Rapid-assembly "Instant Houses" Offer Free Shelter to Kumamoto Earthquake Survivors

Following the magnitude-7.1 quake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture on July 28, a rapid-assembly housing initiative known as “Instant Houses” is being deployed to shelter displaced residents. The project, conceived by Keisuke Kitagawa after witnessing inadequate shelters after the 2011 tsunami, took five and a half years to develop and has already placed around 300 units after earlier disasters in Ishikawa’s Noto Peninsula.

Each unit consists of an inflated fire-resistant sheet filled with urethane foam that hardens within one to two hours, creating a 20-square-metre, 4.3-metre-tall structure capable of withstanding winds up to 130 m/s. Funded through donations to the Nagoya Institute of Technology’s endowment, the houses are offered free of charge and are anchored on victims’ own property to maintain neighborhood ties. The current goal is to install 120 houses by early next month for those still living in evacuation centres or cars, such as the two homes recently built for 74-year-old Yoshinori Hirayama and his son’s family in Hikawa.

In response to the summer heat, complimentary air-conditioners are also being provided, while local contractors receive work, boosting the regional economy. Kitagawa says that faster, cheaper shelter can lower disaster-related mortality and he aims to keep refining the design.