Better Disaster Shelters than FEMA Trailers (Video)

An aerospace engineer and Mississippi native named Michael McDaniel "watched helplessly as Hurricane Katrina forced thousands of people out of their homes and into crowded, poorly equipped 'shelters.'" This scenario led to Michael founding Reaction Housing and the creation of its first product, the Exo (as in exoskeleton) shelter. This company isn't holding its hand out for crowdfunding. It got $1.5 million in seed capital in March, 2014, later got another $10 million, and is now going into mass production of its Exo housing units.

Reaction Housing is not the only attempt to make post-disaster housing better, or at least less expensive, than the infamous FEMA trailers. A charity called ShelterBox in Lakewood Ranch, FL, fills boxes with everything a family or group of up to 10 people needs, including a heavy-duty tent, bedding, and kitchen supplies, in order to survive after a natural disaster. (Here's an interview video I shot in 2010 about ShelterBox.) Exo, ShelterBox or any one of dozens of other emergency housing alternatives are good to have around, ready to go, for the next Katrina, Sandy or Tsunami. High tech? Not necessarily, but technology has obviously made emergency housing faster and easier to erect than the "earthquake shacks" that were built in San Francisco to house people made homeless by the 1906 earthquake.

Comments

Yet another makes the same mistake.

[duck_rifted]

They are cutting themselves out of market reach by excluding consumers. Their success or failure depends entirely upon whether organizations, wealthy individuals, or municipalities will order large lots. People with deep pockets don't spend on impulse, and they're just as likely to create their own solution as invest in this one.

Meanwhile, personal responsibility in preparation for potential future emergencies is countermanded. An alternative to homeless camps is prevented. Applications beyond emergency housing are completely nullified. And the company cuts itself out of profits. This seems to be what always happens with emergency shelter. Either it's priced such that one could buy something in the range from an old mobile home to small house, or it's simply not available.

What is the difference between selling a 25-40 unit lot and taking 25-40 consumer orders before beginning production? This company could give itself six months per order for enough orders to be reached to justify production and then give the consumer an option for a refund. It wouldn't even be necessary if they priced it reasonably such that better solutions aren't also more cost-effective.

The engineer saw Katrina victims and wanted to solve the problem. Bullshit. The Katrina victims wouldn't have had access to this, by design.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

What problem does this solve for Katrina Victims? Why would I want to live in this when I could live in a fema trailer instead?

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[CreatureComfort]

Bingo!

All this does is provide emergency shade/shelter from rain. It completely fails to provide: 1) potable water containment, 2) grey/black water containment, 3) cooking facilities, 4) sanitary facilities, 5) perishable goods storage, 6) personal goods storage, 7) any form of even temporary privacy, 8) any form of air conditioning or even ventilation, 9) any form of power for receiving news , maintaining contact, or even doing useful work outside daylight hours.

This would scale less well than tents, for equivalent protection/amenities, and in no way be a long term housing solution for families waiting for an area to rebuild, as many of the FEMA trailers turned into.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[duck_rifted]

FEMA trailers are heavily treated with preservatives that can make people sick after lengthy occupation, they're comfortable enough otherwise that people may not make enough effort to move on from them, and they are expensive to produce and expensive to maintain. Mobile homes are a great solution for first time home owners who want to build their management and maintenance skills prior to owning a more risky and expensive brick and mortar home, but they're not a good temporary emergency shelter. But let's extend the practicality of this purpose. Why would you want a non-FEMA shelter when you're not homeless due to a circumstance that FEMA would respond to? Because you don't have the FEMA option when your company shutters, home burns down, or you're bitten by eminent domain, and other parachute options may not suffice.

Of course, I guess you could hand wave all that away by pretending that only drug addicts and crazy people are ever homeless outside of disasters.

But you're not getting the point even in a general sense. Ask yourself why you'd want to have your own emergency shelter handy rather than get herded into a FEMA camp. Or ask yourself what use you could have for a small, only semi-permanent space that can be heated and cooled, perhaps in scenarios where building is not an option. Such as when you rent land or are subject to homeowner association or regulatory restrictions about permanent land improvements. There's also a matter of room segmentation, whereby a sleeping space in this form could provide enhanced compartmentalization and privacy.

