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The most important need after natural disasters is the sheltering. However, most of the existing temporary shelters do not meet all requirements for long-term use and not provide adequate flexibility within the space. This paper aims to develop a transitional postdisaster shelter transforming from a closed shape to an expanded form in response to changing functional and spatial needs of disaster victims. The study also proposes alternative unit combinations for various functions, and settlement layouts to create a comfortable living environment for occupants.

The research methodology is based on theoretical and design frameworks which requires inductive and deductive approaches. Forming the background of the study, the theoretical framework consists of four parts which are literature review on temporary shelters presenting state-of-the-art; determination of design guidelines and strategies based on shelter standards; identification of technical requirements; and analysis of existing temporary shelters. Having three parts, the design framework includes design of transformable transitional shelter based on three-dimensional modeling, creation of different unit combinations to be used for various purposes and development of settlement layouts as case studies.

The analysis conducted in this study demonstrates that most of the existing temporary shelters have limited geometric configurations and major problems in terms of their performance, transportation and storage. On the other hand, the transformable shelter proposed by the authors can provide form and spatial flexibilities thanks to its expansion properties, occupy less space for transportation, easily be transported to any desired location in its compact state and be customized according to user needs. Several units can be combined either to serve larger families or to be used for different functions.

This paper contributes to the literature as presenting not only a theoretical framework on temporary shelters but also a design framework on transformable shelter design for the ones who are willing to develop similar transformable shelters based on the determined guidelines, strategies and requirements.

Understanding the supply network of construction materials used to construct shelters in refugee camps, or during the reconstruction of communities, is important as it can reveal the intricate links between different stakeholders and the volumes and speeds of material flows to the end-user. Using social network analysis (SNA) enables another dimension to be analysed – the role of commonalities. This is likely to be particularly important when attempting to replace vernacular materials with higher-performing alternatives or when encouraging the use of non-vernacular methods. This paper aims to analyse the supply networks of four different disaster-relief situations.

Data were collected from interviews with 272 displaced (or formally displaced) families in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Turkey, often in difficult conditions.

The results show that the form of the supply networks was highly influenced by the nature/cause of the initial displacement, the geographical location, the local availability of materials and the degree of support/advice given by aid agencies and or governments. In addition, it was found that SNA could be used to indicate which strategies might work in a particular context and which might not, thereby potentially speeding up the delivery of novel solutions.

This study represents the first attempt in theorising and empirically investigating supply networks using SNA in a post-disaster reconstruction context. It is suggested that future studies might map the up-stream supply chain to include manufacturers and higher-order, out of country, suppliers. This would provide a complete picture of the origins of all materials and components in the supply network.

This is original research, and it aims to produce new knowledge.

This purpose of this paper is to promote the potential for utilizing interior designers as partners on multidisciplinary teams that deal with natural disaster recovery efforts. Interior design, an often-misunderstood profession, focuses on the health, safety and welfare of all who utilize interior spaces. Members of this profession bring a unique and relevant perspective to design and problem-solving.

A self-selecting international student design call supplied the data for illustrating how interior designers’ training prepares these multifaceted professionals to practice within diverse cultural contexts to create region-specific temporary housing units.

The designs submitted indeed, demonstrated an understanding of the holistic process necessary for creating effective temporary shelters.

A limitation of the research is that the design call involved interior design students only. A broader invitation might also solicit entries from practicing interior design professionals.

The acknowledgement traditionally accorded interior designers as essential contributors to multidisciplinary disaster relief teams is tenuous at best. This paper suggests that interior designers have the potential to assume an important role in disaster relief planning and shelter creation. Attention must now be directed toward promoting a universal appreciation of the relevant skills training, and holistic perspectives of interior designers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of post-disaster housing reconstruction projects, propose the conceptual living-transforming disaster relief shelter (LTFDR-shelter) approach where temporary shelter is incrementally transformed into a more permanent dwelling by using living technologies and investigate its applicability to provide sustainable post-disaster housing following natural-hazard-induced disasters.

A questionnaire survey with 120 household recipients of three Sri Lankan post-disaster housing projects was employed to explore how the post-disaster housing projects have performed against the occupants' expectations. Furthermore, the new proposed LTFDR-shelter conceptual approach's applicability to address the existing issues found in the study was investigated.

