What Shelter Designs Work Using Corrugated Iron?

Quonset huts for one. The rolled arcs of corrugated galvanized steel can be nested together compactly for shipment and screwed together with seal-type self-drilling sheet metal screws.

There is another technology I have heard about, but I don't know how common or effective it is. By using a few roll-forming dies, on site you can make skelp into angles, channels, zees, etc. to make studs, corner joints, and flashings--and then clad the resulting frame with corrugated roofing/siding.

Exactly.

Such temporary structures were and are still being used by the military.

Such buildings could house several families at a time.

The material's proper name is, of course, corrugated steel sheet and comes usually galvanized and coated for durability.

BTW, the material is common in Haiti, too (see pic in that link), and many of them could actually still be salvaged for re-use.

Tornado, you are correct that the US Amy Engineers have the capability to form their own sheet metal arches in the field. Most of the US Army Engineering Battalions CONUS have the equipment and necessary training to make these structures. Each section can fit into the next and be permanently lock-sealed using specialized dies and rollers. The equipment is pretty good-sized and there's several pieces of equipment necessary to make and connect sections together. Also need a moderately sized boom crane to erect the sections,

All sections must be erected on previously placed reinforced concrete grade beams located at each end of the arches.....it looks much like drainage pipe arches when completed. This technology started to flow to th USA Engineering Battalions within the past 5-6 years or so. Makes for great shelters or large span drainage culverts under highways!!!!!

Word of warning: This technology is highly specialized and dangerous to operate, and hence I do not believe it's within the grasp of the typical Haitian to operate.

I'll try to flush out a link for the technology post it here ASAP.

===Signed, CaptMoosie, former Captain, USACE/USAR, Army Engineers

We won't be holding our breath for the link, there is some precedents for my less than optimistic view.

Back to degrading the Haitians I see.

Transcendian is searching for solutions & you provide concrete roadblocks.

You've stated more than once that you wouldn't put your signature on any of the solutions,

so Why Are You Here?

Dear Garthh:

I'm not trying to throw-up road blocks everywhere I go. Oh contraire mon amis!

Tornado brought up an interesting technology that US Army Engineers utilize to field fabricate light gage steel self-supporting arches. Yeah, they're great as long as you have the technical training to operate the equipment.

I am NOT degrading the Haitians regarding to use of this equipment or fabricating the units. I really don't think you have a clue how much training is involved teaching highly educated US Army Combat Engineers how to use the equipment without severely injuring and maiming themselves......OVER 20 weeks Active Duty (for Reservists on TDY) + 8 months in Allotment in Monthly USA-Reserve Training. I doubt even Unionize Steelworkers in the USA (and elsewhere) could operate this equipment, let alone anyone else including myself. So, don't even think that the Haitians can run the equipment after a few hours training.......basically, if you think along those lines you are dangerous in your thinking and approach to problem solving and not serving the Haitian people in the correct manner......you're likely to get them hurt, maimed or killed by those roller and die machines crunching out the steel arch sections. There are other things that the Haitians can do, and the manning dangerous US Army equipment is not one of them. Hey, if you want to train the Haitians (that can read, write, and speak English) how to use this equipment, then I suggest that you pay for their AIT (and follow-on training) training up at Ft. Leonardwood MO for starters.....

About me not signing off on anything. Yes, I said that and it pertained to the CR4 forum guys taking about doing long term water and wastewater infrastructure improvements as a forum group, which is way outside the knowledge and experience of many contributors herein. I suggest that you go back and re-read my various postings. Many others are in agreement to let the Big boys such as the USACE oversee the function of letting out NGO Contracts to top notch American Consulting Engineering firms for long term infrastructure improvements within the nation of Haiti. I know exactly what it'll take because I've been there, done it before, as a Commanding Officer in the USACE (several Districts) and as a Project Manager with some leading US-based consulting engineering firms that specialize in Water, Wastewater and Solid Waste. IMHO, not many of you seem to be even schooled in the basics of those disciplines nor have the educational credentials to pull off what you all were proposing....

I don't think I need to go down that route yet again.

And if I point out something that isn't feasible (based on my experience and knowledge), then I say so, just so all of you don't go willy nilly off on useless tangents, which happens to occurs in these Haiti blogs of late. If you don't like it lump it and leave the blog yourself....enough of the pie in the sky ideas....do some REAL concrete engineering for once, unless you're not an degreed engineer...so that would make some sense that way the crappola flies around here from time to time.

Don't you suppose that FEMA, USACE and UN Aid et all are reading all of these blogs and pointing out some of the foolishness and misspoken advice that occurs in the postings????

