Haiti's homeless get tarps, want tents

[JonLP24]

Source: USA Today

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Ask any of the hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims living outdoors in Haiti's shattered capital and you're apt to get the same plea: "Give us a tent."

Few will get one. Aid agencies and Haitian officials have given up plans to shelter the homeless in tents, even if that means many will likely face hurricane season camped out under flapping sheets of plastic.

Tents are too big, too costly and too inefficient, aid groups say. So Haitians must swelter under flimsy tarps until fixed shelters can be built — though no one believes nearly enough can be will be up in time for spring storms.

"A tent would give us more space. There are too many people in here," said Marie-Mona Destiron, sweating under the hot blue light of her family's donated plastic tarp. When it rains, she said, water slides through the gaps and turns the dirt floor to mud.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-02-13-haiti-homeless-tarps_N.htm

[Warpy]

1. Tents would also be pretty miserable

They leak in hard enough rain, all of them, even with rain covers over the top. People swelter in them an hour after the sun comes up. You also have a floor cloth in mud problem even with a trench dug around it if the rain is super hard.

What they're going to need is real shelter, lots of it. Any walls still standing need to be utilized with corrugated tin or plastic roofing over the top in the short term. That means clearing out all the rubble so they can see what they've got left.

This is a miserable situation and it's going to take years to repair at all. The word "catastrophe" hardly begins to cover it.

[mbperrin]

17. So tarps are totally shitty, but because tents are somewhat imperfect,

they just need to "tough it out" with tarps?

Reminds me of junior high football: suck it up; gut it out; walk it off; get over it; get your mind in the game.

Platitudes are great, but real help is greater. Those folks who are salvaging materials like tin to build better shelters than tarps are having their efforts demolished by the authorities, since they may be building on someone else's property (the horror!), and they may not be carpenter built (yet more horror!)

Plans for the future are great, but when Maslovian needs are not meant, nothing else can happen.

Or maybe, since they're all a bunch of people of color, they deserve what "God" has handed them after all, and in that case, should be grateful indeed for the tarps provided by the white folk of "developed" countries....

[Warpy]

18. They need to get real shelter ASAP

and diverting time and energy toward making tent cities that would not only be inadequate but would be downright dangerous in hurricane season is counterproductive.

Tents are great in some climates. They're not so great in the Caribbean.

[uppityperson]

24. Thank you, they need to get real shelter ASAP

[maryf]

35. agree with all you say...

especially about the shelters folks are building on their own being demolished...

[heli]

2. Hurricane vs. flapping sheets of plastic

The misery is endless...

[EFerrari]

5. Welcome to DU, heli.

[heli]

10. Thanks!

[Skittles]

3. inhumane

[EFerrari]

4. What Skittles said.

Where is the help that was supposed to be pouring into Haiti? Is that so two weeks ago? Where is the Bush Clinton team? Where is everybody?

[ronnie624]

6. I think food, medicine and shelter have always been secondary to political considerations.

Those who actually wanted to help, were elbowed aside from the beginning, and It's hard to take seriously any of the excuses offered in the article after all the resources and energy that has been invested in imperialist wars during the last seven years.

[EFerrari]

12. During the last hundred years. Yes, once you see it, you can't ignore it.

I'm supposed to talk to John Perkins this week, if all goes as planned, so he can check in with us about Haiti.

It's good to be here at DU where people are paying attention.

[maryf]

36. Where they went after Katrina...nt

[Turborama]

7. "no one believes nearly enough can be will be up in time"

Did Sarah Palin write this? :shrug:

[maryf]

37. and REALLY, why the hell not???

the resources are available...just not being "allowed"...???

[Edweird]

8. This whole thing has been mishandled the every step of the way.

[kestrel91316]

9. I agree. The entire country should have been rebuilt to Industrialized World

standards by now.

ETA this: :sarcasm:

Because we have such a huge sarcasm-impaired contingent these days.

[Edweird]

11. Well, alrighty then.

[ronnie624]

15. They're just asking for tents, not skyscrapers. n/t

[kestrel91316]

21. Since you seem to be a relief work expert, you and your friends,

why aren't you in Haiti RIGHT NOW showing those idiots how it's REALLY done?

[mbperrin]

23. Any evidence those in charge over there are experts? Or just the usual

thieves?