Finally, ask yourself whether a company that apparently aspires to make disaster relief more manageable has a better chance of achieving that goal when they minimize the probability of a sale. When it comes down to it, if they can't pay the bills then they won't accomplish anything. So, cutting themselves out of market costs them and also tarnishes their image because they send a bad message to the same people they'd like to put in these things if it's ever necessary.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

A sleeper bus can do that job much better job of that than this glorified tent could.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

My guess it's the bridge between disaster and temporary housing like the FEMA trailer. They're portable sleeping pods with bonus climate control and power hookups. They provide privacy and a place to sleep relatively comfortably and store personal belongings. They can be quickly deployed so that in the advent that standard disaster shelters are inundated, people are not left to fend for themselves. You are meant to survive in them, not live in them. These hard-shell tents must be supplemented with additional facilities to provide potable water, food, and sanitation (portapotties, or better yet latrines because no one's got time to pump those portapotties, trash dumps).

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm very sure this guy is trying to make things better when the next disaster strikes, especially his own bank account balance.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

FEMA trailers are heavily treated with preservatives

Formaldehyde out-gassing is well understood and easily dealt with by manufacturers through proper material selection and good ventilation. That didn't happen with FEMA because FEMA, like the rest of the federal romper room, is a mismanaged and corrupt operation. FEMA bought trailers from cut-rate, politically connected grifters who knew exactly what corners they could cut.

For longer term occupation a FEMA trailer that isn't out-gassing Formaldehyde is a far better option than a plastic tent. A trailer, as opposed to a plastic tent, is isolated from the moisture and insects on the ground. That fact that fundamentally changes the value and nature of the enclosed space, making it far closer to a normal residential structure.

they're comfortable enough otherwise that people may not make enough effort to move on from them

Indeed. That's pretty hard to argue with. Many people will tolerate almost any indignity they don't have to work for.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

this is cheaper and will be there much sooner and it is better than a promise that never happeneds.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[amiga3D]

I like the shelter but the price point kills it. That's way too much money for a fiberglass shelll with fold out bunks. If it were about 2 or 3 grand I could see it selling as a hunting or fishing cabin like crazy. Especially with some sort of solar power option. 6 grand is outrageous although it's not as big a rip-off as the damn FEMA trailers.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are meant to survive in them, not live in them.

Well, that's not serving the USA's long slide into 3rd world living accomodations. We need low cost permanent structures that residents can live in long term. Preferably stackable for "relocation" to a more "desirable" location, if you know what I mean...

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[TWX]

FEMA trailers often lack off-grid utilites too, they need to be connected to a sanitary sewer and need to get their fresh water from water mains, but that said, they offer advantages in being portable without special equipment (ie, can be towed by a pickup truck or large car with a simple trailer hitch and draw bar) and there's a secondary market for them after their primary emergency use is done, often to the very people that used them during the emergency. FEMA trailers are either returned to FEMA and auctioned, or those who used them are given the option to purchase them for an almost ridiculously low price compared to the cost of a new or lightly used travel trailer.

I hope to never need to use FEMA-provided emergency or long-term shelter, as that means that I've suffered through a disaster of some sort and cannot live in my home, but having a travel trailer that would function basically as a shoddy studio apartment that can be moved by me if it's inadvertently placed somewhere unsafe or unsuitable beats out living in a small hostel or barracks without any other facilities.

I do get it though, that some areas are not well suited to the FEMA trailer, especially higher-density cities. I don't think that the presented solutions would work well in those areas either though, as they're still one-storey and there wouldn't be enough empty real-estate to place that many people. It would make more sense to design some kind of shipping container-based solution with some kind of central forced-air heating and cooling, with the ability to stack units two or three stories high before a specially-built gangway is bolted to one side, like those older-style motels or even *gasp* like prisons. Don't pack 'em in so tight that they're horrible, group nine, twelve, or fifteen units together in three stories and leave gaps between groupings. If a disaster struck New York City, it would be possible to deploy this kind of temporary infrastructure in Central Park or in other open spaces to house people until more permanent accommodations can be made.

In short, make it so the occupant can be self-sufficient (ie, FEMA trailer) or use infrastructure that makes deployment and management of the units practical (ie, stackable modules like shipping containers).

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[TWX]

they're comfortable enough otherwise that people may not make enough effort to move on from them

Indeed. That's pretty hard to argue with. Many people will tolerate almost any indignity they don't have to work for.

