Measurement of the Thermal Environment in Temporary Settlements with High Building Density after 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China

After 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China, a large amount of temporary settlements with high building density had appeared in the earthquake-stricken area. These temporary settlements all consisted of low-energy temporary buildings: prefab houses. In order to make clear the indoor and outdoor physical environments in the settlements, we measured the relevantly important parameters such as wind velocity, air temperature in Happy Homeland, a typical post-disaster temporary settlement. The field measurements’ results showed as followed: (1) the indoor thermal environment of the prefab houses in summer was always worse than that in winter, (2) the wind velocity inside settlement was much lower than that outside, and indoor ventilation was very poor, (3) a micro-scale heat island effect further deteriorated both the summer outdoor and indoor thermal environment.