Flutterby™! : Rebuilding Haiti

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Rebuilding Haiti

2010-01-21 22:57:32.617353+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

[ related topics: Real Estate ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2010-01-21 23:15:09.043512+00 by: meuon

This is no magic bullet, and I see all kinds of them converted into houses already in such places. Some better done that others, but often just with a door and window or two grafted on.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-01-22 00:05:58.005002+00 by: Larry Burton

My son stayed in one of these while he was deployed to Iraq. I've seen many of them replacing the construction trailers on industrial construction sites. I think these may be the best solution for Haiti in the short run.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-01-23 23:29:49.078964+00 by: bunny42

And, now that the port is open again, they'd be super easy to deliver intact. They'd be great until it starts getting hot again.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-01-24 00:22:33.563862+00 by: jeff

This isn't so much about rebuilding Haiti as it is just providing basic survival in the short-term. It's a good first step, though.

Complete rebuilding will take years, perhaps a decade, maybe a generation, and possibly never.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-01-24 01:16:29.773519+00 by: Larry Burton

As I said, my son spent a year in one in Iraq with temperatures in the summer exceeding 140°F. Even when it starts getting hot these can be great shelters. But I'm thinking about the shelters I saw riding from Cancun to Chichen Itza. There were a lot of stick houses with thatched roofs along the way there. Now, maybe with the deforestation that has taken place in Haiti there aren't the sticks available to build these shelters but these shelters should be earthquake proof or at least safer buildings to live in during both hurricanes and earthquakes than the concrete buildings built using local concrete.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-01-24 02:42:08.024171+00 by: meuon

Problem was: They weren't using what we (or almost anyone) would call concrete and barely used rebar or other methods.

Having experienced what can be created using simple locally created concrete, manual labour plus rebar, it's amazing stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_James