For instance, all the brand new trailers bought for Katrina victims that were never used and were sold for pennies on the dollar:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702628.html

FEMA Taking Hit on Sale of Surplus Trailers

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Stored in such places as the vacant land near an airfield in Hope, Ark., an industrial park in Cumberland, Md., and a warehouse in Edison, N.J., are the results of one of the federal government's costliest stumbles in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- tens of thousands of empty trailers.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency hurriedly bought 145,000 trailers and mobile homes just before and after Katrina hit, spending $2.7 billion largely through no-bid contracts. Now, it is selling off as many as 41,000 of the homes, netting, so far, about 40 cents on each dollar spent by taxpayers.

Thousands more of the homes -- critics say more than 8,000 -- have never been used and cannot be sold immediately, even though scores of people in the South have been made homeless by recent storms.

"While FEMA has 8,420 brand new, fully furnished, never-used mobile homes in a cow pasture in Hope, Arkansas, they refuse to provide the people from Desha, Back Gate and Dumas counties with help. This is crazy," said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.). "If this is the new and improved FEMA, I don't want any part of it."

FEMA cannot sell unused mobile homes directly to the public because of legislation passed by Congress in October at the industry's urging. Instead, the agency must now go through a time-consuming process of trying to donate them first to federal, state and local agencies and public service groups, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute's Web site.

But FEMA has refused Ross's request to release 150 mobile homes to shelter people in his state who were displaced on Feb. 24 by two tornadoes, because President Bush has not declared the counties a federal disaster area, precluding FEMA's involvement.



Still, the number of homes the agency can sell has industry groups worried about a market glut. FEMA's potential for-sale inventory is nearly equivalent to 30 percent of the recreational-vehicle industry's U.S. sales in 2006.

"As you can imagine, a public auction of so many vehicles could devastate the market for travel trailers," Michael A. Molino, president of the 2,700-member Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association, said in a letter Friday to FEMA Director R. David Paulison.

Molino's group and the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds asked last week that the trailers be sold in lots of five or more so dealers can buy and resell them. Both groups said that selling directly to consumers could pose safety hazards if adequate training is not provided.

FEMA is working with the General Services Administration, the federal government's real estate arm, to auction trailers in batches of about 300 at a time "so we do not flood the market or harm business," FEMA spokeswoman Deborah Wing said.

Beyond the issue of cost, critics have also raised health concerns about the trailers. Becky Gillette, spokeswoman for the Sierra Club of Mississippi, warned that wood and glue in new trailers have released formaldehyde gas at levels that have irritated occupants' eyes and lungs, posing a health risk.

The unused units are among thousands that are rusting in depots at 13 locations nationwide. Many of them were part of a $900 million purchase of 26,300 mobile and modular homes. FEMA officials later realized that, under agency rules, those homes could not be used in flood zones, where nearly all storm victims lived. In other cases, local communities refused to host large trailer encampments, saddling FEMA with a surplus.

About 90,000 FEMA units are occupied by storm victims. FEMA will decide soon how many trailers the agency will keep on hand for future disasters and how many it will sell, Wing said. Those eligible for sale are the ones that require more than $1,500 to refurbish.

Though FEMA paid on average $18,620 for each of the trailers and mobile homes, during the past year the agency says it has received an average of only $7,367 for the 2,665 it has sold so far.

"The people who lose in this coming and going are taxpayers," said Steve Ellis, spokesman for Taxpayers for Common Sense. "They paid for trailers that were not needed or inappropriate, and now they're not able to fully recoup their losses if they're only selling them for 40 cents on the dollar," he said. "And it seems like industry has got this coming and going, because FEMA can't seem, either through their own work or through Congress's, to catch a break."



THOSE are experts, right?

[ronnie624]

32. They want some tents, in which to face hurricane season.

They aren't asking for much.

"Aid groups" say tents are too expensive. We spent trillions invading and plundering Iraq on behalf of oil companies and "Great Game" players. I wonder how many tents a trillion dollars would Buy.

[jpak]

41. If only Bush was in charge again - everything would have been handled differently!

How's that hopey changey thing workin' for ya?

Someone should be fired over the gross mishandling of this highly predictable massive earthquake!!!111

Hechuva job Hillary!!111

Heckuva job Bill!111

Way to go Obama!1111

:thumbsdown:

[Edweird]

43. I'm sure you think it's working out quite well for them. They were underprivileged anyway, right?

Don't waste your 'beautiful mind' on it.