The paper evaluates and identifies the physical and technical, and socio-economic performance issues of post-disaster housing and discusses the applicability of the proposed LTFDR-shelter conceptual approach as an efficient tool to adequately improve the identified factors integrating three phases of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction employing living technology.

Although the study's scope was limited to the occupant view of the performance of post-disaster housing in Sri Lanka, the findings and conceptual LTFDR-shelter approach could be of particular relevance to other developing countries affected by similar disasters. Further research is recommended to investigate and develop this concept in depth.

This study lays the conceptual foundation for a new theoretical approach in post-disaster housing, which encourages more interdisciplinary collaborations and empirical investigations that potentially enhance post-disaster housing performance and facilitates the application of living technology in the built environment.

The purpose of this study is to examine people’s preferences for some of the key attributes of emergency shelters, including type, privacy level, location, spatial arrangement and pet-friendliness.

Choice experiment (CE) method was used in this study. A standard CE questionnaire was designed and completed by a sample of 293 residents of the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario (Canada), during the winter of 2015.

When using publicly provided shelters, people prefer to stay in hotels, places of worship and then community shelters, in that order. These findings correspond to the values that they place for various attributes through the CE survey. Findings show that responders place the highest values for emergency shelters that provide more privacy, located close to their home, and are pet friendly. Type of shelter and the “arrangement” attributes were not found to be as important and valuable.

This study uses a convenient sampling method as such may not fully represent the study population.

Emergency shelter provision by local, regional and national governments cost significant amount of money and thus it is important that the society get the maximum benefit from it. This will be possible when users’ preferences are considered in planning, design, and operation of emergency shelters. The findings enable emergency managers to perform cost-benefit analysis an increase the efficiency of emergency shelters.

While previous studies have examined emergency-shelter types, characteristics and user-satisfaction levels, this is a novel study because it uses a choice experiment method to extract monetary values for key emergency-shelter attributes.

Nepal is one of the most natural disaster prone countries in the world. Variable climatic conditions and active tectonic processes have made her vulnerable to various types of natural disasters. In addition, other man‐made factors such as unplanned settlement, lack of public awareness, increasing population, weak economic condition and low literacy rate have also made her vulnerable to various types of natural disasters. With these factors in view, advanced technology and sufficient resources are really needed to mitigate natural disasters in Nepal. Moreover, various types of training and other educational programmes are highly needed to raise disaster awareness among the vulnerable population. Hazard mapping, vulnerability assessment and risk analysis are to be developed. Being a developing and agriculture based country insurance has not yet been widely developed in Nepal except in some big establishments and households. Therefore, the role of insurance has to be recognised in the risk management in Nepal. The Department of Disaster Management in the Ministry of Home Affairs is the focal agency for disaster management in Nepal, which formulates national disaster management policies and implements them. The preparedness and mitigation, immediate rescue and relief work, data collection and dissemination, and the mobilisation of funds and resources are the main responsibilities of the Department. Despite various problems, the Department is gradually moving forward to improve the disaster management situation in Nepal. Being a developing country Nepal needs support from international communities and friendly nations to strengthen her capabilities for disaster mitigation programs.

There has been an avalanche of global natural disasters in recent times. In recent years approximately 210 million people were affected, an estimated economic cost of US$153bn was incurred and 68,000 deaths were recorded. This was a work up call that made it imperative for humanitarian actors to impetuously adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) to timeously assist affected populations in disaster prevention, mitigation response and recovery However, the use of ICTs in the humanitarian field is still at its infancy in most third world countries. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the utilization of ICTs in humanitarian relief operations associated with Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe.

Using a pragmatic approach, the study gathered data using semistructured questionnaires that were triangulated with interviews of humanitarian staff that were involved in Cyclone Idai relief efforts.

An observed suboptimal utilization of ICTs was further disadvantaged by the inequitable distribution of communication infrastructure. However, despite the suboptimal usage, there was a significant positive influence of ICT adoption on effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility in humanitarian relief operations.

Optimal use of ICTs has the potential to revolutionize humanitarian supply chain management. A smooth transition to new technologies is recommended in which personnel are given professional development opportunities on a regular basis.

This study aims to minimize the expected arrival time of relief vehicles to the affected areas, considering the destruction of potential routes and disruptions due to disasters. In relief operations, required relief items in each affected area and disrupted routes are considered as uncertain parameters. Additionally, for a more realistic consideration of the situations, it is assumed that the demand of each affected area could be met by multiple vehicles and distribution centers (DCs) and vehicles have limited capacity.