What I'm saying to all of you or at least impart upon your braincells is: think long and hard about some of your suggestions before you post them because you had better back your statements up with engineering fact, knowledge and experience plus practice engineering in that specialty. Once it's posted it can't be retracted and is then subject to analysis and possibly ridicule by others outside this forum......please don't be a blathering idiot or else it will hurt the cause of the CR4 Forum of being able to convince the powers that be that we've possibly found a great solution of providing safe shelters for the Haitian people.

And how dare you suggest I don't contribute here and elsewhere in the Forum. Who appointed you God?

As far as "Trans" goes....sometimes he has a brilliant stroke of genius about a new idea, but sorry to say, he's also had an equal number of flops....so have you Garth, and other's, including myself (I'll be the first to admit it!).

We're here to discuss various options...and I see that feasibility has to be a key component to solving the question(s) at hand.

And Garthh, what pray tell are the precedents that you speak of? Was it for me supplying to you various USACE EM's and FM's? I got back to you specifically about WHICH ones that you required and you never answered back! Check your frigging mail! I cannot read minds.

This antagonism is nothing but a bunch of BS!

Don't know that I've had outright flops, though I have been forced by logic to change my mind a few times in the course of this thread.

I have strong doubts about any particularly high up decision makers dropping in to read this blog thread.

If they have been, you'd expect by now that shipping containers would be being used, if only at the port.

Truly I don't think we are getting particularly detailed news coverage out of the place.

Don't really know yet what structures of any standard the UN is planning to build.

The Blurb in The Week just mentioned the corrugated steel as roofing material.

If that means some sort of pole barn, God help the Haitians when winds come.

- No argument from me there.

Still if the UN plan is Quonset Hut, or Nissen Huts, or maybe even the Bucky Fuller designs, such designs do have fairly good records, and if we can tie down a shipping container, we ought to be able to tie down a metal hut.

Far as our beloved Shipping Containers, the numbers in time available aren't making it far as the need is concerned, and thats why I have turned to recommending Community Centers be planned and using them as permanent structures.

As a military man yourself, please allow that while I never was in the Military, I do have a favorite General. My man is Ulysses S. Grant.

When the situation changed, he just changed his orders, did not stop, and was pretty much a human guy.

The way he reacted to his failure at Cold Harbor, was understandable, but he did explain it.

-If it had succeeded the war would have ended a year sooner.

I am saddened to read that last week three school children were killed in an aftershock that collapsed their school.

How it is that children are sent into school buildings that continue to fall down and kill them still, is nearly incomprehensible to me.

As far as Haitians getting hurt building, well there are always casualties when doing more than sitting on your butt.

Even soldiers get insurance policies, which is not particularly sensible considering their line of work.

Looks to me, that if we can get through, we need to concentrate on Community Center designs using the permanent, or more permanent, over corrugated steel designs, shipping containers represent, and go with as best possible concerning fait accompli reality.

Could be all we can do as far as what will be done by people we have no control of, will be to suggest ways to anchor whatever it is they have in mind.

I myself cannot assume they don't actually know what they are doing, and in fact consider their turn towards corrugated steel, as frankly sensible, more than tents.

I do wish that since nothing else of any strength is anymore than on the way, that at least the schoolchildren are not sent into buildings that collapse any more.

Garth,

And another from me.

Stu.

It has become the fashion on CR4 to ask for references so here goes: Please could you supply a reference for the definition of " the typical Haitian"?

have a look at this site http://www.maderacarportsinc.com/prices/carport.php

do they have these in your neck of the woods?

Just_an_Engineer,

This question by Transcendian is a spin-off of a major conversation that has been running for a month now, and has over 1000 posts, and is turning into a major vision and action plan, regarding the use of Shipping Containers to house and support the Haitian people.

There was a word about the use of corrugated iron, but something needs to be done immediately, and there are over 7000 shipping containers in Haiti right now, and more arriving daily. They represent the single best opportunity to design and engineer a better solution than tents and other shanty-town style responses that will be blown away in the first big wind, imho.

Sadly I think that you missed the thread, and it might be a bit late to read all that.. but there are some really excellent points made that put this solution definitively at the top of the list.

Hopefully you will join in the fray. Your experience and insight is very valuable, imho

Chris

JAE,

You're right.

However the folks on the original thread, and here, are rightfully worried about the hazards of nail ( or even screw) fixed Custom Orb and the like, in a land described by some as Tornado Alley.

It's fine for us. We don't get any 'wind'.

We're trying to find the "best" way through this dilemma, in a " do it best, do it once" philosophy.