:puke:

[Edweird]

49. A Jamaican perspective on the US in Haiti - Shameless and Graceless

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7726919

[winyanstaz]

13. I just don't understand....

Why..with all the plastic clogging the oceans and landfills and with the technology already in place to make a very durable recycled plastic products why pre-fab emergency housing units (one room but able to add more on) that can simply be bolted together and set up anywhere reasonably flat are not being made?
I have seen great "wooden" looking decking made out of a great recycled plastic material...seems to me it would work fine.
Seems like there would be a great market for them..especially now.....four walls, a floor, a roof with a way to run a vent out the ceiling for a stove and a window...and each one wouldn't have to be all that big if you could connect more rooms for each additional person.
Then after a disaster they could be unbolted and shipped to the next spot or just left for the families to use until they are on their feet.
At least people would be up off the ground and out of the rain and elements and it wouldn't be as easy to blow away as a tent or tarp.

[cutlassmama]

51. great idea!

[wellst0nev0ter]

14. kick (eom)

[Billy Burnett]

16. Not to worry ...

.. they are on top of this. :eyes:

[rampart]

19. new orleans 2005

many of us lived in makeshift tents made of "blue roof" tarps until better could be improvised. the heavier clear plastic sheets are nice too.

[Vidar]

20. Adding poles, stakes & ropes to the tarps would enable crude tents..

[RedRocco]

22. they should use something like this

http://www.concretecanvas.co.uk/About%20CCS.html

semi- permanent concrete canvas shelters. they would be easy and quick to deploy

[mbperrin]

25. I also noticed that there are 30 million unused shipping containers

in the world right now, many of them in the Caribbean; apparently they can be had for around $1,000 each. Watertight, built to resist shocks like earthquakes and hurricanes; instant sleeping space and easy to convert to a living space over some time.

Just another idea.

[hayu_lol]

26. A city of 3 million people plus or minus a few...

was demolished in just a few hours. For anyone to say that it is an easy matter to provide better shelter than tarps/plastic sheeting is mind-boggling.

It will take time to provide better shelter. No one, least of all the people of Haiti, is happy with this time lag. But, there is no way to do the job right all at once. All the materials for better shelters have to come from outside the country.

It would be exactly the same problem with any city of 3 million or so here in the US following such a disaster.

Poorly managed? I don't think so. Heck of a logistic problem just getting enough food, water, comforts, and sanitation for what they are facing.

If anyone here can do better, go immediately to the UN and make your pitch.

Trailers? How many ships would be required to move those trailers from the US to Haiti? And, more importantly, how long would it take?

Those trailers? Heckofajob Brownie.

[XemaSab]

27. Word

Especially in a country with no wood. :(

[mbperrin]

28. You didn't actually read the post, did you?

Shipping containers, millions of which are in the immediate area and empty, could be used as tighter, storm resistant sleeping areas while permanent building is going on.

And yes, the very same people who did NO are the ones bidding on Haiti right now. If you liked NO, you will love Haiti.

Why don't you ask why large German and Japanese cities did NOT take decades to rebuild after being destroyed in WWII?

If the answer is that now never ending wars and never ending cleanup and restoration are more profitable than actually finishing, then you are on to something. I assume you are onsite now cheerleading the current effort since you feel that no one who is not there is entitled to an opinion.

[Merchant Marine]

29. Shipping containers require infrastructure.

At the very least they have to be delivered by a semi truck and unloaded by a top-pick loader. That's heavy equipment that requires a graded, hard surface to operate.

[mbperrin]

30. Empty, they don't have to be unloaded top pick. They could be

tailgated. And please don't say no. Drilling rigs are set up like that all the time here, and they weigh many tons more than an empty container and are larger, too.

But let's face it. There's no real urgency, because it's not like white Americans are suffering. So let's do the bids for the cleanup and award them in say, September. Cleanup can begin then and be complete perhaps by early 2012. Then the planners can come in and propose roads and mains by July 2012, and groundbreaking can occur after bids are let and accepted by June 2013. Why, by 2015 or so, roads may exist and lots graded ready to build, and by 2016, the first people will be ready to move into the first few hundred units.

Meanwhile, they can just hang on under a blue tarp with nothing but weather and each other; hell, it's only 6 years, and we don't want to strain anything!

[mbperrin]

31. Here's shipping containers being sold for home use and delivery.

http://www.iport.com/delivery_options.html

Interport has relationships with independent trucking companies who can deliver your container via flat bed truck (if you have the ability to unload it at your location) or via tilt-bed truck (if you would prefer that the carrier unload it). You will receive one quote/invoice from Interport which includes both the container price and the delivery cost.

