Building resilience has become a major discussion point recently. Creating homes and buildings that are resilient against disasters is a primary concern of any homeowner.
As the effects of climate change in the tropics become more prevalent, resilient design is a critical factor in tropical design. Hence, there is a new focus on building climate resilience.
We are seeking ways to protect our homes, communities and countries from the effects of natural and other disasters.
Tropical regions, particularly small island developing states, are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Experts are continually predicting worse tropical storms and hurricanes. Every year, it seems that above normal storms are expected.
Rising sea levels are also increasing the devastating impact of storm surges.
What is Resilient Design?
Resilience, as it relates to building and design, is how robust a building is. It considers how well a building withstands the effects of a natural or manmade disaster.
Having the resourcefulness to prepare and maintain systems that mitigate damage is necessary.
Resilience also allows you to rapidly recover and return to a normal way of life as quickly as possible.
This is not only at the level of an individual home but also as a community and a nation. At the level of the community and nation, they respond to the landscape and infrastructure.
After a major natural disaster, our entire way of life can change. Access to many necessities such as food, water, electricity and communication can be a challenge or cut off.
Therefore, having redundant systems in place will assist your ability to bounce back after a storm.
Responsibilities For Building Resilience
It would be ideal if your country and your local community could ensure the quick return of the basic needs. Having a resilient infrastructure that maintains or quickly returns electricity and clean potable water services to communities and households would be great.
However, many of these systems are vulnerable in small tropical nations. The cost of improving existing infrastructural networks to become resilient, is prohibitive and overwhelming.
Therefore, it is a good idea to implement resilient strategies in your own home. This would enable you and your family to be safe during the effects of a natural disaster.
It will also help you return to normalcy soon after the event.
What Is Climate Resilience?
Climate resilience relates to the ability to resist and respond to the effects of climate change.
Science shows that we will experience a significant impact on our world due to climate change. We already see its effect in some regions.
Many countries in tropical regions were already susceptible to many forms of natural disasters. However, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of these disasters.
Unfortunately, this trend is not only likely to continue but will increase in severity over the coming decades if nothing is done to prevent it.
Vulnerabilities And Building Resilience Design Considerations
They are several natural and man-made disasters that can affect homes across the world. These include flooding, tornadoes, wildfires and even terrorist attacks. The main disasters that affect us in tropical regions are tropical storms and hurricanes. However, many of our nations are also susceptible to earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters.
You should build a home that is strong and robust to resist hurricanes and other natural disasters. You should use good building codes and practices to help guarantee this. Have a reputable contractor using applicable building codes to build your house. A well-built home will have greater resilience against disasters. This practice will increase your home’s structural integrity against tropical cyclones.
The main destructive forces in tropical cyclones are the winds, storm surges and rain, which can cause flooding.
1. Wind Resistance
When designing a home to withstand hurricane-force winds, they are several things that can be considered. Things like the shape of the house, the roof and the windows can influence how resistant to strong winds your home will be.
2. Roof Design
Your roof is one of the most vulnerable parts of the home in a hurricane. They are several issues to consider when designing a roof to withstand strong winds. For example, hip roofs perform better than gable roofs, because of their multiple surfaces. Steeper pitches are also more resistant than shallow-pitched roofs. Flat, well-draining concrete roofs are ideal but may have other thermal and maintenance issues in the tropics.
Excessively long eave overhangs also tend to give strong winds a place to grab on to. This is unfortunate since overhangs are an excellent way of shading north and south-facing walls from the sun.
However, the integrity of your roof is primarily based on its connection to the overall structure of your home. Your roof and the structural wall/column system need to be properly secured. Hurricane metal straps are great for achieving a proper connection and adding more resilience.
3. Durable Windows and Doors
Your windows and doors are also vulnerable points in your home. Windblown debris can compromise these very easily. Consider ways they can be quickly and easily shuttered. You can also consider using impact-resistant windows if your budget allows for it.
4. Flood Resistance
Protecting your home from flooding is very important.
Tropical cyclones can bring with them heavy rainfall, which can cause flash floods and landslides. Storm surges can also affect coastal areas and can have devastating effects on your property.
It would be good to avoid building in flood-prone or coastal areas. However, this is not always avoidable in small tropical islands. Coastal properties are the most popular location for most visitors to a tropical island.
Elevating the primary functions of your home on columns or stilts is one building resilience strategy that will protect the house and its contents from floodwaters.
Ensuring that your building can withstand the effects of hurricanes and other natural disasters is a major part of resilience. However, after the storm has passed, how do you maintain a normal life as possible?
Consider some of these design strategies.
5. Reduce Dependency On Electricity
So many of our everyday activities require electricity. Expect interruptions to electrical supply during a major natural disaster. The restoration of this can sometimes take days, weeks or even longer.
A hurricane struck Florida when I was in graduate school in Florida. It wasn’t a very strong hurricane, but it did immense damage to the city’s electricity grid system. Trees caused extensive damage to power lines, and over 90% of the city was without power. I was without electricity for about two weeks. Well, …it was closer to 4 or 5 days, but it felt like 2 weeks, so that’s how I tell the story.
