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Shipping Container Cities to Shelter 2 Million Haitians From Hurricanes
Posted By
Bridgette Meinhold
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Architecture,Design,Homes |
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Moreta and his team, , have been working non-stop to begin construction on their Container Cities. A pilot project has already begun in Jacmel, which lies along the Caribbean Sea, in the Southern part of Port-Au-Prince. They will start building emergency shelters as soon as they start receiving shipping containers, which can be quickly retrofitted into durable structures that can withstand the hurricane season. These basic structures will include new exterior paint, plywood floors, a Green Roof (geo-textile fabric, gravel layers, humus, vegetation), fabric covers over the top to protect them from the sun and collect rain water, a screen panel at the entry doors of the containers to provide for mosquito protection, and a foundation. After enough shelters have been provided for the victims, the homes can be further built-out and made more habitable.
Richard Moreta has recently been down to Haiti trying to secure shipping containers, determine the best ways to utilize them, and prioritize their efforts. The situation, as Moreta told us, is not good. Right now there are 2 million people living in tent camps, and when hurricane season starts in June, they will have no protection. Experts are predicting that a major hurricane landfall in Haiti is likely this coming season due to a weakening of El Niño, so hurricane-resistant shelters need to be constructed NOW in order to secure the safety of Haiti’s disaster-stricken population. On top of that, many Haitians are now terrified of concrete buildings, and many do not want to be inside for fear that another earthquake will demolish it with them inside. Seismologists also fear that those cracked buildings will not be able to withstand hurricane strength winds.
This is a call for help. Moreta and his team are asking for a MASSIVE DONATION of shipping containers from around the world to be shipped to Haiti. Hapag-Lloyd, the biggest container company in the world, has already donated 5 shipping containers to their efforts, but many more are needed. This is where we start the revolution and spread the word. If Betty White can get on Saturday Night Live through a Facebook group, then surely we can get other major companies (like Costco, Home Deport, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) to donate containers and have them shipped to Haiti. There are only 2 MONTHS left before the start of the hurricane season. The Green Container International Aid team has a solution in place, but they don’t have the containers. If you want to help the people of Haiti, spread the word, and help them in their quest to acquire containers!
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There’s been a lot of disasters this year, but the aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake has left the country in a dire state and with hurricane season approaching, 2 million people are without adequate shelter and living in tents. Relief in the form of is
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With the hurricane season, which starts in June, quickly approaching, far too many victims are still without a home or even adequate shelter. Tents are certainly not strong enough many buildings are damaged and likely not strong enough to withstand hurricane force winds.
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Green Container International Aid is a group of people working towards providing real housing solutions to the victims of the earthquake, and right now they need a massive donation of shipping containers sent to Haiti to provide emergency shelters.
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The emergency shelters will at first be fairly basic, enough to last through the hurricane season. The shipping containers will first be outfitted with a new paint job, a green roof, rain water collector and storage units, a shading screen, and screen
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After emergency shelters have been provided additional work can be done on the container homes to make them more livable and comfortable.
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Ideally these units would be outfitted with solar panels and wind energy systems to provide off-grid power rather than relying on the grid.
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After time spent on the ground in Haiti, Richard Moreta and his team learned first hand what could work. They currently have a pilot program underway in Jacmel, which lies along the Caribbean Sea, in the Southern part of Port-Au-Prince.
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Other villages are being identified now where work can start once the group receives more shipping containers. Smaller 20′ containers can be delivered to rural areas, while the 40′ containers are more appropriate for larger cities.
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The shipping containers can be stacked on top of one another to create apartments style buildings to accommodate more people.
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Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s largest container company, has already donated 5 shipping containers to the project and is shipping them to Haiti, but MANY MANY more containers are needed.
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The containers are sparse and basic, but functional and certainly better than living in a tent, which will not withstand the hurricane season and cannot be kept clean.
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Green Container International Aid has developed a series of versatile sustainable solutions ranging from rural to urban-compatible settings also include green roofs, solar arrays, storm-water run-off management, reducing water consumption and technology
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Moreta and his team of experts are collaborating closely with the local population in Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic (which will be used as a logistical base support) will re-design and recondition these containers in a new urban grid to help the decentralization of the main cities. This strategy will alleviate the non-functional spontaneous settlements that impede any future cohesive development.
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Time is running out though. June is quickly approaching and the organization needs thousands of containers to provide adequate housing for the victims. Support their efforts by spreading the word and hopefully we can convince some larger companies to
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