MIYAJI, Mari |
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Faculty, Department/Institute
- Faculty of Environmental and Urban Engineering Department of Architecture
Academic status (qualification)
- Assistant Professor Apr. 1,2021
Undergraduate Degrees・University
- Kyoto University Graduate School of Engineering2016
- Kyoto University Faculty of Engineering2014
- Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies2019
Academic Degrees
- 博士(地球環境学) 京都大学
- 修士(工学) 京都大学
Research Publications
South Pacific islands are prone to cyclones due to their geographic conditions, such as isolation, distance and narrowness (Kobayashi, 1994). Most people are small-scale farmers and they do not have a constant income. When a natural disaster hit their villages, they cannot afford to purchase construction material and then reconstruct makeshift houses. Therefore, rural houses are more vulnerable to natural disasters (Magee, 2016). In February 2016, Fiji was hit by Tropical Cyclone Winston which was the biggest cyclone ever to occur in the region in the last 20 years. The government of Fiji estimated that approximately 540,000 (60% of the population) people were affected as well as almost 30,000 houses were destroyed. Reconstruction of houses was enabled through the 'HELP FOR HOMES (HFH)' project, which aimed to provide electronic cards (e-cards) for purchasing construction materials and to build more resistant house from the cyclone (Build Back Better). They also made construction manual for modern houses and handed out to affected households with HFH application forms.
The objectives of this research are to observe the impact of housing in a Fijian rural village, as well as to identify how the villagers reconstructed housing with the government support after the cyclone. One of the most damaged rural areas during the cyclone included Navala Village, where many traditional Fijian houses known as 'Bure', and modern houses were located. This research was conducted through literature review, qualitative and quantitative questionnaire surveys to 119 households in Navala village. Key formant interview was also conducted to Ba district official and to some government ministries.
The research findings show that HFH provided e-cards to 37,100 affected households in Fiji, but the distribution was delayed because of the shortage of industrial materials. In Navala village, the village community always cooperate for the maintenance of the bures in ordinary life, and thus could quickly repair bures by themselves after the cyclone. They reconstructed 62 modern houses with the government support by September 2018. However, the quality of housing depended on village carpenters. They did not refer to the construction manual provided by the government and there is no building code for rural modern houses with iron sheets in Fiji. Therefore, it is hard to say that HFH achieved Build Back Better. The questionnaire surveys found that 75% of the respondents selected "Bure" as a safer house compared with modern houses, as flown iron roof (debris) on modern house might injure people whereas thatched roofs was not a threat. However, they chose modern houses as reconstructed houses because they wanted shelters as soon as possible and modern houses are easy and quick to construct. In conclusion, to accomplish Build Back Better, it is better to train local carpenter in normal time and the Fijian government should establish the building code for cyclone resistant rural modern houses.
In addition, reconstruction of traditional houses should be taken into consideration in housing reconstruction in Fiji. This is to reflect the comfortable environment in tropical islands and to enhance traditional building knowledge in the island. The scheme of housing reconstruction after disasters should include conventional houses with natural resources besides modern houses.
The objective of this research is to contribute the government's cyclone mitigation schemes, especially in terms of the proper utilization during cyclones and the construction of cyclone shelters which can be used in all cyclone prone areas. This research was conducted based on the literature reviews and the field surveys. The literature review revealed the damage of cyclone disasters and the mitigation program in Bangladesh. Field surveys were conducted from August to September 2015 in Padmapukur Union and Hatiya Isaland, which were affected by Cyclone Aila in 2009 and Cyclone Komen in 2015 respectively. Questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 70 households in Hatiya Island and 66 households in Padmapukur in order to collect detailed information on the use of cyclone shelters during cyclones and post-cyclone reconstruction and actual issues of cyclone shelters.
The research findings show that most of people in Hatiya Island made decisions to evacuate to cyclone shelters immediately after they have received cyclone waning signals, while most of people in Padmapukur Union did not evacuate immediately. Most of the evacuees spent their long-term evacuation period for several days to several months in cyclone shelters even after cyclones. It is proven that the cyclone shelters are used as temporary living quarters during post-cyclone reconstruction, although they were designed as evacuation centers only for a few hours during the inundation. Moreover, most of cyclone shelters are used as elementary schools in normal time hence some rooms such as storage rooms and staff rooms are locked during cyclones due to the poor management which led to the low of consideration of these cyclone shelters to be used as evacuation centers or temporary living quarters. Most of people in Hatiya Island are well-prepared for evacuation. The preparation includes packing dry foods and other daily necessities in advance of every cyclone season. Therefore, they are able to properly manage their long-term evacuation period at cyclone shelters.
Another finding shows ‘mini shelters’ might be used not only as evacuation centers but also as livestock stores during cyclones. Local people doubt the safety of ‘mini shelters’ because the second floor is made of wood and the height from the ground level to the second floor is only 3.3m lower than the water level of the biggest cyclone's storm surge. In addition, the cost of construction of ‘mini shelters’ are too expensive to construct as houses. On the other hand, ‘mini shelters’ might be useful in remote coastal areas where limited space for cyclone shelters is.
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