The current study developed a two-stage stochastic programming model for the distribution of relief items from DCs to the affected areas. Locating the DCs was the first-stage decisions in the introduced model. The second-stage decisions consisted of routing and scheduling of the vehicles to reach the affected areas.

In this paper, 7th district of Tehran was selected as a case study to assess the applicability of the model, and related results and different sensitivity analyses were presented as well. By carrying out a simultaneous sensitivity analysis on the capacity of vehicles and the maximum number of DCs that can be opened, optimal values for these parameters were determined, that would help making optimal decisions upon the occurrence of a disaster to decrease total relief time and to maximize the exploitation of available facilities.

The contributions of this paper are as below: presenting an integrated model for the distribution of relief items among affected areas in the response phase of a disaster, using a two-stage stochastic programming approach to cope with route disruptions and uncertain demands for relief items, determining location of the DCs and routing and scheduling of vehicles to relief operations and considering a heterogeneous fleet of capacitated relief vehicles and DCs with limited capacity and fulfilling the demand of each affected area by more than one vehicle to represent more realistic situations.

Humanitarian logistics is critical to providing relief to people in regions affected by hardship and disaster. This study examines literature on humanitarian logistics and service-learning and evaluates the integration of concepts.

An exploratory case study approach was used to understand the integration of service-learning and humanitarian logistics. This was achieved by exploring current literature, piloting courses, providing relief, and documenting factors that facilitate successful service-learning experiences.

Findings from this information-oriented work demonstrate the applicability of service-learning methods in humanitarian logistics education and contributes to current research by addressing urgent global needs.

This case has practical relevance for logistics educators, humanitarian agencies, and service-learning leaders as it outlines various challenges and steps to developing a humanitarian logistics course with potential pathways for research. By integrating the theories and principles of service-learning with major logistics and supply-chain management concepts, colleges, and universities in collaboration with relief agencies can facilitate an impactful humanitarian logistics learning experience that provides needed support to disaster response.

There is a scarcity of literature that connects humanitarian logistics and service-learning. This case shows that the service-learning movement shares a common purpose with many humanitarian organizations that work to foster citizenship, education, and community well-being. This paper is a first of its kind to study the efforts necessary to create a successful humanitarian logistics course that benefits students, faculty, communities, and institutions through applying service-learning principles.

Policy is key for effective displacement governance in times of crises and in response and recovery. Therefore, this study assessed if Australian climate, disaster and emergency management policies provide effective mechanisms for governing displacement crises and areas where current approaches could be improved.

This study assessed 18 national and state-level disaster, emergency and climate change management frameworks to determine if best practice displacement governance themes were reflected in policy documents. Deductive thematic analysis was undertaken using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase method.

Issues of displacement are reflected in policies analysed in this study. However, current policy frameworks need to be equipped to comprehensively address the housing requirements of displaced people or provide long-term initiatives. Approaches are focused on crisis management rather than pre-emptively planning for displacement response and recovery. Therefore, Australia has not exercised national responsibility for displaced people appropriately.

Disaster displacement is an under-researched area of Australian scholarship and disaster management policy and practice. Therefore, this paper has practical implications in so far as it draws attention to the issue of displacement in Australia. A limitation of this paper is that it only analysed policy frameworks specific to disasters. While broader engagement was outside the scope of this study, this limitation provides opportunities for further research from disciplinary perspectives of public housing and homelessness to examine displacement policy challenges in these fields. Furthermore, this study is limited to a theoretical inquiry into this topic through a desktop review of policy documents. While this is a necessary first step, empirical studies are required to determine accurate displacement rates, drivers and people’s experience of being displaced.

This research aims to inform policy by presenting recommendations for policy interventions for disaster displacement governance. Therefore, this research has practical implications as policy and disaster risk reduction (DRR) professionals can draw from the findings of this research when planning and initiating disaster response for displaced persons.

This research draws attention to an area of disaster management practice and policy that has not been adequately accounted for. Highlighting gaps in current policy can assist in developing targeted strategies and solutions for internally displaced people, which protect their rights and meet their needs.

Displacement is a growing climate change issue. This research aims to help address this problem by drawing attention to areas where Australian disaster management approaches fail to account for displaced populations. Therefore, this research has practical implications for addressing future issues of disaster injustice that may arise if displacement continues, unacknowledged in disaster management.