200 houses on an island

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33251, 14 June 1973, Page 3

200 houses on an island

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 13. How many houses could 14 Army engineers build on a hurricane-devastated island in 22 working days? “Nearly 200” was the answer given by the detachment when it returned to Auckland by an R.N.Z.A.F. aircraft this week. The detachment, commanded by Captain G. Stevenson, of Christchurch, was sent to Rotuma, 240 miles north-west of Fiji, after 333 of the island's unusual houses had been smashed by Hurricane Bebe last year. The houses were unusual in that they were built of basalt rock, cemented with burnt coral and beach sand into walls up to 30in thick. Some were up to 100 years old. They suffered badly in the blow. The Fiji Hurricane Relief Committee allowed $lOO,OOO for replacement, about $3OO for each house. The Army could

not replace the houses for this sum, so the engineers decided to change the islanders’ ideas of home. An advance party decided the population needed roofs first. So they designed a two-stage house. The first stage comprised reinforced concrete foundations and braced 2in pipes, supporting a corrugated iron roof. That kept the rain and sun off. The islanders helped with the work. Stage two, to be completed by the Islanders in their own time, involves filling in the sides with reinforced concrete blocks, and providing doors and windows. The Fijians are now making the blocks. The sappers completed a specimen house at Ahau, so that the islanders would know how theirs should look, then began mass-producing trusses and supports at base camps. Parts were sent to other villages, engineers supervised gangs of islanders, and stage one houses sprang up.