August 26, 2022

Shigeru Ban’s Relief Projects for Evacuees

TIMELINE

By FUMIKO SUZUKI, TRANSLATOR:CARRIE EDWARDS

Having started in the 1990s, Shigeru Ban’s activities supporting disaster areas and people displaced by conflicts have been achieving effective results for about a quarter-century. Over half of these projects have helped earthquake-stricken areas, and also include many structures other than temporary housing. In China, Ban constructed temporary classroom buildings from paper tubes for an elementary school in Chengdu that was damaged in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, and a temporary nursery school from paper tubes in the city of Ya’an after the 2013 Sichuan Earthquake. After the Nepal earthquake of 2015, Ban rebuilt a classroom building for an elementary school (located at an elevation of 3,790 meters) with the financial support of Doshisha University’s Alpine Club.

The Chengdu Hualin school in China in 2008 | © LI JUN

Ban’s recent activities include support for refugees from Ukraine; construction of a temporary clinic in the context of disaster relief efforts following the August 2021 Haiti earthquake; and a project to build a temporary community center/church in Kentucky, where a tornado caused severe damage in 2021. He has also been engaged in an ongoing initiative (in cooperation with the Tonga-Japan Friendship Association) to send tents that can be used as temporary housing to areas hit by tsunami resulting from the eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga in January 2022.

Disaster Relief Projects
By Shigeru Ban Architects, Voluntary Architects’ Network(VAN), Keio University SFC Shigeru Ban lab

約四半世紀で各国に広がった被災地・難民支援の活動。

1990年代に始まった坂 茂による災害被災地や紛争難民への支援活動は、表に示したようにアジアだけではなく世界中の国や地域で、約四半世紀の間に多くの実績を上げてきた。数の上で大半を占めるのは地震被災地への支援で、仮設住宅以外の建築物も多い。中国では2008年の中国四川大地震で被害を受けた成都市の小学校のために紙管構造の仮設校舎を建設。2013年の四川地震の際にも雅安市に紙管を用いた仮設の保育園を建てた。2015年のネパール地震では同志社大学山岳部の資金援助で標高3790mにある小学校の校舎を再建した。

近年ではウクライナの避難民支援のほかに、2021年8月に発生したハイチ地震での災害支援活動として仮設クリニックの設置や、2021年に竜巻で大きな被害を受けたケンタッキー州での仮設のコミュニティ・センター兼教会の建設といったプロジェクトが進んでいる。また今年1月にトンガで起きた海底火山の噴火による津波の被災地に向けて、仮設住宅として使えるテントを送る活動(日本トンガ友好協会と共同)も継続的に行われている。

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