It'll be 15 years before the end of the dilemma in Haiti, and that's if they don't get slammed again during this reconstruction, which, likely, they will.

Cheers

Stu

Dear Just_An_Engineer, I don't know if this is widely known but I have been told that most of Haiti is and has been denuded of almost all of the accessible trees in the country. According to my friends who lived there for some years this is not a new development but has been the case for thirty or more years. Therefore: the timber post idea is not really going to work for the following reasons that I can think of this early Monday morning: 1) umm... there are no readily accessible trees. 2)importing trees is extremely expensive, even from the Dominican-Republic on the other side if the island they would have to be taken to the port and shipped. 3)the time to cut and hew trees into transportable lengths is tedious and the Dominican-Republic is not likely to want outside help in doing so, as that would not positively affect their employment rate (i.e.: the government would prefer to employ their own workers, but this initiative would require more workers than can be provided by them, therefore the training of workers must take place and this requires much time). I can't think of anything else right now but I'm sure that other ideas will pop up!

Did anyone hear what the cost to build these shelters. How much material and how much labor and time is involved in making these shelters. What is the average size of temporary shelter. If any one has any links to any of these question, send them over.

It would seem to me that it would be easier to modify dock shelters, than to spend time building shelters since these are only temporary. No need to build foundations. You could lock them together like modular homes. I think they would hold up better if there was another earthquake.

Somehow I had gotten my terminology wrong. What I was describing were shipping containers.

In Oz, we have a couple of options...

This!

or This!!

Russell, Corrugated sheet does have a few properties to commend it as a temporary shelter material, and I guess most of the contributors to this thread know them.

Portability is the most important. It's the single most desirable feature. The one the 'Agencies' cite as the reason for it's use.

Rolled curved corrugated iron does form into wonderfully rigid structures, without framing. It does however have all of the negatives of all the other steel single membrane structures, ie, it's bloody hot in the heat of the day. In the #8 post of this thread, you could fry eggs on the metal of the 'humpy'. That's why the guy is outside. It's cooler.

A lot of words have been expressed on the inherent dangers of the stuff when subjected to very high/cyclonic winds, and rightly so. Mostly to do with secure attachment to framing members, and then anchoring those members sufficiently.

In a situation where only rudimentary tools are available to construct dwellings, and make them safe in the prevailing weather, some tricky engineering needs to be done on the designs of those dwellings.

The Nissen/Quonset structures have been used to excellent effect for a very long time, but I can't find any reference to them being used in cyclonic country. As an engineer, I'd be nervous about using them such, unless the sheets were deeply buried in the earth at their ends.

I guess, to put it as simply as I can: Build a tank, lay it on it's side and bury it 50%, so that the remaining above ground structure resembles a N/Q, with say, 9ft headroom at the centre of the span. Means that the 'tank' needs to be 18ft dia. and then of usable 'length'. If it's a bolted together and hydroseal sealed unit, this will indeed produce a dwelling which will survive the cyclonic winds, and not need framing, except for the ends where blank wall or doors/ windows are necessary. There lies the problem.

I haven't had the time to fully explore it but I thought that a structure, still of rolled corrugated sheet, and formed into a tank, of say, 15ft dia, and 12ft high, was inverted, butt up, and let into the soil 4ft and tamped. Then cut doorway penetration into the above ground section, and tom the 'roof', ( flat panel 'gal', just like a tank) so that a decent layer of sod could be loaded onto it, both as ballast and insulation, rather like a Yurt. Gives a frameless structure capable of withstanding ultra high wind loadings.

Take an army of workers to produce them, and set them, in any numbers tho'. Although skill levels would only need to be basic, at most.

But I'd still rather live in an ISB, properly tethered. It would give me some ambition to develop the size and scope of the dwelling over time, not to say enhance the aesthetic, as has been seen by us all in different parts of the world.

So, Corrugated sheet OK for temp. dwellings, because of primary portability, but difficult to enhance the aesthetic. Like. A Yurt Is a Yurt is a Yurt.

A half decent Willy-Willy would have that humpy spread all over the place.

Easy to reconstruct tho'.

Cheers,

Stu

Since these are suppose to be temporary and not housing made from recycled container as OldTechNewToys shows, the containers can be placed on a concrete pad or even gravel. In an environmental study related to my work. one of those container were modified to house air monitoring equipment and computers. The container was placed on a gravel base and survived without deteriorating for over 12 years. The small ones can be moved with a forklift and the larger are designed to be moved with cranes. I suppose that in a hurricane environment it would probably wise to fasten the containers to a rather thick concrete pad. This isn't really high tech, so with some supervision, average laborers could do the job.