Sometimes I wonder if that contributed to any actual designs at FEMA to make the trailers somewhat shoddy. Use trailers that would be fine for shorter-term occupancy, but simply don't hold-up to long-term habitation. That doesn't explain the formaldehyde directly, but it does explain the use of really low-end materials, materials so cheap that the processes involving formaldehyde were not done correctly in order to keep the costs down.

Maybe Lumber Liquidators will get into the travel trailer business...

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[TWX]

You're tied to one place though, as they don't appear to be designed to be moved by the occupant. Contrast that to someone's car, which also acts as a shelter if the body and glass are intact, and has the advantage of being capable of being moved under its own power.

Hell, the best shelter-in-place unit is probably the minivan. Small enough that it can be parked just about anywhere that the terrain isn't too rough, generally decent fuel economy so moving it around doesn't take much precious gasoline if availability is poor, and with a smaller engine if it has to idle to provide temporary power, the engine is not consuming as much fuel as a larger van with larger engine either. Plus many minivans were designed to be slept-in on roadtrips with fold-flat bench seats or seats that stow completely into the floor.

Even non-running, a minivan can still be flat-towed by another vehicle or towed by a common vehicle in the form of a tow-truck.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[stephanruby]

They are cutting themselves out of market reach by excluding consumers.

This portapotty-like shelter seems to have been optimized for government use. As far I can tell, it will tip over in extreme winds and it will suffocate its occupants in extreme heat. The last thing they want is the extremely bad reviews that might come from actual consumer adoption/experimentation before the government/Halliburton money comes in.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you could get off your overpaid programmer butt and equip yourself a decent backpack, boots and enough gear to live in the wilderness for a day or two. Frame pack, boots, a tent, hatchet, stove, pot, water filter, rifle, ammo, dried beans and weather gear. What % of the population owning a decent gravity feed water filter would stop cholera in an urban disaster?

WTF am I saying. I'm going to get more people killed than giving by giving out my ammonia and bleach cleaning fluid recipe again. (The people telling you it's poison are cleaning fluid industry shills.)

Message to /. in general: Do not, under any circumstances, leave your mothers basement.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

Latrines? I met several black women named Latrine. Apparently their mothers didnt understand what the word means. And why not? Not like books are a hot commodity in the ghetto. As for their fathers, heh well we can safely assume none of them were in the picture at all.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[queazocotal]

This perfectly answers the question of where to get emergency housing in a place easily accessible by trucks for people who have wifi to
entertain themselves and are in areas secure enough that going to the external toilet is not dangerous.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[khallow]

They are cutting themselves out of market reach by excluding consumers. Their success or failure depends entirely upon whether organizations, wealthy individuals, or municipalities will order large lots. People with deep pockets don't spend on impulse, and they're just as likely to create their own solution as invest in this one.

I don't know whether these guys are cutting themselves off from the market. But I do know that the deepest pockets, the Feds do buy on impulse. There's vast sums of money available for disaster recovery and piddling amounts available for disaster preparation (aside from terrorism, which does seem to consume an inordinate amount of disaster preparedness money). If these guys can store a large number of these units and ship them for a large scale disaster, then they could get a piece of that action, which might generate a profit.

But how often do Katrina scale disasters happen in the wealthier parts of the world? I'm not really seeing the need here.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[dbIII]

But how often do Katrina scale disasters happen in the wealthier parts of the world? I'm not really seeing the need here.

In terms of weather hitting hard - frequently. In terms of a clusterfuck of insane choices as the disaster approached - no so often. Florida etc gets hammered but they are used to it, they prepare for it, and that's a potential market for disaster preparation gear.

The sort of people that say no to the offer of extra trains to help with evacuation are not going to buy this stuff. The sort of people who have a plan for extra trains, busses etc and have schools or whatever set up as shelters in advance are the ones that will buy this stuff.

So it's for those that quietly do their jobs instead of a guy that gets told he's doing "a heck of a job" by the President for sending rescue crews off for a day of media relations training when the transport is available to get them in to the disaster site.

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

When has the government opted to "create their own solution" instead of purchasing from private companies?

Re:Yet another makes the same mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

F That! My cabin tent is about twice as big with led lighting/walls. It's durable as well I use it at least 15 times per year. The best part is that I can buy one whenever I please instead of waiting for Uncle Sam to deliver it.

