Prefabricated modules for health emergency

Hospitals, earthquakes and prefabricated are three words that are not usually associated with each other but which intertwine in a variety of ways, highlighting problems or providing solutions. The earthquake as a cause, the hospital as a danger and not as a refuge, prefabrication as a solution: this is their concatenation in the recent events. Italy is one of the most heavily seismic countries in the Mediterranean for the frequency and intensity of the earthquakes. The latest seismic events have actually caused the declaration of non-availability for many hospitals, which have been completely recovered only over the years. The hospital has also a strategic importance: given its intrinsic nature of civil protection, the Emergency Relief Chain plays a crucial role being the reference point both for the relief organizing and for the large number of victims. To increase the urgency is not only the people to be cured and the search for medical staff but, above all, the time factor: the estimated time for primary emergency is 72 hours, a short but crucial time in which hospitals must continue to ensure safe operations. For its speed and cost, prefabrication is used in post-disaster emergencies. The advantages are numerous: it guarantees high precision, reduction in costs, materials and hours and high quality and safety. The research presented a possible solution to reconcile these aspects. Through the use of prefabricated modules for the health emergency, it is possible to built not only an efficient and structured hospital but also to confer it humanization, sociality and organization as mentioned in the Decalogue of Veronesi-Piano. Finally, these health care modules give rise to a New Emergency Room as in a prefabricated structure, with economic benefits in terms of resources and time and also of social benefits to facilitate the fundamental recovery to everyday life.