Purpose: This study aimed to design a temporary housing pattern tailored to the needs of the injured after a natural disaster.
Design/methodology/approach: This study had an applied objective and employed a descriptive-analytical method with an approach to survey and post-implementation evaluation. The criteria for temporary accommodation design were collected through library research and the victims’ satisfaction of these criteria was considered through field research. The criteria included socio-cultural, physical-functional and technical-structural elements. Field research was carried out in 10 villages of Heris County, East Azerbaijan, which were destroyed completely by earthquake in 2012. Field research was conducted through user-oriented procedures of questionnaires, interviews and field observations. In total, the criteria were evaluated in separate tables based on the Likert spectrum.
Findings: The results indicated that the victims were dissatisfied with temporary resettlement after the earthquake in all three criteria.
Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this study was the high cost of numerous visits to villages and low willingness of their inhabitants to cooperate with interviewers and answer the questions for various reasons.
Practical implications: Improvement strategies were proposed to enhance the quality temporary housing through organized interviews with the injured. Suggestions made by experts led to proposing some improvement strategies as well. Finally, the design of the temporary housing model was put forward in accordance with these solutions.
Originality/value: This article initiated an innovative design of temporary housing which was tailored to the needs of those who had experienced the disaster based on their perceptions, not merely based on existing theoretical foundations.
