Portable shelter for use in emergency situations

Tanzania as a nation has experienced many and different natural calamities. For example, records available show that the impact of natural hazards such as floods, landslides, droughts and cyclones is massive. The most pressing problem faced during disasters is provisions of housing to the relief personnel and thos6 evacuated. Portable shelter by prefabrication is a specific mitigation strategy for solving the problem of providing shelter to the relief personnel and those evacuated in emergency situations. The main objective of this dissertation is to design portable prefabricated timber shelter units on modular basis for use by those affected by natural disasters which render them homeless. The other objective is to ensure that the designed housing units are cost- effective, sustainable, easily relocated and are environmentally friendly. The findings of this study are that model plans based on modular building designs can be developed and used for the production of prefabricated timber components and elements conforming to standard dimensional modules. And it is possible to have portable shelter units which are cost effective and that meet the user requirements by using local building materials.