Applicability of drywall technologies for disaster-induced housing reconstruction

Purpose: The sluggish progression of disaster-induced housing reconstruction (DHR) in Sri Lanka provoked the assessment of drywall technologies as a mode of improving efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applicability of drywall technologies to adopt a technical solution to DHR. Design/methodology/approach: The research contextualized a mixed research design via a case-study strategy integrating semi-structured interviews, documentary reviews and observations. Two cases based on the 2016 Samasarakanda landslide were investigated. Within-case-analysis and cross-case-analysis were performed to derive conclusions. Findings: Enablers for drywall technologies application are time saving, cost-saving, less water consumption and logistical easiness. Less strength of drywall technologies will not be a critical obstruction owing to the expected disaster resilience from the concrete frame and the subsequent requirement of non-load bearing walls for landslide DHR. Labor source, community acceptance, durability are potential settings of barriers. Observing model houses, researching the resistance of drywall technologies to landslide-induced vibrations and impulsive waves are some further research areas discovered. Research limitations/implications: Empirical findings are centered on the 2016 Samasarakanda DHR. Practical implications: Because of many issues in updating guidelines, drawings and BOQs, a protocol should be gazetted in the parliament to improve its updating flexibility allowing provisions to apply novel technologies for DHR. Originality/value: Being one of the very first of this kind of research, contextually, the research is original. This study provokes insightful investigation of drywall technologies for DHR beyond its overlooked properties. This study reveals many wall construction challenges of the 2016 Samasarakanda DHR which have not yet been explored in research.