J
une 2020
Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteer home construction is designed to withstand all forces of nature.
In 2018 Typhoon Yutu hit Saipan with top wind speeds over 180 mph. It was the strongest storm to make landfall in the world in 2018. Of the 47 homes that MDS worked on and/or built after super typhoon Soudelor in 2015, all but one survived with only minor damage.
After Hurricane Rita in 2005 destroyed most of the homes along the coast of Cameron Parish in southwest Louisiana. MDS reconstructed homes above the required base flood elevation. In 2008 Hurricane Ike hit the same area, with wind speeds of 110 mph recorded at Galveston, approximately 90 miles west of the parish. The storm surge was so high that this house got about one ft of water. The home remained intact with minor damage.
In 2020, MDS (
with Diasaster Aid Ohio - DAO),
is planning to build modular housing that needs to, at least for its components, withstand wind speeds of up to 60 mph. Why 60 mph? The answer is simple, its individual components must withstand the wind speeds generated by highway travel. Final assembly on site will conform to MDS rigid construction standards designed to withstand the worst furies of mother nature.
During this time of COVID-19, MDS has shut down its volunteer operations. However, for MDS and DAO, shutting down does not really mean ceasing operations, but rather gives an opportunity to plan for future innovation.
An example, being considered, is called “modular home construction” (MHC.) This could become a significant mode of volunteer house construction, which while done locally, when completed, is shipped to the homeowner’s site in parts for final assembly. This would allow for MDS to continue robust disaster relief despite any volunteer limitations imposed by coronavirus mitigation.
This summer, MDS in conjunction with DAO, plan to construct two modular homes (perhaps 3) that will be shipped by truck to WVA. This effort will be congruent with MDS’s Region 1 long-term response to the flooding of homes occurring four years ago. Construction will happen inside an enclosed warehouse(donated by Provia) located near Strasburg, Ohio. This modular project is considered a “beta site,” to test the viability of such a model.
