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Steel Answers Flooding in SE Asia

Steel Innovation Provides An Answer to Flooding in South East Asia.

In late August 2001, floods devastated north-east Thailand, killing dozens of people and leaving thousands homeless. The Thai Red Cross appealed for urgently required temporary housing for the people of Petchaboon Province, where hundreds of traditional houses had been destroyed.

BlueScope Lysaght Thailand was able to draw on previous experience in responding to emergency flood situations in South East Asia. Within days, we had a design proposal together that met the Red Cross requirements.

Within weeks, we had delivered 173 low cost houses to the region 400 kilometres north of Bangkok, where they were quickly erected. Later, Her Highness Soamsawalee, wife of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, visited the disaster area to inspect the steel houses and speak to residents, BlueScope Steel employees and Red Cross representatives.

We have since responded to a follow-up request from the Red Cross and have designed and supplied four elevated clinics for the flood-prone region.

Our swift response was possible because of our previous experience in Vietnam, where engineers from BlueScope Lysaght had designed the LYSAGHT PEBLITE™ (pre-engineered building) in response to a brief from the Red Cross.

We had already supplied 2,500 houses in 1999 when Vietnam’s central region and the Mekong Delta were hit by the worst floods in the nation’s history. Only two of the original structures were damaged, one because there were 34 people sitting on the roof for several days, as it was the only structure left standing in its neighbourhood.

 Emergency housing supplied by BlueScope Lysaght Thailand in the background

Children infront of school house supplied by BlueScope Lysaght Thailand

Vietnam has now purchased 12,000 houses and regards the design so highly that a scale model was presented to then US President Bill Clinton on his visit to the region.

We also worked with Red Cross and AusAid in the Mekong Delta to develop a prototype for new school buildings and clinics. Materials for reconstruction of more than 200 buildings have since been supplied. The buildings will provide thousands of children with regular schooling and serve as emergency and rescue buildings during the flood season.

In the central province of Hue, 400 homes have been completed at Ha Tinh, where flash flooding caused devastation in late 2000. Materials for around 40 other buildings have been supplied to central provinces for emergency use in the flood season.

For more information please view our BlueScope Lysaght (Asia) Pre-Enineered Building Solutions website.
 

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