Post-Disaster Shelter: Temporary Shelter Policies pursuant to 2006 Lorestan Earthquake

On 31 March 2006 a 6.1 earthquake on the Richter scale jolted a vast area in Lorestan Province. Despite a low casualty of only 63, the earthquake seriously damaged close to 20,000 buildings in 156 villages and 2 cities. Since the earthquake had happened in early spring, a full construction season was ahead. Thus, some 52,000 tents were distributed throughout the Province with the intention to finish reconstruction before winter. The affected households therefore had to live in tents while rebuilding their houses. This paper attempts to evaluate the efficiency of this policy by a survey of 75 households in 15 villages. The results indicate that only 54.7% of the households lived in tents during the reconstruction. Only 13.9% of those staying in tents considered them to be acceptable. The affected households introduced improvements to make tents more liveable, such as erecting timber frames on top of the tents for better insulation and weather protection, or adding shacks for storage or kitchen. The main problems in provision of tents were: inappropriate, insufficient and delayed distribution of tents; delay in lending reconstruction loans and grants; lack of spaces for cattle; hesitation in relocating some villages; lack of know-how on safe construction methods; inappropriate dwelling design; and lack of market control leading to inflation.