Even the containers can be easily modified. Studs, insulation and wallboard aren't difficult to install. Here is an example of what can be done.

http://curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/2743-would-you-live-in-a-shipping-container

in case you're wondering about the "other discussions"

I'm posting the links below for all the various threads from

CR4 a International engineering forum sponsored by

Global Spec http://www.globalspec.com/

Be aware that CR4 is an open forum where even guests can post.

The conversation can & does go off topic from time to time, which is all part of the open design process...

Please feel free to join in any & all of the discussions

The original thread Shipping Container Housing is over 900 posts long

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/49244#newcomments

We started four threads for more detailed discussions after it became clear the original thread was getting too long

How to Install & Anchor Shipping Container Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50522#newcomments

Methods For Installing Doors & Windows In Shipping Container Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50523#newcomments

Drainage, Sanitation & Other Issues Related To Shipping Container Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50525#newcomments

Potable Water In Conjunction W/ Shipping Container as Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50537#newcomments

The new Blog started by Clemson University:

http://www.seed-haiti.net/?page_id=2

Please feel free to contact me should you need any help with any of CR4's features

thank you.

dear vrbarnett,

excellent point of view and great link. GA Let me repeat that a thread that matches your content has been running out of control for a month, as I posted to Just_an_Engineeer, and your input there would be appreciated.

Chris

I applaud the attempts and intent of this and the other thread about shipping containers.

This thread sparked my interest to respond as I have had some experience building with corrugated iron in an environment with little or no equipment available and felt that I could contribute in a meaningful way.

Most of the sheds that my father and I build have survived full "cyclone" conditions in tropical Australia. One "failed", but then so did every tree for 500m in every direction around it.

I felt that the initiative and effort spent on the shipping container idea was being wasted and chose not to participate in that thread. It is my opinion that in a resource poor situation, the effort to relocate, modify and co-ordinated the movement of multiple shipping containers, and then the risk that they turn into "cookers" in a humid environment. In 20 years time our legacy would then be thousands of rusting container hulks through the city and surrounding country. I chose to "sit aside" and let the great minds progress.

I still don't see anywhere that the people have been consulted as to what they want.

As this thread asks for "temporary" corrugated iron structures, my interpretation was to dismantle in a five year timeframe.

The great shearing sheds of outback Australia were in some cases over an acre in size with a timber floor around 1.5m above ground. Most also had a "dry shed" of similar size but roof only 2m above ground.

Garthh's last link in comment 17 does describe how the containers can be recycled to more permanent housing. It also answers the question of ventilation in Haiti's climate. The container solution was thought of because there would be empty containers already in Haiti's port, enough to start to provide relative immediate temporary housing. It really doesn't take a lot of effort to do basic modifications and I think the Haitians would much prefer those than the tarps they are being given now.

In 20 years time our legacy would then be thousands of rusting container hulks through the city and surrounding country.

JAE,

Used shipping containers are 100% recyclable. ( I know you know).

Just as there are dwellings less than well maintained by our inhabitants here, I'd expect that the same will apply in Haiti. Just look at the shanty town that existed before the quake. But having been the recipients of sturdy temp shelter I'd have thought that some of them would have stepped up to the plate and, with pride, carried on the development of their dwellings. As has already been illucidated many times elsewhere, the sky's the limit in the possibilities of significant architectural enhancements using this medium.

However, this thread is to discuss the possibilities using 'corrugated iron', and I do agree with you re the great sheds of Ozz. With one rider. They've never been subjected to the forces which regularly visit the land of which we speak.

If the construction medium was so good one would have thought that it'd have been adopted by the authorities in the other high winds areas of the world too.

I too, within my range of experience, am only wanting the people of Haiti to be housed effectively, safely, and aesthetically, just as I would wish if the roles were reversed.

Cheers,

Stu

I generally agree with your views about shipping containers, but they still beat the shiest out of tents

I think CEB[compressed earth blocks] walls & scrap steel welded into frame work to be covered by sheetmetal roofing would also be a viable option. You certainly can't be shy with the screws, if your expecting wind.

Self sealing screws are nice, but simple tek's [self tapping], flatwashers & tar will do in a pinch

so a note to all the USaid guys who aren't reading this, send lots of screws, sheetmetal, oxy/propane, stick welders & get out of the way.