The university got back electricity a lot sooner, luckily. I went there every day even though classes were suspended. It was a relief to be able to communicate with family as well as get work done. I was also able to prepare a somewhat hot meal (noodles in a cup) and enjoy the air conditioning. My apartment was not designed with passive ventilation strategies.
Many of my everyday functions depended on electricity. Hot water, cooking and ventilation all required electricity.
Consider reducing the number of your daily needs that require electricity. Get hot water through thermal solar heating. Use a gas stove that uses natural gas instead of electricity.
6. Backup Electrical Supply
Most of the city quickly got back electricity. This is when you consider the extent of the damage. This was because utility trucks and personnel mobilised from all over the state of Florida and other nearby states to aid the city. With all those resources, it was still a huge task and took a considerable time to fully restore power to the entire city.
This could be a lot harder to do in small island states. They are largely limited to the resources they have on the island. Hence restoring power is likely to take a long time depending on the level of damage to the system.
Therefore, consider installing an alternative electrical power supply. Solar panels are ideal, provided they are properly secured to the structure of your home. They use a renewable energy source that is abundant in tropical countries. A fuel-powered generator is also a good alternative. However, be sure to keep it outdoors and well ventilated.
7. Water Storage
After a natural disaster, the main water supply can become compromised or contaminated. Having personal storage of potable water is essential. Install large water tanks that are connected to your home’s plumbing system. This should be stored in a safe and secured location of your property.
During and after a hurricane, the electrical supply is likely to be interrupted for an extended period.
Therefore, if the water is pumped throughout the house, consider using electricity generated from a renewable source such as solar energy.
You can also consider having the water from the tank gravity fed to taps, where possible.
8. Food storage
Having an adequate supply of food after a natural disaster is crucial. Supermarkets and other food retailers are likely to be impacted.
There is often a mad rush to the supermarket to purchase non-perishable foods when a storm is coming.
Creating ample storage in your kitchen or pantry, for dry and canned foods, may increase the likelihood of maintaining adequate stores throughout the year or at least during the hurricane season.
9. Passive Strategies
Having a home that is natural cooled and ventilated is best. This makes sure you and your family remain comfortable during a power outage.
Even if you are using a backup electrical supply such as a generator or a solar array, it is not ideal to burden the system with something as energy-consuming as air conditioning. Using energy conservation methods would be better to extend the life of the electrical supply.
Many passive and sustainable strategies align with resilient ones. However, some may not, such as the large eave overhangs previously mentioned. You can sometimes be faced with deciding if to build your home to protect you from a natural disaster that may never happen. Other comforts of your home that may be enjoyed every day, can sometimes be sacrificed. However, I think in most cases, reasonable solutions or compromises can be achieved to make certain you have the best of both worlds. Do not let this be a deterrent to implementing resilient strategies.
10. Safe or Panic Room
During your design and construction process, it may be a good idea to designate a room that can serve as a safe / panic room. This room would have an additional level of structural integrity and would be for extreme weather events to ensure your family is safe. It could also be used when additional security is required, like during a home invasion.
The walls, roof and foundations of this room can be structurally designed to withstand extreme winds and earthquakes. This may include reinforced concrete block walls for both interior and exterior. It should also have a reinforced concrete slab over the space.
Any windows and doors to that room should be kept to a minimum. They should also be specified and installed to resist winds and windborne debris.
11. Affordability
The nature of many economies in tropical regions makes affordability a critical aspect of many homes.
Creating a fully resilient home that withstands the strongest hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters can add a lot of upfront cost to your project.
The added built-in features to have your home fully operational with basic needs like electricity and water for consumption and sanitation add even more cost.
However, the upfront cost would probably not be as much as the cost of replacing large portions of your home or your entire home after a major disaster. This, however, is not easy or even possible for every potential homeowner. My recommendation would be to do as much as you can.
In countries with a mandated building code, this makes the decision easier. You will have to do the minimum that the code requires.
If it is not compulsory, consider implementing basic resilient features like hurricane straps. You can then make provisions for other resilient features and implement them in phases.
You can also consider building part of your home structurally resilient that will protect your family and some of your valuable possessions.
Conclusion
I believe implementing building resilient strategies is a necessity in a tropical house. During a major storm or hurricane, there is probably nothing more comforting than knowing that your home is designed and built to withstand what is coming your way.
The tropical region, especially small tropical islands like where I live, can be very vulnerable to natural disasters. Strong, catastrophic hurricanes seem to be occurring more often because of climate change. We have seen how such systems can destroy an island and claim lives.
Future homes need to be able to withstand the worsening weather conditions that are likely to come our way.
Designing your home to withstand such events as best as possible is ideal for protecting your home and your possessions. More importantly, you will also be protecting the most valuable contents of your home; you and your family.
Featured image by David Mark from Pixabay