emergency shelters

[spaceagent-9]

dont forget that these are short term housing.
and there is a lot of human rights loss when you put people in crates and stack them ontop of each other.
inorder to create a dignified camp, relocated to a safe area, you will need self sufficient light and heat, water storage per unit and some kind of work area inside,
but perhaps my idea of a tube isnt really what people want and crate boxes might be better......
i would still like to see something else presented here.
there are piles, mountains of plastic, waste, that can be crushed and melted into pellets then smashed into forms.
i suggest that we start with sanitized waste plastic as a resource first when dealing with this problem.

[PatronZero]

Believe it or not, the Henryville, IN disaster zone has already had scavengers and lesser-quality persons visit, one man in particular was arrested after ripping copper pipes from the rubble of several homes.

FEMA needs a major overhaul from top to bottom but remember, "they're here from the Government and they're here to help us."

[spaceagent-9]

i'm redesigning a crate like shaleter that would hook up electrically and be not off the grid. only a bed, and desk and drawers.
the human quality issues have been dismissed by stacking people up in eggs like in the matrix apparently.
not what i started out to accomplish, but maybe my design will be more humane than another box honeycomb crate.

[spaceagent-9]

i also dont mind if this thread is used to report disaster news, as long as it is short and relavant.

[carlos filipe]

The topic is now more clear: to design a shelter for quick deployment into disater areas.
spaceagent-9 is having a fixation on stackable living quarters. I think I have been clear that the advantage of stacking is, in this case, storage in between crisis so to say. It is not a sugestion of formal solution for a camping. Besides that would imply extra manhours in preparing the terrain to solidly stack the containers.
PatronZero points out an issue that is of the utmost importance. Whatever is the solution, it has to be light (therefore pliable and stackable) to transport a lot of shelters at the same time.
He points out geodesic domes (great solution) I thought of those colapsible containers, that could have a flexible roof. An inflatable roof, like those camping beds, or a waterproof membrane that would naturally sag (I'm writing as I pronounce, hope I'm spelling right) in order to collect rain, passing thru a fillter into a tank. Drinking water is allways a problem.
PatronZero also points out the use of containers as personal hygiene units (showers and WC) and communal kitchens. The off-the-grid is a must. Ther might not even exist a "grid" anymore.
I neverexperienced the aftermath of a natural disaster. But it looks to me that a centralized command is something vital. I mean, a clear organization, showing who's in command.
There will be people needing medical assistance and psycological help. A large amount of people will be in a state of shock.
There will be people who gladly implement the "law of the jungle" and try to install a parallel "order". In the recent shipwreck in Italy, some passengers trampled over children screaming they ought to have priority on the rescue as they were VIP. I'm affraid that there will allways be a lot of VIP's.
So the design of an efficient camp has to provide services that range from medical to catering. And dignity, implying privacy, but at the same time encouraging people to interact in a positive way. It is a community being rebuilt from very deep. The dammages go beyond the material.
The power and water supply has to be supervised or will immediatly fall in the hands of gangs (either with a long wrap sheet or beginners).

A second stage of any rescue operation is to remove people that stabilised, away from the "frontline."
Then the situation changes and the shelter design/program has to change also. I've read here opinions quite valid, but not differentiating these two situations, wich causes some confusion to the debate.
That "second line" could be stil a temporary shelter, it could (it should) be a rebuilding or renovation of empty houses.
But this is as much a political issue as it is a technical. And in spite of being in the XXIst century, the law prizes more the property than a person. An worldwide issue, mind you. Private poperty has to be respected, but there should be swift measures to solve humanitarian stuations.

[spaceagent-9]

well,
we had quite a homeless problem here,
they painted boats and cars and just about anything that would hang together over and over until it was water tight for the winter.
put in back yards with a beni ditch to go in, and then a solar panel and a few gadgets for light and email.
then the hand that fed got bit, and they have been cruel to homeless people ever since here.
but they take thier ssi for crank and for oxycottins.
human enough to exlploit and then tossed out like mutts.
i never thought that was fair or for the general good of the public and i feel that the lack of care is unconstitutional under so many statutes i wont even list them, and that just being fed up isnt a good enough answer to care for the people that OUR SYSTEM wounded , maimed and destroyed in the name of war, and money.
im not in a good mood today and wish this flue would go away.
but at least its a good rant.

[Zathros]

There are very few homeless people in Connecticut. They are sent to New York, or New Jersey, on buses usually. They would not survive the Winters. I have had friends who have build structures hidden in forests, and lived their for years, till they got back on their feet. Of course, now, they would be arrested, and bused out. Cold Winters are extremely tough on homeless people. Of course, putting them in all those vacant houses would be the most ridiculous thing in the world. It would be silly and dumb. No one has told me why this is so, but it seems to be the prevailing thought. Someone said it was because that is private property, and I forgot, that is true. Since corporations are now considered legal entities, the do have the right to own decimate entire areas and classes of peoples. I may have imaged that though, and I did see it on T.V., so I probably misunderstood what I saw.

I hope that Flu gets better, that can be really hard to shake. I hope you feel better soon.

[carlos filipe]

Look guys, the homeless issue is not a design problem.
We live alone amidst the crowd. When people worship the mighty .............(please fill the prefered currency) and look at the neighbor as competitor, not another human, there will allways be homeless or lonelely people suffering.
It is an option that a community makes. Then to ease the conscience, when that thing emerges like a burp, blames the guys in the suit, the politicians, the others.
Frankly I really don't understand what this thread is about. Is it to encourage to make some papermodels with a pratical aspect or is lounge conversation. If it is the later, I think there are other forums more suitable.
Best regards
Carlos

[ashevilleangler]

Carlos is right. A simple search for emergency cardboard shelters leads to a wealth of existing workable designs. Here's one of the most interesting ones:

SBA_Paper Log Houses

If on the other hand this thread is for discussion of society's lack of compasion for the homeless or response to disasters then another forum might be more appropriate.

Just my 2 cents.

Curt

[spaceagent-9]

those are really cool!
the main characturistics would be
waste material being used efficiently,
privacy
warmth
light.
personal storage and some kind of work area desk.
then they can be deposited along road sides where disaster victims can be relocated, instead of a stadium, or stacked like a bee hive in the disaster area itself.
the biggest resource that is available is burnt waste. carbon nano tubes.
then melted pellets from e-waste that can be crushed into forms and assembled.
after that, cheap wood and cement wastes or rapid growth like bamboo.
keeping all that in mind, remember that these are disaster victims and not criminals or escaped convicts or anything, they were in a disaster and need help.
in texas today there was a devastating tornado.