Mediagua

Mediagua, is the name given in Chile to a type of prefabricated house, constructed of wood panels, which can be erected in less than a day.

[1] Because they are designed as temporary solutions they are commonly installed without sanitation or electricity,[2] but often they become permanent homes.

[2] They are made of 8 panels (2 floors, 2 sides, 2 front and 2 rear), two windows, one door, 8 sheets of zinc for the roof, plus 15 support logs of 80 centimetres (2.6 ft) long to isolate the house from the moisture of the soil.

[4] In the mid-nineteenth century the first slums began to appear around Santiago de Chile, where unskilled workers lived.

[2] Mediaguas were built by the government to house the victims of the earthquakes in Valdivia (1960), La Ligua (1965), Santiago (1985) and Tocopilla (2007).