Floating houses in Agusan Marsh

I have just looked at a video about the floating houses in Agusan Marsh of the Philippines.

www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0hzf8lg/the-floating-houses-that-are-resilient-to-extreme-weather

Approximate Location, from Google maps:
www.google.com/maps/place/Agusan+Marsh+Wildlife+Sanctuary/@8.316672,125.8640918,10z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x32fe7569bbf8d2e9:0x9d17f37f6fedd6f5!8m2!3d8.3166667!4d125.8666667!16s%2Fm%2F06w84_8?entry=ttu

They say these houses withstand hurricanes. But they look flimsy. Bamboo pieces nailed together, which provide both frame structure for cheap looking boards, and also act as flotation.

These are in a somewhat sheltered Marsh, not on the ocean itself, and I assume the water is shallow. But it is close enough to the ocean that I assume it gets high winds.

What am I missing?

Are bamboo, and the wooden boards they are using, flexible enough to survive the forces of a hurricane?

Incidentally, other videos of the area show crocodiles. Wouldn't want a house to come apart enough for them to get in.

 

The story is about how they cope with floods. They don't get much in the way of really strong winds.,
According to the Met records, they barely get more than a few days a year with winds over 30 kmh in that region. Being quite a way inland, would reduce the likelihood of severe Pacific storm effects.
The last high wind event barely damaged any houses (53) over the wide reported area.
Philippines, Flooding, Landslides, Storms and Winds in Region X and CARAGA (Effects of TC JELAWAT and Shearline) (17 Dec 2023) - Philippines https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-flooding-landslides-storms-and-winds-region-x-and-caraga-effects-tc-jelawat-and-shearline-17-dec-2023

Bamboo is not miracle material, and high winds would devastate these houses very quickly.

 

Bamboo is incredibly strong, especially considering its weight, as well as being pretty flexible.

But you're right, just looking at these houses, they wouldn't last long in really strong winds. The roofs would get ripped off right away.

 

Generally, homes in most regions will reflect the local conditions so I can't imagine high winds are common here. Looking at the topography of the area, it seems that the valley is surrounded by mountainous terrain, which would limit the impact of tropical storms. The winds there have very low averages; the windiest time of year averages 7.2mph, the 90th percentile is just over 10mph.

 

Surviving a storm is relative to the inhabitants expectation. Bamboo houses will leak water and let some wind blow through. Those conditions would be unacceptable in the USA. A house in those conditions would be condemned us uninhabitable.

 

Good thing they don't have a bunch of rich douchebags making laws like in the US, where instead of allowing people to build and live in "substandard housing" we force them into the streets where they are many times more likely to die.

 

I understand these are your political beliefs. However, it does not give you the right to insult anyone you want in the forum. This is a post empty of any valid or useful information for the thread. There are political forums that have a place for posts like yours. Please be polite, and if possible, informative about the subject at hand.

 

That's interesting coming from you, Gonzo, but noted. I did not insult anyone in particular, just the political establishment, which just so happens to be made up of... The streets in my city are filled with suffering people, and I know why, and seeing it every day is hard to stomach.

I'll be sure to remind you you said this.

 

My remark was about you saying all law makers in the US are douchebags, and there are none elsewhere.

 

I'm speaking about our own country because that's where we live, but I have no doubt greedy, power hungry behavior abounds everywhere. I do appreciate when countries allow their citizens to build cheap housing for themselves, it makes makes a more just and civil society when people are given the opportunity to care for themselves. It is amazing what people can do when unrestrained by outdated regulations. We have a crisis, and a huge part of the solution is revisiting housing and zoning laws. That is my view anyway.

 

Perhaps "your view" is a super simplistic and impractical viewpoint, written by someone who has no impoverished, ad hoc housing settlements anywhere near their own house.

The "zoning laws" you are critical of, came about because of what "people can do when unrestrained by outdated regulations"

Perhaps you could Google the photos of early New York city, for example, and see the unmitigated mess of beef butchery and tanning being carried out next to hundreds of shanties housing large families.
Then go and Google the slums in the big Indian cities in modern times, and read the health statistics from those regions.

Perhaps when someone goes around insulting officials for carrying out their sworn duty, they would be well advised to have more than a few vague principles to propose in guiding a complex civilisation.

But just to bring this thread back to boating themes, maybe we can discuss the usefulness of regulations, or lack of them as applied to seacraft.

 

Try changing all the regulations so they can't afford ANY housing and THEN look at the health statistics. There are a huge number of more consequential factors that go into those statistics besides housing though.

Truth is, I could build a sufficient little house for basic living for about 5000 bucks, and perfectly safe. To meet the same needs, to code, may cost 30 to 50k, assuming you would be allowed to build something that small and simple in the first place. Not to mention, modern building practices require special skills that are out of reach of the common person.

I'm all for strict codes in commercial and public spaces.

I'm not advocating getting rid of all regulations for dwellings, but they need to allow for dirt poor people to have options.

 

You would first need to buy a piece of land, which will be more than $5000. Regulations requiring sewage and water are reasonable in any town or city. As far as modern building practices, they are much simpler than the old traditional ones. For example, a plumber basically uses a saw and a brush for glue. With cast iron and ceramic tile it took years of appreticing to learn the trade. Carpenters use to have to cut all the wood themselves and hand hammer thousands of nails to build even a small house. Nail guns have done away with learning how to hammer nails. Power saws are simple and easy to use when compared to a handsaw. Carpenters had to sharpen their tools too, instead of buying throw-away ones. Dirt poor people have options. Public housing is one of them. As far as the $5000 vs $50,000 you claim, I would like to see a break down of costs. I have built many houses and apartment buildings and still have a general contractor license, so my opinion is based on experience.

 

@gonzo , I've built houses for a living for 30 years, and the tool revolution you speak of is ongoing. In 1992 I bought a 7.2v Makita cordless drill. It was revolutionary. To be able to go up a ladder without trailing an extension cord! Now we have a cordless tablesaw, sticknailer, coil nailer, multitool, which didn't exist in any form at all when I started. Probably have 10k in Milwaukee tools, every one of them worth the cost in labour savings... because that's what we can't find: apprentices willing to learn.

 

Cordless tools have changed things a lot. Many of the basic skills that were required are no longer necessary. For example, pouring lead in a bell and socket cast iron pipe joint. I hired some carpenters that couldn't set nails on hangers by hand. They now allow screws that "carpenters" drive with a cordless impact screwdriver