This morning, the second following the massive and devastating tornado that ripped through Moore, authorities are completing their rescue efforts of the wreckage. The death toll stands at 24. It's widely understood the area will be clearing debris for months - FEMA has dedicated itself to immediate needs - and we think about the future of Moore and the surrounding area to recover from this storm, and consider resilient strategies to safely withstand future ones.

How Buildings Fail

"Funnel tornadoes are much more powerful than hurricanes," explains Eric Cesal. "It's easy for a building to fail in these conditions."

The first building failure in a tornado is typically the roof, which due to wind and relative air pressures is torn off by the storm. "Then the structure loses strength - the roof is a critical structural element to the rest of the building." Unsupported walls topple, as they did in hundreds of homes and several schools in Moore.

Safe Rooms

Yesterday afternoon in the suburbs of Oklahoma City a tornado touched down amid a violent storm front, tearing a 20 mile long path of destruction at points nearing two miles wide. The winds have registered at 210 miles per hour, making for a top-of-scale EF-5 storm.

In the ensuing hours the United States government declared the suburban town of Moore and surrounding area a federal disaster zone. The White House pledged FEMA's support with “all resources they need at their disposal.”

By the end of the following day, Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird was "98 percent sure" the death toll wold rest at 24, as rescue workers finish their survey of the damaged buildings. This includes the death of 9 children.

On Thursday May 17th, Green Schools Design Fellow, Gina Fontes, walked into a cafeteria full of screaming students and surprised the Guerrilla Green grand prize winner with a 5 foot long, ten thousand dollar check. The lucky winner was Team Thirsty Fountain from the Design and Architecture Senior High School in Miami, Florida, whose fight for water conservation, and against wasting unused fountain water, got them through all three rounds of the Sustainability Showdown. Team Thirsty Fountain hopes to use their $10,000 grant to start an organization where high school students can teach younger generations about the importance of reducing water use, and environmentally proactive living.

Linus Lam is the remaining active founder the first Canadian Architecture for Humanity chapter, in Vancouver. In the past four years, the Vancouver Chapter has worked on everything from self-initiated projects, hosting talks and conferences, to collaborations with the City of Vancouver and the Haiti Rebuilding Center. We spoke with him recently on some of the opportunities and challenges of their work.

Between March 21 and April 25, design fellow Akinobu (Aki) Yoshikawa led a series of five housing seminars at our MakiBiz office in Ishinomaki. These free seminars covered a wide range of themes, geared not only for people affected by the disaster, but for anyone considering building a house.

３月２１日から４月２５日までの間に石巻市にあるまきビズで「住宅セミナーシリーズ」と題したセミナーシリーズをAFH吉川が講師として５回開催しました。行われたセミナーは被災者だけでなく、これから住宅を建てることを検討している方にも参加いただけるように多様なテーマを設けました。