This assessment is to learn from the locals as to how best to modify, improve or even completely change the IBAS shelter or shelters generally to improve on current disaster relief efforts. I was hoping that the shelters were either not standing (due to materials being used else where) or modified to improve/adapt the shelters as more material becomes available. It was difficult to understand what actually happened in 3 of the 6 sites that IBAS shelters, as the stories told by officials did not match that of the villagers. We have included our opinion of what happened after speaking to other people and children in the village.
IBAS shelter site #01
3 days after IBAS had built the shelter, the village officials put a TV and power supply in the shelter for the villagers to watch and charge their mobile phones. Two single men slept in the shelter but it was far from their original home and was on someone else’s land, so moved out after 2 weeks to newly supplied government shelters nearer to their home. Villagers then quarrelled, we are not sure what about but is believed to be about who was going to live there. The woman and her husband (one of the wealthiest families in the village) who’s land it was on wanted to live there however this was not ok with the local villagers as there were other people in much greater need, the woman did not want others living on her land, so they agreed to take it down and use the material on the village pigpens (however we were not shown the pigpens).
IBAS shelter site #02
Officials in Baigou Cun told us that a very strong wind turned the shelter over at night. Four people tried to keep the tarpaulin down but were unable. It is said that two families lived in the shelter (we later found out that it was just 2 single men) for 2 months before the wind. The material after the strong wind was then distributed to the men that were living in the shelter and used it to cover their temporary home and harvest-drying shed.
We to spoke to one of the 
men that lived in the shelter about his experiences, here follows his comments:
“the shelter is too narrow to be a home and not high enough, the door is too small to move my old furniture in, so it was just use for sleeping. We stayed dry inside the shelter when it was raining.”
IBAS Shelter site #03
We bumped into the chief of Cai Yu village in a nearby town who pointed a taxi in the right direction of the village. The accountant of Caiyu came out and showed us where the materials of the shelter that IBAS built are now being used.
We spoke to one of the two single men that was living in the shelter his comments follow below:
“I lived in the shelter for more than 2 months, I think a family of 3-4 people can live together in the shelter, the height, length and width are comfortable to live in. It is a good temperature at night however during the day it is a little hot. The water did not come into the shelter during the heavy rain however under the floor it became soft.”
The shelter that IBAS built was taken down because they wanted to use the material on their new temporary home that they were building them selves. We found that the materials were being used on their half destroyed home and an out house now used as a drying shed of the new harvest crop.
IBAS Shelter site #04
We gave Cai Yu enough material to build a secondary shelter and to my surprise they had done so. According to the village accountant it took 10 people half a day to build and a single man has lived in the shelter for the last 3 months. It was good to see that from one IBAS demonstration the local villagers understood and built the same IBAS shelter with the materials that we left for them.
Inside the shelter the single man had a bed with a mosquito net hung from the bamboo frame.
There was an electric meter mounted to the bamboo and some furniture with a TV on top in front of the bed with a bulb hanging on the end of a wire from the shelter structure. Just out side he had a makeshift cooking area made of a couple of bricks. However it was evident that he prepared the food and ate inside the shelter from the crockery, chopsticks and chopping knife on the food stained table inside the shelter.
We talked to the man (a farmer) that was living in the shelter of his experiences over the last 3 months;
“It is large enough for me to have my TV and bed, I don’t use the other half of the shelter, it is too big for me alone. My cat plays in the other end. It is hot during the day (one end of the shelter was closed and we advised him to open it during the day to increase the air flow) but at night it is fine.
Yes, we have had some very bad rain, but the inside has stayed dry (he stamps his foot) so far. I think that a family of 4 or 5 could live in here. I will live here until the government gives me money to build either my temporary home or my permanent house, but I don’t know when that will be.”
IBAS shelter site #05&6
This was our third mission up to build shelters as explained in the previous post Gansu bound where we were turned around at road blocks however we sent our translator Monica (who had been with us on all the other builds) to explain to the locals how to build the shelters. Xinkai is not too far from Baigou, so she asked some of the villagers from Baigou to help Xinkai build the shelters.
As expected no shelter was standing and is believe that no shelter was built albeit the official of Xinkai said they did build the shelters (we believe this as the tarpaulin was not cut to dimensions large enough to build a shelter). The tarpaulin is now being used on the roof of the government buildings of that village. This disappointed me as the materials were for the villagers. However as so little material (one bag) was delivered to this village it could be that no agreement was met between the villagers.
Basic conclusion
Over the course of the shelter assessment we have heard mixed stories about peoples experiences of living in the shelters. These have to be treated individually and no assumptions can be made from the six IBAS shelters that were built. IBAS shelters were designed to be a solution to bridge the emergency and secondary stage of a relief effort. In a sense this has happed as the tarp has been reused to cover new temporary homes.
This post is my initial finding from the field; a more in depth conclusion will be posted after I have had time to digest all that is learnt.
Most structures were made using split bamboo much like that of IBAS shelters although using thinner walled species (arrow bamboo) that grows all over the mountain. The shelters built resemble your iconic house; 4 straight walls, a hinged door and a double sloping roof. As I mentioned before with the material that covered the shelter, the same goes for the structures built. They are somewhat feeble and I was not confident with a strong wind these structures would survive however they would survive a large earthquake, due to the “play” (movement) the building technique and material allows.
The structures that used wood as sidewalls instead of material would stand a better chance of staying upright in strong winds. (for images of the bamboo structures and shelters covered with IBAS tarp, please see photo gallery “Gansu shelters”).
