Hurricane Relief - What Would You Bring?

andyring asks: "In a few weeks, I will be going with a group from my church down to some of the hardest-hit areas in Louisiana and Mississippi to volunteer in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. We will be there six days, and have 10 people going so far. At this point, I don't know much more than we'll be in either Slidell, La. on the northeast shore of Lake Ponchartrain, or Pass Christian, Miss., right on the Gulf Coast near Gulfport/Biloxi. Not knowing what we'll be faced with, and having somewhat limited room for supplies, tools and equipment (probably a U-haul trailer), what would you bring on a journey such as this? Any Slashdot readers between Lincoln, Neb. and the New Orleans area interested in contributing to our effort, such as donations of equipment/supplies/tools/etc?"

Comments

Re:Boots not shoes.

[maggard]

Domes are great - in theory. However most furnishings & furniture are rectangles and so don't fit up against the walls, thus there is lots of wasted space, and construction techniques on domes aren't nearly as well developed as they are for 'traditionial' homes. Couple that with difficult local codes and the stigma of living in the 'wierd poor house' and they're mostly a non-starter. Concrete seems to be a good direction to go these days, and pre-made modular concrete homes are slowly becoming widely avaialble. With advances like insulating concrete and the like they can create quick, solid, reasonably cheap homes that 'look normal' and folk are comfortable iving in.

Laptop

[EwokMolester]

Bring a laptop so you can play this handy New Orleans based choose your own adventure:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/9/6/34041/87727

Thus allowing you to relax in between bouts of charity work.

Keep it really REAL.

Habitat homes

[bzipitidoo]

Habitat for Humanity does a little more work and spends a little more money to "make the homes fit the neighborhood". That's pure cosmetics. Any reason they can't also make the homes fit the environment? Consider energy efficiency? Maintenance costs? Surely they consider all these factors. Otherwise, seems to me they're just wasting their donors' money, if they're putting up homes that will be blown away by the next hurricane, or eaten by termites, or burned to the ground in the next wildfire. Be embarrassing if beneficiaries have to move out of the homes because the energy bill is too high for them. If in the process they get the local area to improve code by accepting novel designs that can take whatever the local environment dishes out, or by rejecting existing designs that didn't work, that's worth as much or more than a house.