Sweet!

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty Sweet!

Untill the next katrina

[invictusvoyd]

It's .. Syria and Afghanistan

Cost

[wired_parrot]

How much do these cost compared to FEMA trailers? As maligned as the FEMA trailers are, I suspect the reason they are widely used in disasters is because they are cheap and can therefore be deployed in large quantities. Sure you could do something of higher quality, but if it raises their unit cost it will significantly affect the ability to widely deploy enough shelter in an affected area. Having a low cost solution that can be deployed in large numbers may be more important than quality in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

Re: Cost

[EdwardFurlong]

I bet afterward the fema trailers are pretty much trash. I would expect the same from these things. They do not look all that durable.

Re:Cost

[ArcadeMan]

From the looks of it, a FEMA trailer looks like a low-cost RV trailer, cheap but has a minimal living space (bedroom, kitchen, etc). This Exo Shelter is nothing but a rigid tent with four beds.

And the Exo has LED lighting and an external LED display for identification but doesn't seem to have solar panels built-in which seems like an obvious flaw to me.

Re:Cost

[SethJohnson]

The exo shelters massively dominate over FEMA trailers on the criteria you have proposed here.

These nest inside each other, so you can lay about ten or so on a flatbed trailer. I think you could get two FEMA trailers on top of a flatbed trailer.

Cost? Well, a FEMA trailer needs to be constructed to highway transportation standards. Do you think that's cheaper than building something to "more durable than a tent" standard (exo shelter)?

Re:Cost

[ArcadeMan]

Sixteen units per trailer, at around 34 seconds into the video.

Re:Cost

[Anonymous Coward]

These nest inside each other, so you can lay about ten or so on a flatbed trailer. I think you could get two FEMA trailers on top of a flatbed trailer.

If the FEMA trailer had the living space of a Exo, you could easily fit 4 on a flat bed.

Lucking the people behind the FEMA trailer realize people like things like kitchens, bathrooms and beds that are actually comfortable.

Re:Cost

[Xylantiel]

The summary is a bit ambiguous. The first part says these are supposed to substitute for shelters (which I think are like schools and football stadiums), while the second talks about FEMA trailers. Temporary shelters and temporary housing are fairly different things, and FEMA trailers are the latter and not the former. Perhaps this is intended to fill the gap between the two? Given the features other posters have pointed out, these do not appear to be temporary housing, more like temporary shelter.

Re: Cost

[Anonymous Coward]

No, FEMA trailers aren't trash afterwards. They were sold off by the hundreds. They were hastily constructed so those that bought them and didn't bother to seal up the usual leak spots (this is normal for any stick built RV... ...you always have to maintain possible leak spots) they're trashed.

Maintained correctly, and with some minor repair where the speedbuilding wasn't right, they should last 15 to 20 years without excessive work.

Re:Cost

[Anonymous Coward]

The cost is mentioned in both the video and the transcript: $6000 - $12,000 depending on amenities. WAY less than FEMA paid for trailers. I'm personally more of a ShelterBox fan.

Re:Cost

[Anonymous Coward]

>Do you think that's cheaper than building something to "more durable than a tent" standard (exo shelter)?

Actually, yes. Trailers cost less than $6000, the proposed price for the stripper Exo units. You can buy enclosed trailers of similar size for $4000 right now. 2 x ikea bunk beds + mattresses = WAY less than $2000. Both will even have the same awesome suck level of living.

Re:Cost

[chihowa]

It's a $6000-12000 tent that sleeps four and needs to be towed by a truck. For that cost, you could fill a similar sized trailer up with (non-rigid) tents and sleep hundreds of people.

Re: Cost

[EdwardFurlong]

The trailers were still sold off for a fraction of what they cost. So sure, buy one for a tenth of the cost, refurbished it, and it is usable. There probably is not much resale in these tents...

It's very high tech!

[NotDrWho]

"Yeah great. How does it work when there's no reliable power source?"

"Uhhhhh....well"

What am I missing

[Jawbox]

Am I missing something? This looks like a high-tech tent with no cooking, cleaning, or living space.

Re:What am I missing

[NotDrWho]

Yeah, but the door locks will interface directly with your smart watch!

Re:What am I missing

[ArcadeMan]

Cleaning is automated. The technology is called "autowash" and currently available for beds and showers.

