RedR TSS Christmas Appeal
RedR’s Christmas Appeal focuses on the future of our Technical Support Service (TSS) and, in particular, one enquiry we recently had from an aid worker working with Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Northern Sri Lanka.
Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. To date, the Appeal has raised more than £3,000, enough to fund over 120 TSS requests. However, RedR still needs funds to develop this unique service, which brings fast and reliable technical advice directly to aid workers in the field.
Example of an urgent TSS request
Project: Providing emergency shelter to post-conflict IDPs in the North of Sri Lanka.
Request received: 21 August 2009
Full details of TSS request: Emergency (timber and plastic sheet) shelters are being aggressively attacked by white ant (termites), despite the lower ends of the embedded timber frames being treated.
Any suggestions to (a) arrest current termite attack and (b) to prevent future attacks requested urgently.
Solutions need to be practical and low cost and readily resourced due to limited supply and logistics into North Sri Lanka, and the potential scale of the problem.
Read the 6 different answers submitted to help with this enquiry:
Answer 1
- have a look at www.humanitariantimber.org - the booklet for download there has a summary of key points re: termites and timber (section D4)
- the best document on this is Building out Termites - I have a copy at home - best sourced through Amazon or similar second hand bookseller, as it is out of print
- happy to chat if better support is needed - or call {name removed} - he is great on this kind of thing
Answer 2:
Mixing wood ash into the soil around the pole footing is reportedly meant to discourage termites attacking the poles in Somalia. Although I don’t have first-hand knowledge of seeing this working myself. It is a cheap (potentially free) solution though if it works, so may be worth a crack.
Other option could be to clad the pole footing with old tin cans. I’ve done this with unskilled labour and seemed to work ok. Another potentially cheap option is if you can get hold of WFP oil tins for free from distribution centres, but this needs a lot of labour.
Or…design some kind of detail that separates the timber pole from the soil all together:
OPTION 1- A small concrete footing around structural poles (e.g. corners only) might reduce degradation in the key structural parts of the shelter. Half a bag of cement per family, plus four buckets of aggregate and some sand ought to add some durability for limited financial outlay.
OPTION 2 – (the gold plated option!) would be to supply a precast concrete footing with an L section metal fixing plate welded in. Then you bolt your poles to the metal upstand in such a way that the poles don’t touch the ground. This is fairly standard construction detail in lots of places globally where you don’t want timber touching the ground. This could be cheap if you manufacture on site with a casting mould and an angle grinder.
Oh to be back in the field!
Answer 3:
One technique I have come across in the West Indies is to paint on used engine oil. Not only is this messy, I hate to think what the environmental consequences are. One way around this is to bore a hole in the timber at an angle and putting the oil in it so that it can soak through the wood. Not very effective on dense hardwood, but generally this is less susceptible to attack.
The other important consideration is avoiding embedding timber at all, but this is probably not appropriate for emergency shelter.
Answer 4:
As usual, the first response would be to ask locally how they deal with the problem. If that is not effective you may wish to consider the following, however our experience is not extensive, being limited to eastern and western Africa.
http://www.sheltercentre.org/library/transitional+settlement+displaced+populations
Look at insect control in the index, or pages 258, 278, 284. A termite shield is usual, however this requires a continuous wall, or posts bolted to steel in concrete pads rather than in the ground (converting any block making capacity locally into a temporary pad foundation factory might work). Ensure that the angle of the shield overhang is 45 degrees and there is no break, especially at door sills. Also, termites tend not to like passing over plastic sheeting, especially if stretched as walling, as the tunnels they build on the surface to avoid the sunlight do not adhere easily to it.
A layer of ash is used in some cultures in mud walls, however I have no knowledge of its effectiveness, and it would need to be implemented carefully.
One other method for prevention is digging up and setting fires in the termite mounds in the area, ensuring that the queen is killed. Termite mounds have underground pathways that can run for a very long distance. This process needs to be continually monitored. Beware setting a bounty on termite queens, as they might come from any mound. Community participation can be effective, especially if picks and shovels are supplied (I also managed lunch from a feeding centre). Termite mound earth often makes excellent mud bricks.
Answer 5:
Diesel and old engine oil 1:4 soaked overnight worked for my pole ends. Could dig around buildings and poison ground. Use termite barriers...metal at 45o angle to stop them making tunnels...they fall off as metal expands and contracts. Never used it, but some use plastic bags for pole ends?
Answer 6:
I'm not sure if anything can be done to arrest an attack once it has begun, aside from injecting pesticides into the soil around the structure. That would be for an exterminator and beyond my experience. I would suggest embedding the post in concrete, even a very weak concrete, to slow attack. Is importing cement to the north still under embargo, or just a logistics and supply issue?
The choice of wood make a difference, too. Palmyra is a very hard, resilient wood that we used for earth-contact projects and that is traditionally used for such applications. Harvesting Palmyra used to be strictly controlled by the LTTE since it was such a valuable commodity. I have forwarded this inquiry to a former Sri Lankan colleague with UNHCR (now retired) to see if he has any other suggestions.
In Gabon, we used a very makeshift treatment that seemed effective; it was used engine oil mixed into diesel fuel to thin it and increase penetration. About 1 part oil to 10 parts diesel, I believe.
Reply from enquirer: "Many thanks again to all contributors and RedR!"
Interested in becoming a part of RedR's TSS panel?
If you queries or would like to know more about becoming involved in RedR's TSS - and you feel your technical skills and humanitarian experience would contribute to the service - please do not hesitate to contact Toby Gould, TSS Coordinator, on 020 7840 6000 or technical.support@redr.org.uk
For hundreds of relief workers responding in emergencies all year round, the complex dilemmas they face are a constant threat to people's lives. They need solutions and they need them quickly!
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