rebuilding haiti

Allison Arieff on design and architecture.

Highly controversial government trailers once intended for disaster victims were recently put on the auction block.

The federal government recently agreed to sell most of the 120,000 formaldehyde-tainted trailers it bought nearly five years ago for Hurricane Katrina victims for pennies on the dollar. How could it not have anticipated that the sale of those units — perhaps the most visible symbol of the government’s bungled response to the hurricane — would result in outrage? And how can they sell them cheaply to middlemen who will then turn a profit selling them back to those who still remain without housing, post-Katrina?

The reintroduction of the infamous trailers got me thinking about the current rebuilding efforts in Haiti and Chile, and what lessons could be learned from Katrina. The rebuilding in New Orleans might be best symbolized by two extremes: those notoriously substandard FEMA trailers, on the one hand; and on the other, 50 or so well-constructed but contextually challenged radical modern homes in an effort led by the Brad Pitt-backed non-profit Global Green.

These dramatically different responses are the result of a plethora of disconnected parties, each intent on doing things their own way. The uncoordinated response created a situation in which the wheel was reinvented constantly. Things didn’t happen — and still aren’t happening — fast enough. Five years after the hurricane hit, Ninth Ward residents describe themselves as feeling in limbo, and voice concerns about the slow pace of recovery in their community.

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Infographic comparing the structural damage in Haiti and Chile.

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Haiti after the earthquake.

Duany Plater-Zyberk’s prototype for factory-built panelized housing in Haiti.

PermaShelter house designed for Haitian resettlement. Its steel hurricane shutter/tables can bolt closed in case of security risk or inclement weather.

An example of earthbag building. The poly bags used to hold dietary staples are repurposed to create the structure, and then covered with stucco to complete its walls.