From October 10 to 13, 2011, Roy Liu-Marques, a research scientist from the FIU-International Hurricane Research Center, and Walter Conklin, the manager of the FIU Laboratory for Wind Engineering Research, visited Haiti to gather information on transitional shelters being constructed in the earthquake-affected country in order to test similar models in the research center’s wind laboratory. The testing was designed to identify best practices for constructing transitional shelters in tropical storm-vulnerable regions, focusing on materials used and structural components such as roofing, frames, and foundations. The test results, expected early 2013, will be disseminated throughout the humanitarian community to improve the quality of tropical storm-shelter programs.
