KUMAMOTO, Japan - In quake-stricken Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan, rows of pointed dome-like structures rise out of the backyards of collapsed homes.
The "Instant Houses" are an initiative led by Keisuke Kitagawa, a professor at the School of Social Engineering at the Nagoya Institute of Technology. He hopes to have 120 of the houses installed by early next month for people still living in evacuation centers or sleeping in their cars following the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck on July 28.
"I want to deliver homes that are tailored to the needs of disaster victims, providing them with a foundation for rebuilding their lives," Kitagawa said.
The structures can be completed in one to two hours by spraying urethane foam, a heat-insulating material, onto the inside of an inflated, fire-resistant sheet, causing it to harden into shape.
The houses are secured to the ground with screws and designed to withstand winds of up to 130 meters per second. They have a floor area of approximately 20 square meters and are around 4.3 meters high.
Funded by donations collected through the institute's endowment, the houses are available to disaster victims free of charge.
Another advantage is that they are built near people's homes, helping residents maintain community ties.
Yoshinori Hirayama's house in the hard-hit town of Hikawa was destroyed. Fearing looters, the 74-year-old and his wife slept in their car on their property for over two weeks.
But sleeping in the car was uncomfortable, and having to refuel every other day was a significant burden.
In mid-August, two of the houses were built for Hirayama and his son's family, who live nearby.
He was awestruck upon entering a completed house for the first time. "I can toss and turn as much as I want," he said.
The impetus for the initiative came 15 years ago when Kitagawa visited an evacuation shelter in an area devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
There he met a young boy who complained about the slow progress in building temporary shelters and pleaded with Kitagawa to build him one by the following week.
The experience inspired Kitagawa to develop housing that could be constructed quickly and inexpensively. After five and a half years, the project was completed, and around 300 units were installed following the earthquake and heavy rain disasters that struck central Japan's Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture in January and September 2024.
Amid intense summer heat in Kumamoto, air conditioners are also being installed free of charge. Meanwhile, local contractors are handling construction, helping the project create jobs in the affected area.
"If living conditions can be improved even a little sooner, we can eliminate disaster-related deaths," Kitagawa said.
"I want to keep making improvements so that we can reduce costs and construction time," he said.