Hi, my name is Ian...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, of course your name is Ian. Somehow I knew that the moment I saw you.

What a fucking douche. Somehow projects such as this attract his type. I guess they're just looking for something to do, see a simple solution to a difficult problem like FEMA trailers and think "I can improve on that!" So they spend years on the project, not doing anything useful like learning about the problems they need to solve, but just making something, anything, as long as it seems cool to them. Then they end up with a fancy tent which provides no place for one to cook meals, bath themselves, defecate in privacy, or do anything else that humans may want to do to maintain some minimal amount of dignity after being forced out of their homes by a disaster. ...but hey, he found a cheap way to keep the rain off of everyone, surely that's good for something right? Let's just hope it isn't a cold rain though as I can't imagine the insulative properties of that tent are very good.

Fuck, I wish I had money to waste on dumb fuck projects like that.

You can do better?

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, oh great Duck, tell us what great things you're doing to help save the world? Annoying quacking is all I hear.

No Porch for the Dogs

[Anonymous Coward]

I would point out that there is no porch for the dogs to sleep under.

Ridiculously overengineered

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if Roblimo is a seed investor.

Good idea but not very useful

[borknado]

Unless they get a company like Halliburton to use them as a supplier, they'll never get any government contracts, because they simply lack the capacity and infrastructure to be able to respond to a natural disaster.

Autoplaying video

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought this was supposed to be fixed with flash?

hexayurt

[lkcl]

http://hexayurt.com/

it's a free (libre) design, i'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in the original post. the modular design (it's hexagons) allows for yes, things like solar-panel hexagons, WIFI-pre-installed hexagons, lighting-pre-installed hexagons and so on.

Re:hexayurt

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally, someplace to plug all my hexagonally-shaped appliances into!

Price is ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

I just bought a basic small travel trailer. Sleeps 3, but with a small redesign, could sleep 4. 2 can even sleep on a real spring mattress. Includes a private toilet and a sink (no hot water). Dinette for 4. Water tank, grey tank, black tank, water pump. Battery. Power. Excellent ventilation (4 windows, two roof vents, one fan). No shower. No A/C (+$1000 dealer option, going to hack one in myself for $100). Only slightly larger than the EXO (14 foot long).

Total price I paid? $5,995 CDN ($4796 USD). The dealer wouldn't come down on the price as they'd been discounted to what he paid for them (Yeah, I know, you figure I'm a sucker, but those buying travel trailers will agree that's likely true in this case). Brand new with a 1 year warranty.

How much is the exo?

http://inhabitat.com/reaction-housing-system-a-rapid-response-flat-pak-emergency-shelter/exo-reaction-housing-system-easy-to-assemble-flat-pack-emergency-shelter-14/

$6,000. No toilet. No sink. No water. No A/C. No table. No private anything. Idiotic door locking mechanism. And it even seems like there's no serious attempt at ventilation. Beds/mattresses that look like they're from a prison nightmare.

The only thing I can see the exo being good for is being able to transport a lot of them. Not that anyone will actually want to live in one. I've camped in tents nicer than that thing (double high air mattresses are sweet). If you're going this stripped down, why not just hand out tents + air beds, anyways?

By the time they are nice, they'll be $10,000. For $10,000 you can get a travel trailer for 4 with cooking facilities, three piece bathroom, heat, A/C, sleeping for 6, and the rest of it, and it still isn't particularly massive (small enough you could road train 3 of them without going over most state length limits).

Re:Price is ridiculous

[reboot246]

Exactly my thought, too. Instead of an EXO, why not just make a portable toilet a little bit larger to include space for a couple of beds? At least you'd have a place to go to the bathroom. Cooking could be at a separate, community-based facility.

The EXO is extremely overpriced for what it is - a large plastic box that sleeps four uncomfortably.

Re:Price is ridiculous

[ArcadeMan]

Got a link to your trailer model?

Re:Price is ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a stripped down gulfstream 14RBC, though that model is basically impossible to find as it seems to mostly be sold under the Amerilite brand (same trailer, though). You'll have to work with a willing dealer to strip out enough stuff that isn't supposed to be an option (shower, anything propane, a/c--other than that, it's actually the same). Gulfstream will build it if they receive an order.

