New Disaster Response Shelter

by Alex Smith expert Austin, TX (January 07, 2017) – Humans around the world encounter countless natural disasters such as tornados, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and wildfires. Such large-scale events happen far more often than we realize, at a rate of over a hundred every year.

A basic human need – shelter – is in high demand and yet in shortest supply during the first 72 to 96 hours following a catastrophic incident. Local and regional authorities do not commonly stock flexible living space in anticipation of a disaster, while national governments and international aid organizations take days to fully mobilize their efforts. Too often, that gap leaves victims and first responders unprotected from the elements during the first critical days.

tʰu̟ plans to manufacture and deploy lightweight collapsible structures to the forefront of global disaster sites. The shed-sized units are designed to fit any truck, container or aircraft for deployment within hours, allowing setup and re-positioning in minutes.

“There are several more complex yet static solutions out there, like FEMA trailers with sprinkler systems, or IKEA Foundation refugee shelters that take 20+ man hours to assemble. Those serve mid- and long-term housing needs quite well, but they require a lot of infrastructure, rely on debris-cleared roads, gas, water and electricity” says tʰu̟ founder Markus Ellenbeck.

“We need a quick response shelter that can realistically be made available in a matter of hours, next door or anywhere in the world. We can’t have firefighters and people who lost everything sleep on sidewalks.”

The tʰu̟ concept revolves around three key requirements: Mobility, safety and simplicity. Disaster response shelters must be quick and easy to position; they must be lightweight enough to be dragged out to remote areas, strong enough to survive after-quakes, and simple enough to set up without tools in the harshest of conditions. “The beauty of designing tʰu̟ is that we can fully focus on essentials; for example, we don’t have to worry about wiring and electrical standards - where these shelters go, power is down for sure.”

The footprint of the fireproof, solid-wall folding design will measure roughly 7x7 feet, stacks less than 18 inches tall when collapsed. The units also sport two integrated bunk beds for immediate use.

tʰu̟ just launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo: “We’re asking for contributions to support structural engineering, materials research and prototyping. In less than six months we want to have a production-quality prototype and hit the ground running” says Ellenbeck. “For stage two we’ll likely seek capital to back manufacturing, parallel to operating a non-profit that coordinates domestic shelter deployment and international airfreight capacities.”

Media contact:
Markus Ellenbeck
Phone no: (1) 516 312 6091
Email: markus@thushelter.com
http://thushelter.com
https://igg/me/at/THUshelter  
https://www.twitter.com/THUshelter
https://www.facebook.com/THUshelter
https://youtu.be/stwacpYvJmU

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