Saturday, January 16, 2010

You can take the man out of engineering but, maybe, there's still some engineering left in the man

The disaster in Haiti is now days old.

Yet, as I watch SKY news, I am sensing truly woeful disaster contingency planning.

A ton of stuff heading that way, and chaos and gridlock when it gets there.

And, as with the Boxing Day tsunami, I dread to think what the vast monetary aid might get applied to once things 'settle'.

I just heard a spokesperson from a disaster charity saying their first aircraft, from the UK, had just arrived... 'with bottled water'.

As the most basic need, untainted water supplies are obviously a priority.

I was just surprised the logistical systems globally were not optimised to store and deliver this commodity without having to carry water further than necessary, time and weight-wise.

As a serious, but equally potentially daft (I accept - but no such thing...), suggestion for future aid efforts, might it be an idea in areas prone to disasters to build with aid well sited earthquake-proof reservoir (sprung leg low level - no need for 'head' - tanks with flexible connectors?) buffers to water supplies around regions, than can be tapped in the event of emergencies?

I'd have thought just 2/3 of these, even if located to the periphery of distribution centres such as airports, would equate, and a lot more cheaply and quickly (in future), to one plane load.

Addendum -

Indy - practical, and human issues to the mix - Water delivery disruptions imperil quake survivors

Make it and mend it