16 Inclusive Resilience: Incorporating the Indigenous …
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Statistically, contemporary houses have performed better in the wake of Cyclone
Winston with 21.4% sustaining considerable damage as compared to 41.4% of the
traditional bures. The collapse rate of the bure is also twice as much as that of the
contemporary housing structure. It would be inappropriate, however, to make generalised comparisons regarding their structural resistance against tropical cyclones for
two reasons.
Firstly, the bure structures in the village are far older than the modern-style houses,
which have only emerged and grown in number over the last two decades (G1).
Figure 16.2 shows an aerial photo of Navala in 2003. It can be observed that aside
from some miscellaneous structures (light coloured roofs) such as the drying shed in
the middle of the village, all the structures in the village core are bure houses. There
were a few contemporary structures situated on the fringes of the village. They were
mostly community facilities and sheds. Bures are only rethatched when the roof had
been weathered (G1); the structural framing is not typically replaced or maintained.
Secondly, the location of the structures in the village plays an important part.
Navala had a standing rule that modern houses cannot be built on the core, along
the cross-street, of the village (G1). They can only be constructed off the core or
behind the bure houses. This can be observed in Figs. 16.2 and 16.3, where the
Fig. 16.2 Navala in 2003 (Source Google Earth)
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Statistically, contemporary houses have performed better in the wake of Cyclone
Winston with 21.4% sustaining considerable damage as compared to 41.4% of the
traditional bures. The collapse rate of the bure is also twice as much as that of the
contemporary housing structure. It would be inappropriate, however, to make generalised comparisons regarding their structural resistance against tropical cyclones for
two reasons.
Firstly, the bure structures in the village are far older than the modern-style houses,
which have only emerged and grown in number over the last two decades (G1).
Figure 16.2 shows an aerial photo of Navala in 2003. It can be observed that aside
from some miscellaneous structures (light coloured roofs) such as the drying shed in
the middle of the village, all the structures in the village core are bure houses. There
were a few contemporary structures situated on the fringes of the village. They were
mostly community facilities and sheds. Bures are only rethatched when the roof had
been weathered (G1); the structural framing is not typically replaced or maintained.
Secondly, the location of the structures in the village plays an important part.
Navala had a standing rule that modern houses cannot be built on the core, along
the cross-street, of the village (G1). They can only be constructed off the core or
behind the bure houses. This can be observed in Figs. 16.2 and 16.3, where the
Fig. 16.2 Navala in 2003 (Source Google Earth)