The dinette is exactly double bed size, so you can put a double bed mattress there if you want some extra comfort.

Not a top quality trailer, but the price is decent and it's rare that this type of trailer lasts more than a decade without serious work anyways.

There's models out there that use space better, but I figured since I bought this thing brand new, I could give a real price on something that actually exists.

I lived in a FEMA trailer and it wasn't that bad

[n1ywb]

I had the priviledge of living in a government surplus FEMA trailer on a Navy base for about four weeks. It really wasn't that bad. They're just cheap trailers built by some cheap trailer company like the millions of other cheap trailers that people live in all over the US. There's nothing FEMA-ey about them. I don't know what everybody is complaining about. Bunch of whine-ass cry-babies. "Oh the FREE trailer I got from the government ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH". Or maybe this whole thing was concocted by the media. When FEMA got rid of them, this base got about a dozen, for free, and they've been lived in ever since, including by me, and they are perfectly livable.

1st thought

[Anonymous Coward]

My 1st thought was they would make a good green house.

He mentions MONITORING the temperature...is there any temp control or is that so you can see who has expired from the heat?
I bet the fema trailer wins on R-value tho.

$6000 and up is a lot for a glorified tent with internet.

How about $1000 for huge tent, $500 for a smaller tent to put inside, and $500 for a laptop and flashlight. There you go: 60% cheaper, just as much room, and better insulation and don't even need all 4 people to set it up...give me $10 million. Of course you may have to monitor your own temp :O

Re:I lived in a FEMA trailer and it wasn't that ba

[Anonymous Coward]

Bunch of whine-ass cry-babies. "Oh the FREE trailer I got from the government ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH".

Except the trailers are not free. The tax payers, including those in disaster areas assigned to one of these, paid for them. Paid $24,000 each in fact. So yes, complaining that you are billed (taxed) $24k for $6k of stuff is perfectly reasonable. If my home is destroyed and then condemned, preventing me from living on my own land as a refugee in place, then I'd rather have $24k of trailer cash as a $2k free market rigid tent and $22k to pay for cinderblocks, mortar and rebar to build my own shack while waiting on the insurance. Hell, you can rent a place for 4 years in most non trendy/ super desirable locations for that much cash if you avoid hotels. Especially if the trailer is used as an excuse to not cut you a $100k state or Federal backed flood insurance check for the home you lost.

It's not about what's the optimal solution in a vacuum, it's looking at the "solution" you are given and comparing it the the many other options that are or should be available.

Re:I lived in a FEMA trailer and it wasn't that ba

[ColdWetDog]

I've lived in wall tents for months at a time. And those were the days of kerosene lamps and pit latrines. No LED lights, no Wifi. The Rest of the World uses tents for emergency shelters for months at a time as well. Don't see why this hard shell system has any advantages. You can insulate tents. You can strike them down before a wind storm comes so they don't blow away. You can move them easily when you figure out that your original plan has everybody in a flood plain. They are infinitely flexible. You can put them in planes, trains and (some) automobiles.

The biggest issue in these camps is sanitation and water supply. And we know how to put these things together. Even FEMA can do it.

Is it just me

[g0bshiTe]

Or would this be like camping in a freakin portopotty?

Addresses something other than the real problem

[KenHansen]

When someone's home is destroyed by a natural disaster their biggest problem isn't getting a tent or pre-fab box dropped on their property, I think the real problems are (in no particular order): 1) getting approval to rebuild from local gov't 2) getting rebuilding materials/workers 3) securing quick payment from insurance company Temporary housing is only a plane/bus ticket away, the issue is to expedite the rebuilding process, not to make them slightly more comfortable for the YEARS it will take to rebuild.

When I a hippie...

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was a hippie (I was part of the righteous counter-culture division, we knew we were better than the racists ecological destroying warmongers. Hmm. We still are. Then Charles Manson came along...) the thing was geodesic domes. Straw Bale homes, rammed earth, earthships. The list is long.
Low cost shelter, either permanent or temporary has one big enemy: everyone making money off of real estate. This includes home buyers who prefer 'property values' above all almost everything else.

Then do better

[man bear nerd]

How much better is it to have these when u have no place to sleep in a disaster than a trailer that never comes? what if you are not white in the land of the bullshit and the trailers go to to the better off and the white people first would u take this? What if the guy handing out trailers is looking to profit a little and u have no cash would take a shity place to sleep over nothing? i am guessing the new design will be better. so much bitching it is shity but it is shelter. shelter comes first then water then food.

