Sustainable and Resilient design for emergency shelters in flood risk communities: Case study: The informal settlements in the Bekaa Valley (Eastern Lebanon)

Abstract

In January 2019, Lebanon was hit by the storm Norma. The Inter-Agency Coordination of Lebanon from the UNHCR reported severe damages in several informal settlements in Eastern Lebanon. There, refugees were already striving to live with their families along with being a vulnerable community at risk from various hazards. Architectural engineering offers several sheltering solutions to respond to flood and aiming for resilience for communities at risk. This paper presents a design for a resilient shelter, using the Dalhamieh informal settlement in eastern Lebanon as a case study. For this purpose, using the data available from secondary sources, we firstly propose a preliminary risk assessment for the affected area in the Bekaa Valley. The resulting analysis combined with the integration of several guidelines from the UNHCR emergency handbook provided a basis for this research thereby presented. The shelter unit and its extension to the campsite here designed is resilient in such a way it is lightweight, flexible, movable, stretchable, deployable, and sustainable. Also, it protects residents from harsh environment.