A Review of RISHA Application: An Affordable Modular Housing Structure for Earthquake Mitigation in Indonesia

The majority of deaths that happened due to disaster occurred in low- and middle-income countries. This high human cost is a byproduct of low-quality building structure, where large portion of the residential houses in these countries are considered as non-engineered buildings, typically without regulation and standards, making them more vulnerable to disasters such as earthquakes. This shows a deep need in improving the buildings and especially housing quality for earthquake-prone low-middle income population. As a response to this need for better and more resilient public housing, in 2004, the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Housing through its Center of Research and Development for Technology Regulation and Implementation (Puslitbang Kebijakan dan Penerapan Teknologi) developed and certified the application of Rumah Instan Sederhana Sehat (RISHA) or Simple Instant Healthy House. RISHA is distinguished for its rapid construction, better quality control, simple technology, environmental friendliness, and cheap overall price. Although initially RISHA was planned to fulfill the high demand of housing needs in Indonesia, in its development, RISHA is extensively used for disaster recovery due to its construction speed. RISHA panels and installation can also be inclusively replicated by local producers without high expertise which increases its speed and size of production. As of 2021, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of buildings have been built using RISHA in more than 60 different regions in Indonesia. Although in the beginning, RISHA was developed as a solution for housing, over the years it had been applied beyond housing structures. These structures include two-story commercial buildings (Ruko), schools, and public housing (indekos) with various changes from its initial design. It is also important to note that RISHA only provides a solution for the frame of the structure, whereas the connection between the frames to both its foundation and roofing is yet to be standardized, prompting different construction practices. This paper aims to document the various applications of RISHA in Indonesia as a baseline for discussion and evaluation of the potential application of this modular structure by drawing its conclusion on media analysis and literature study. This study aims to draw attention to the need to review the gap in the guidelines and the standard of construction implementation on the ground to avoid unexpected improvisation. It also wants to bring attention to the various applications of RISHA showing the need to accommodate the design in accordance to all the possible application by market demand.