[News Today] Foldable homes for disaster victims

[LEAD]
Much-needed in times like these, a new foldable prefab housing system has been developed to give disaster evacuees safer, more comfortable shelter.

One unit can be assembled in 90 minutes and house up to three people.

[REPORT]
Temporary shelters set up at the sites hit with disasters like wildfires are oftentimes shoddy and uncomfortable.

Kwon Oh-pil / Andong resident (Mar.)
It's uncomfortable to sleep here. I'm not at ease. Nothing feels good.

In most cases, tents are put up at a gymnasium. There's little to no privacy and they're not insulated against heat or cold.

Kim Oi-seon / Uiseong-gun resident (Apr.)
Washing was the hardest part because we didn't have hot water.

The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology addressed this problem by developing a foldable prefabricated house system that can be easily assembled.

The home has cooling and heating systems as well as a kitchen and a bathroom. It can accommodate two to three adults if a two-room unit is attached.

It takes about ninety minutes to assemble one unit.

Oh Keun-yeong / Korea Inst. of Civil Engineering & Building Technology
Displaced people had hard time with water supply. So, it’s equipped with detachable bathroom and kitchen so that it can be used as a temporary relief shelter.

Once it has served its purpose as a shelter, it can be folded to one-third of the full size for storage to be reused later.

A grant of 1.2 billion won, or some 870 thousand dollars, helped KICT develop this prefab shelter over a two-year research period. When it is mass-produced, one unit is expected to cost roughly 40 million won, or about 29 thousand U.S. dollars.

While this prefab shelter is expected to be a big help to those uprooted by disasters, the key task ahead is finding ways to reduce the cost.

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