Page 44 - English for Construction 2
P. 44

Focus     on  a  project:    Emergency        housing

                     Speaking  1   Work n small groups.  Think bout some  recent,  large-scale  natural  disasters
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                                   (e.g.  earthquakes, floods).  Brainstorm factors  you hink  are mportant in the
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                                   construction  of  post-disaster  housing.
                                   transportation  of  emergency  housing  to  disaster  zone
                      Reading  2   In wo groups, read the articles about emergency  housing in China and Japan.
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                                   Group A:  Read  Article A. Group  B: Read  Article B.  Then n A/B pairs  compare
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                                   the  words n our article hat  mean:
                                   1  at he same  time
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                                   2  movable
                                   3  a  building  used  for  storage  of  materials
                                                      A r t i c l e  A
                                                      Modular  construction methods  are  becoming  more  and
                                                      more  popular in many  parts of  the  w o r l d and  are  often
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                                                      used n emergency  house construction. The  prefabrication
                                                      can  be  carried out concurrently  w i t h  the site preparation,
                                                      allowing  significant savings  in terms  of cost  and  also  of
                                                       time.  The  photo  shows  prefabricated  buildings erected  to
                                                       house  earthquake victims in Sichuan  Province  in China in
                                                       2008.  I n such buildings, modules  are either delivered  almost
                                                       ready  to  use or  are assembled  on site. Larger  span structures
                                                       such  as warehouses  often  make  use of steel  frameworks.  Walls
                                                       are ypically made  of expanded  polystyrene  (EPS)  sandwich
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                                                       panels.  Another  variation is to  use  mobile  homes,  w h i c h can
                                                       be  transported to different  locations and  reused  as  necessary.



                                                       A r t i c l e  B
                                                       The  supply of food  and medicine  is vital  after  any  natural
                                                       disaster,  but relief organisations also  need  to simultaneously
                                                       provide  shelter for the survivors. There  are many  possible
                                                       solutions, including using shipping containers, tents and
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                                                       plastic sheeting. Often  survivors are housed n large buildings
                                                       such  as storehouses  or schools  and so simple walls  are  needed
                                                       to divide up areas into smaller, private  spaces.  After  the 2011
                                                       tsunami  in Japan, one  way Japanese  companies  solved  the
                                                       problem  was  to make partitions out  of materials such as  paper
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                                                       and  cardboard. n some cases, whole  houses  were  built  out of
                                                       cardboard. These houses  are very  portable, cheap  and quick to
                                                       erect,  but need  to  be covered  i n plastic sheeting  if they  are  to
                                                       stand up to the  weather.


                     Speaking   3  Work n pairs and discuss  these  questions. Refer o he  article ou  read  in 2.
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                                   1  What  natural  disaster  does the article mention?
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                                   2  What ype  of  emergency  housing does he  article  describe?
                                   3  What  construction materials were  used?
                                4  Imagine  a  natural  disaster n our  country. Your  company  warehouse  is full  of
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                                   old  shipping containers  that  victims  could use  as emergency  housing. Many
                                   employees  have  volunteered o help and the  company  director  has agreed  to
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                                   cover  costs.  Discuss the process  you  need  to follow  to  get  the containers to  the
                                   disaster  area  and in use  as emergency  housing.
     42       5  Processes
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