emergency

Scaling an Internet of Production That’s Ready For Disaster Relief

Scaling an Internet of Production That’s Ready For Disaster Relief

WAU, SOUTH SUDAN: In 2017, Field Ready supported Water for South Sudan by 3D printing spare parts for their equipment. Wau State in South Sudan is a very remote location with huge supply challenges. Engineer Dr. Ben Savonen later co-founded Kijenzi, a U.S.-Kenyan commercial manufacturing network that had its first 3D printing hub in Kisumu, Kenya. […]

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Make an Emergency Key in 5 Easy Steps

Make an Emergency Key in 5 Easy Steps

Use an old credit card or Tic Tac box to create an emergency key for your wallet or purse

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Project Byzantium Aims to Avoid Internet Outages

Project Byzantium Aims to Avoid Internet Outages

At Washington, DC’s hackerspace, HacDC, a team led by the enigmatic “Doctor” seeks to develop a simple system for quickly deploying an ad-hoc internet in the event of internet outages. With all of the recent disasters (both natural and human) which have severed access to the net when it is most needed, groups all over the world have been developing solutions which allow alternate internets to be brought up quickly and effectively.

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Plug n’ play hospital

Over at Boing Boing, MAKE bud Xeni Jardin has an interview with MSF (aka “Doctors without Borders”) Logistics Supervisor Laurent Dedieu in New York, and Hocine Bouhabib in Haiti, about the inflatable hospitals they’re setting up in Port-au-Prince. How do you create a surgery center in a disaster zone in the shortest amount of time […]

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Are you ready for 72 hours?

Are you ready for 72 hours?

Have you checked your emergency kit in a while? Back at the turn of the century, lots of people built survival kits in preparation for the festivities of Y2K. Perhaps you have moved since then, or maybe you never made one. After a natural or manmade disaster, the magic window is considered to be 72 hours for surviving the initial impact. Having a kit at the ready might increase your chances. Certainly while traveling, you can have a plan agreed upon with all of your group.

After a major disaster, it is unlikely that emergency response services will be able to immediately respond to everyone’s needs, so it’s important to be prepared to take care of yourself and your family. Plan to be on your own for at least the first 72 hours.

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Instant shelter: Just add water!

Concrete Canvas shelters look like an amazing way to deliver shelter to emergency situations. The building arrives in an airtight bag, is pulled out with a vehicle and inflated. The building can be deployed by just two people (and a bit of machinery) in 45 minutes. After squirting with water, the concrete impregnated fabric sets up and is ready for use in 24 hours. Covering it with an earthen berm helps keep it temperature controlled, and the interior can be kept as a sterile environment.

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