

There is some discussion on what

4. When Disaster Strikes

Disaster Preparedness, as way to

Disaster Management is usually

Disaster Management Cycle

Disaster Preparedness Sub Cycle

2.1 Mitigation sary and politically it can be hard

2.2 Preparedness ciated not with human survival but

2.4 Recovery Recovery measures depend on

3. Preparedness as Project Between Mitigation and Prepared-

4. Typical Preparedness Disaster Preparedness Sub Cycle

Because Disaster Preparedness

5. Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Preparedness and the BoP

After a Disaster, lack of food and

3.2 Social Rearrangement is one more reason not to design a

Provide shelter or means to

I contacted her to know more about

8.3 Connecting tarp and tarp,

In a Post-Disaster situation, Water

2. Approach Household Water Treatment and dressing the

Type of Urban Area

Shoreline Urban Area

Disinfectants Method Used

Of this list, all but Micro-Organism

Water Treatment and Storage Requirements 4. Requirements

Inactivation of Contaminants Additives might create unforeseen

Separation of Contaminants Finally, distilling is based on the Advantages of Treatment through