Those Katrina trailers cost $19,000

[SethJohnson]

These exo shelters are not meant to satisfy the requirements of the FEMA trailers used after the hurricanes, first of all. Those trailers were issued to people months after people had applied for them. It was a long distribution process with people living in group shelters waiting for the trailers to arrive.

Per this article, they also cost $19,000 in 2005 dollars. Much more than the $4000 you're estimating.

These exo shelters are a more immediate shelter solution. Deployable within hours of an emergency event. Consider the people recovering in Haiti after their big earthquake or the people sleeping on the floor of the Superdome after Katrina. FEMA trailers were not available or provided to those people in the hours and days after the disaster. These exo shelters are a possibility, though.

Re:Those Katrina trailers cost $19,000

[Anonymous Coward]

What advantages do these multi-thousand dollar units have over sub-hundred dollar tents for the described purpose?

Re:Those Katrina trailers cost $19,000

[SethJohnson]

Depending on the model, they can have RFID keycards or bracelet access to unlock the door. This can help create a secure spot in a region WROL (without rule of law). Tents don't do such a good job with security or rain.

Re:Those Katrina trailers cost $19,000

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy fuck the government overpaid. Nicer trailers are available off the lot at that $19k sticker price right now. Just take a look. Most of the time you can get a 15% discount just for asking. Take a look at any RV show if you think I'm crazy. FEMA trailers are cheaply built, so look at the low end.

The dealers typically buy at 30% less than sticker, and buy only a handful. With the buying capability of the government, it's embarrassing they paid more than 12k each.

Also, take 5 minutes and look at places selling enclosed cargo trailers and tell me you can't find a 6x8 trailer brand new for $4k. I am being very generous here... Yes, it has nothing inside. Kind of like a stripper model Exo.

I guess FEMA trailers are the new $600 toilet seats and hammers. :(

The content-free web site.

[westlake]

I open the Exo web page. I see all the pretty pictures.

What I don't see is what I need to know about heating, cooling and ventilation.

The lack of storage for personal belongings, food and water, the space and facilities needed for cooking and sanitation. Not the slightest thought has been given to the comfort, pride or privacy of the refugee.

That idiotic door lock bothers me no end.

These geeks may know tech, but they are utterly blind to the psychological and social forces in play when people are under extreme stress.

These stackable plastic cups seem more appropriately designed for Joe Arpaio's Tent City prison camps.

Solution in search of a problem

[Anonymous Coward]

This is basically an expensive hard sided tent, with "bells and whistles." The problem is that the potential customers of this thing would mainly be government emergency management agencies, and disaster relief organizations. The niche it tries to fill is already filled by large tents. They mention you can carry 16 on a trailer, and deploy with 4 people. I can carry hundreds of wall tents and cots, on that same trailer, and set up with fewer people per structure. Additionally, for these to be effectively deployed, , they will need to be stockpiled. Warehouse space isn't free. Again, I can store hundreds of tents in the space that 16 of these will take. The benefit of "monitoring" it via their "basecamp" software is pointless. Do I need to dedicate an employee or volunteer to to setting up, maintain, and watch this software? For what gain? the cost to benefit ratio does not come close t besting tents.

For long duration occupancy (which is what the "FEMA trailers" were supposed to do,) this product also falls short. For long term occupancy, you need sanitation facilities (shower, sink, and toilet,) an eating and food prep area. It seems that to equal the long term functionality of a "FEMA trailer" I would need 4 or 5 pods per family, and they would still get wet when going between pods in bad weather. In light of this, you can get 2 or 3 families worth of pods on a transport that can carry, 2 "FEMA trailers."

I do not see any value of these over products currently in existence.
RB

Steamed people

[JimSadler]

I'm in Florida and we use air conditioning almost 365 days a year. If a hurricane strikes there is usually no electricity for a few days or a few weeks. To shelter one person or four people requires large screen areas. Without lots of air circulation one could not spend ten minutes in this shelter day or night without being in a very heavy sweat. And one simply can not open the door as mosquitoes bloom under the wet, hot conditions. A tent made entirely of screen with a tarp large enough to cover it if rain hits would keep people a lot safer.

