After a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the capital of Haiti yesterday, I watched the aftermath unfold in the news with horror. Yet something mentioned in passing during a Doctors Without Borders press conference gave me hope for the survivors.
"We're prepared now and have prepared freight, including an emergency inflatable hospital so we can set up exactly those services we're currently missing," Paul McPhun, Doctors Without Borders operations manager for Haiti, told the press. An inflatable hospital?
It's exactly what it sounds like: a temporary hospital with inflatable components that can be deployed whenever needed. Doctors Without Borders has been employing them for years, including an impressive inflatable nine-tent, 120-bed center in Pakistan following a 7.6 magnitude earthquake there in 2005. The hospital post-and-beam frames can be made from the same fabric in inflatable lifeboats. Nylon interior and exterior walls leave space for air to create an insulating effect. The Cleveland Plain Dealer created an infographic showing one kind of inflatable hospital.
Only a few months ago, a group of hospitals in Illinois set up a giant inflatable unit in Bartonville as part of a quarterly practice drill. "We could be up and operational in, say, Macomb with a 100-bed hospital big enough to fill a football field in 30, 36 hours," local disaster preparedness manager Troy Erbentraut told the Peoria Journal Star. Plus, each one is reusable--just deflate, pack up, and store.The Toronto-based organization GlobalMedic says it expects to get an inflatable hospital to Haiti by tomorrow, along with millions of water purification tablets. To learn more about how you can help, go to the American Red Cross site and the Doctors Without Borders site because relief is going to require far more than air.
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Haiti Earthquake: How You Can Help The Victims:
- The American Red Cross is accepting donations by phone. You can text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross's efforts, or call 1-800-Redcross or 1-800-257-7575. Visit their Web site to find out more.
- Interaction, the largest coalition of U.S.-based NGOs focused on the world’s poor, has set up a Haiti relief donation page, listing several participating organizations where you can donate.
- UNICEF is also accepting donations for the relief efforts in Haiti and the Caribbean region. Visit their Web site or call 1-800-4UNICEF to donate.
Photo: An inflatable medical village Doctors Without Borders set up in Mansehra, Pakistan. Credit: Remi Vallet.
Tags: Buildings and Structures, Green Tech, Modern Medicine, Reuse
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