Natural disasters can strike anywhere, anytime. But people are always thinking up new and innovative ways to provide relief when catastrophes occur.
1. The All Terrain Solar Trailer (ATST)
The All Terrain Solar Trailer (ATST), the latest project by Michael and Kenny Ham (the guys behind ApocalypsEV, a compact all-terrain vehicle for the end of the world), helps victims of natural disasters stay connected, even during lengthy power outages. The All Terrain Solar Trailer (ATST) is a portable, solar-powered-generator station that can charge up to 100 phones at once using both batteries and the sun. Designed to be towed behind the brothers' ApocalypsEV ATVs, which also run on a combo of battery and solar energy, the ATSTs would be able to reach places where infrastructure has been destroyed. Each trailer will come equipped with either four or eight batteries, providing 1200 to 2400 watts of solar charge, and feature 100 outlets: 50 of them regular 110-volt outlets and the others a combination of USB, iPhone, and lesser-used connections. "We also plan to give these trailers a grid-tie ability that will allow them to pay for themselves over time by lowering the electric bill of any organization that uses them," Kenny Ham says.
2. OpenRelief UAV
OpenRelief is crowd-sourcing a drone. The organization is creating a UAV that can help with disaster relief. The miniature plane, built mostly from off-the-shelf components such as fiberglass, has a 5.5-foot wingspan and weighs less than 7 pounds. It will use advanced image processing systems to identify things like roads, smoke, and people, and record what it sees. Equipped with an open-source system called ArduPilot Mega, the UAV can be easily controlled using GPS and IMU sensors - electronic devices that can also measure an area's radiation levels and weather.
3. Public Lab (PLOTS) DIY Spectrometry Kit
Spectrometers measure light's various properties by splitting the light into individual colours in order to study them separately so you can analyze the chemical makeup of a material. The PLOTS spectrometer is a DIY kit that allows everyday people to identify and analyze possible contaminants - such as oil that's entered your drinking water - following a natural disaster. It's crafted from simple materials including a VHS cassette case, black card paper, a piece of a DVD-R, and a USB webcam. As light enters the handmade instrument, grooves on the DVD - which is taped on to the webcam - create a prism that bends the light's wavelengths to different degrees, resulting in a spectrum that can be analyzed. Open-source software allows you to compare your findings to already-known samples. The kit costs approximately $10 in materials and requires one hour of construction time.
4. Concrete Canvas (Rapid Concrete Infrastructure)
Just add air and water. That's the theory behind Concrete Canvas Ltd's Concrete Canvas Shelters, inflatable dwellings made from concrete canvas, a cement–hybrid fabric that's both waterproof and fireproof. These permanent structures (each one has a design life of 10-plus years) ship in airtight sacks and can be easily constructed in less than an hour. The canvas comes attached to a polyethylene frame, which can be inflated into a shelter using an electric fan. After securing the shelter with ground anchors, douse it with water and let it set for approximately 48 hours, at which point it's ready to use. Concrete Canvas Shelters come in two sizes: 269 square feet, requiring 1000 litres of H20, and 538 square feet, requiring 2000 litres of H20.
5. Aid Necessities Transporter
Australian designer Bryan Lee developed the Aid Necessities Transporter (ANT) as a way to carry disaster relief supplies - specifically temporary housing units - over rough terrain. Built to work in unison, the way ants do, these concept vehicles are each equipped with six electric in-wheel motors as well as an all-terrain suspension system. A driver would ride in the ANT, Lee says; however, "they are meant to travel in groups and therefore don't need a navigator." The ANTs have two modes: A regular Transport Mode and Rapid Mode, in which the vehicle uses hydraulics to rotate its cockpit downward, transforming the ANT into a more aerodynamic shape for a swift return to bas.
6. LuminAID
Columbia University architecture students Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta have created an inventive and resourceful way to illuminate a disaster zone: the LuminAID, a solar-powered inflatable LED that's waterproof and floats, which makes air distribution easy. There are also no movable parts, and each LuminAID can provide light for up to three years without replacement. An added bonus: The inflatable case softens the harsh LED light. LuminAID costs from $18.95 to $26.95, and the creators have distributed them in 10 countries so far.
7. C-Water
Pure drinking water is a precious resource after a disaster. And while there are numerous filters on the market, the ease and simplicity of Chinese engineer Chao Gao's C-Water prototype, which took second place in Designboom's 2010 Incheon International Design Awards, makes it great for an emergency. Placed on the ground or in water, Gao's lightweight collapsible device accumulates water vapour inside its filter. The sun then heats the vapour - which eventually condenses on the roof of C-Water - and purifies it. Two days later - after exposure to the sun has killed nearly all the microbes - the H20 is safe to consume.
8. CAAT Vehicle
Still just a prototype, DARPA's Captive Air Amphibious Transporter (CAAT) could make delivering disaster aid from commercial container ships vastly more efficient. How? Amphibious tanks. The CAATs are humongous vehicles (each one is expected to weigh 450 tons and measure 50 yards long) equipped with air-filled treads that provide buoyancy, allowing the CAAT to roll atop water and onto land. And with so much space, they'll be able to carry massive amounts of cargo. They will also sport snorkels - especially handy during severe storms.
9. Disaster Relief Toilet
Industrial designer Rahim Bhimani created the Disaster Relief Toilet after witnessing the horrors of people having nowhere to dispose of their personal waste during the 2010 Chilean earthquake. His easy-to-assemble "comfort station" consists of an 18-inch-high flat-pack toilet, an encompassing tent for privacy, and a waste-disposal system that includes an easy-to-remove cart and a biodegradable drawsting bag. A person can piece together the plastic toilet with a coin or a butter knife, and it's ready for use.
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