Re:Steamed people

[Roblimo]

I'd far rather camp in a Shelterbox tent than in a plastic sweatbox since I, too, live in FL. I have a week's worth of food, water, and cooking fuel stockpiled in case of a hurricane, and I can charge our laptops and smartphones from our cars.

If our house trailer blows away, so it goes. We have a tent, and while my wife whines a little about camping, she's basically okay with it and has the necessary skills to 'live rough' comfortably. A FEMA trailer would be fine with us. We happily live in a 1 bedroom trailer now, so no BFD living in a travel trailer. Or a tent. Civilization is nice, but we can do without most of its trappings if we must.

We have guns and a shitpot of ammunition, too, because you never know...

$6K-$12K?

[Dereck1701]

$6,000 to $12,000 for a rigid one room 4 bed tent with no facilities? Are they insane, you can get a full fledged multi room camper with a bathroom, kitchen, running water and just as many beds for $15,000. There is definitely a use for this kind of emergency shelter but not at that price point. Heck you can buy some of those multi-room camping tents for $300 each. A quick redesign to make it easier to set up and the addition of some kind of living module (bathroom, shower, kitchen) and you could have something far better than this and probably wouldn't cost more than $2,000

Re:$6K-$12K?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a tax payer grab. Just get a government contract and bam! Instant millionaire!!!

Re:$6K-$12K?

[Anonymous Coward]

He said that they're being made in South Austin, which means high salaries and high overhead. It's not an inconceivable price.

Once they inevitably move production into Mexico, the PPU will come down.

Re:$6K-$12K?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case.

You know, how about a program to let displaced residents move in with people who have homes? And the homeowner would get a tax credit for housing those individuals? It would clearly state that the individuals aren't tenants, for those worried about eviction laws. But they wouldn't get the tax credit unless they fulfilled the requirement... I'm thinking 6 months mininum.

Re:I lived in a FEMA trailer and it wasn't that ba

[Anonymous Coward]

The two main problems with the FEMA trailers that I remember were:

1. The batch that went to Baton Rouge was contaminated with formaldehyde. People got sick.

2. The fields where the trailers were placed rapidly became a ghetto hemmed in by police and national guard. Basic human rights were violated.

Porta potties without a hole

[Anonymous Coward]

In case of emergency people would use these plastic things as porta potties and nothing else.

ShelterBox is NOT a Florida-based charity

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you really interview the ShelterBox people and miss that it's based in the UK? Seriously? They have done some great work around the world. You might, if you were desperate, even check their web site [shelterbox.org]. , I have met the founder and his charming wife, and hosted one of their volunteers when he was in and out of Aceh very shortly after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Great people and a great organization. The Florida people might be a small branch.

Only 400 pounds

[Dross50]

So 4 guys are going to carry this 400 pound shelter using d-links for handles? After about 4 or 5 shelters using small d-links, I am getting rather tired. Only 16 per flat bed? I'm still thinking tents are cheaper, and can deploy more rapidly. 100's per flat bed, lighter weight and cheaper. Listen you really want to deploy 1,000's of shelters to an area? Hire Walmart to handle it, they have the supply chain. Oh, so it comes with sensors and software to monitor when I'm in and not in? Sounds like mandatory lights out tracking.

$12,000 with air conditioner?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

12 grand with the air conditinoer and some unspecified options that don't prevent it from being stacked up like coffee cups?

For only a couple grand more I purchased, new, an 19 foot travel trailer, with kitchen, (propane stove, micrwave, propane/electric refrigerator) beds for five (if one is a kid) and two are friendlly - six if two are infants), which double as a daytime couch and bedding storage cabinet, TV antenna and prewire, air conditioner, bathroom with enclosed shower, closet, white grey and black water storage for two days if everybody showers daily, a week if they conserve, all hookablel to water and sewer if available, air conditinoier and furnace, lots of gear storage, two nights of battery power (though the microwave and air conditioner need shore power - the furnace runs on the batteries/power conditioner), hitch, dual-axle with tires, awning, etc.

This looks like a very pricey, very heavy, hardshell tent - with some lights, cots, and a big-brother computer monitoring system.

But I bet agencies would love the monitoring system.

$$$MORE MONEY FOR CRONIES$$$

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the sound-bite that describes our government. $$$MORE MONEY FOR CRONIES$$$