Flat bed or tilt bed truck. No big deal.

[WriteDown]

39. You should start a non-profit to facilitate this. nt

[U4ikLefty]

42. That's the best you've got...weak!!! nt

[WriteDown]

44. Best? It was a serious suggestion...

Thus there were no eyes or sarcasm tags.

[maryf]

40. I wish I had a heart left for you...

anyway, I recommend all your posts here... these people are not just being forgotten, they are being purposely neglected, I think...what "value" do they have to those in charge??? :(

[mbperrin]

47. Yes, the whole paradigm of people as commodities is one of the most

disgusting side effects of the current brand of capitalism.

Makes me ashamed.

Thanks for your support!

[theHandpuppet]

33. I've always wondered why these can't be used as emergency shelters

Hell, with just a few modifications those containers could provide some real shelter. Clean 55 gl. drums could be used to collect rainwater, fashioned into grills for cooking, etc. The materials already exist -- why aren't they being recycled and used to help those who need them?

[Jkid]

34. Why haven't anyone thought of this?

[maryf]

38. GREAT idea...

Who can implement it? anyone here?? Seriously, no sarcasm...

[boppers]

45. How many tents can you put inside a shipping container?

How many families does one shipping container filled with tents provide for, vs. an empty shipping container?

Perhaps another way of thinking about, though, is just ensuring that all aid containers are one-way shipments, so that containers can be used, regardless.

[Lagomorph]

46. Do we still have those 11,000 FEMA trailers? - nt

[arikara]

48. Shelterboxes

I attended a benefit for Haiti this weekend, where the money raised went to buy these:




Shelter
At the heart of every ShelterBox is a ten-person tent. It is custom made for ShelterBox by Vango, one of the world’s leading tent manufacturers, and is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, high winds and heavy rainfall. Internally, each tent has privacy partitions that allow recipients to divide the space as they see fit.

A smile
Every box contains a children’s pack containing drawing books, crayons and pens. For children who have lostmost, if not all,their possessions, these small gifts are treasured.

Warmth and protection
In addition to the tent, the boxes contain a range of other survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, essential in areas where temperatures plummet at nightfall. Where malaria is prevalent mosquito nets are supplied, as well a life saving means of water purification. Water supplies often become contaminated after a major disaster, as infrastructure and sanitation systems are destroyed, this presents a secondary but no less dangerous threat to survivors than the initial disaster itself.

Self sufficiency
A basic tool kit containing a hammer, axe, saw, trenching shovel, hoe head, pliers and wire cutters can be found in every box. These items enable people to improve their immediate environment, by chopping firewood or digging a latrine, for example. Then, when it is possible, to start repairing or rebuilding the home they were forced to leave.

Fit for purpose
Every item is durable, practical and brand new. The box itself is lightweight and waterproof and has been used for a variety of purposes in the past - from water and food storage containers to a cot for a newly born baby.

A heart to the home
A key piece in every box is either a wood burning or multi-fuel stove - that can burn anything from diesel to old paint. This provides the heart of the new home where water is boiled, food is cooked and families congregate. In addition, there are pans, utensils, bowls, mugs and water storage containers.

They had one of the tents set up and it looks very strong and durable, certainly much better than a flimsy bloody tarp. If anyone is interested in donating directly, it can be done here:

http://www.shelterbox.org/

[maryf]

50. Fantastic...

That's a really great idea, thanks for sharing, I'm definitely looking it up...good for the homeless here too...

[hayu_lol]

52. One of the first industries set up over there will be...

the manufacture of concrete blocks. That would be a quick start on rebuilding. Don't know how many here have seen the foreign film 'City Of God' showing neatly laid out rows of identical units complete with streets and sidewalks. Could be done in Haiti as well.

Plastic, canvas, and the like will not stand up to Hurricane winds.

In any case, a series of villages could be laid out and streets and slabs poured as fast as the ground could be cleared. Underground utilities could be put in at the same time. The block industry could start paying wages and get money into circulation.

The blocks could be made here initially until the local firms take root in Haiti. Blocks can be palletized. Might mean that some firms would go on 3 shift days with the govt. and the UN paying the costs.

The mobile homes quietly decaying would not be good for Haiti...what would you anchor them to?

Are any of you architects? What would you suggest for the size and number of rooms for more-or-less instant villages? How much open space for children's parks/schools etc?