I have built smaller conventional buildings, sheds, barns etc. from 6-12" purlins and corrugated tin without plans many times in the past. If you are just looking to build small dwellings I would suggest to frame the building up with 6" cee and/or zee purlins making sure to keep everything plumb, level and square and cover it with 20-22 gauge corrugated tin using the little self drilling screws to attach the tin. For trim work I would suggest using 1/8" x 2 x 2 angle iron or square tubing because it is cheap, easy to cut and work with and makes a very strong frame using only an oxy acetylene cutting torch or a 4-1/2" grinder/cutting disc combo and a small welding machine to weld instead of bolting the parts together.

The arched quonset huts are very easy to erect with the help of 2 or 3 strong people. They can be a pain in the ass to build because there are so many dad burn bolts in each arch. I have built several 25' wide huts using only a couple of strong backed helpers, two good ladders and some rope. The pieces are aggravating to move around and assemble, get raised and bolted to the base section at first. After the first arch was standing each additional arch got a little easier to assemble and faster erect. Once we had 3-4 arch sections erected and bolted togehter the hut became stable enough that we didn't haven to shore each arch individually.

On the smaller width huts you can put two or three or more arches together and then raise them all at once but be sure to not tightened too many of the bolts or screws until after you get the holes in the new section aligned the other section or you will have to loosen everything in order to get the bolts to go in. after we got 8-10 arches together and erected we started to tightened more of the bolts as we went along.

I have erected a few of these huts that were around 50 ft wide and one 60 foot wide x 120 ft long had a 5ft tall block wall for the arch sections/base plate to anchor to. Adding the block foot wall it enabled side doors to be easily installed without modifying the door or wall to fit the curve of the arch. The 5 ft wall also provided enough extra head room so that the shop equipment could be placed right up to the side of the shop instead of 3-4 foot back from the wall like the huts that curve all the way to the floor.

The hardest part of the 60 ft wide hut was adding two 16 ft tall x 12 ft wide roll up doors on the curved side. I had to frame up and build a short roof and wall section on each door opening to created a plumb surface in the curved side to properly hang the doors. Most of the hut manufacturers I've dealt with don't recommend installing side doors in the huts but I think there is at least one supplier that now offers an installation kit for framing in these doors on the curved sides of these huts.

This made a very nice shop after it was finished. We used a forklift to erect these larger buildings and it really sped up the construction. I have also used my 30 hp Kubota tractor with a jib pole made from 1/4" 2" x 6" steel tubing and a 500 lb counter weight on the back to erect these hut arch sections as well as build conventional metal buildings and it is a huge help on all of them.

The company that supplied the buildings we erected had a design for a concrete base that we did not care for. What it called for was to dig a ditch about 12" deep and 14 inches wide to set the metal base down into and then fill the ditch with concrete after the hut was erected and tightened. I have seen these buildings rust out right at this concrete to metal interface before so we decided to just pour a monolithic slab with a built in 20" deep x 16" wide footer with re bar tied in two layers around the perimeter and anchor the metal base to it.

For any one who takes on the erection of one of these huts please think about safety and wear the appropriate PPE. Here are a few safety tips I found valuable for this type work

1,The curved surfaces makes the use of ladders tricky and they should be tied off before attempting to work from them.

2. Please don't try to walk on the arches because they are not strong enough to support allot of extra weight and they are usually slippery as well.

3.The building components in these huts are usually hot dipped galvanized coated and burning or welding without proper ventilation on anything with this type of coating can make you very sick. I have been there and done that one and believe me when I say "it can make you very sick"

4.The edges on the parts of these buildings are usually not de-burred and sometimes they are just plain sharp as a razor so a good pair of cut resistant gloves would be a good idea for anyone handling this material.

5.Falling from even the smaller huts can break your body up or even kill you if you hit on your head. Please wear fall protection when working over 6 ft off the ground.

6. Ropes can break or get cut on the sharp edges of these arch sections and knots can slip to let things fall so it would be a good idea to wear head protection like a hard hat.

Of course there are many more types of PPE that may need to be used while doing this type of work and common sense rules when deciding what is safe and how to prevent accidents on any construction job. I would like to wish you Good Luck on this endeavor and I hope you have much success!

I'm not sure what cee and zee purlins are.

I'm wondering if you can make a good frame for Corrugated Steel using PVC pipe and glue, and battery powered drill guns and self tapping screws.

Trying to think of materials and designs and tools that are extremely common or cheap and simple.

Haven't pursued fully the PVC framing concept.

Pushing "Steel Tents" for Food Distro, School and Hospital, and Market designs now.

Advantage of Shipping Containers is now actually that they are there, and stuff on the way has to yet arrive, or have been put together.

Report is that last week children in a school were killed.

Didn't have to happen.

You might can do it with 3-4" Sch. 40 or 80 electrical pvc that is not affected by UV rays but you will have to use a metal strip or wood to attach the tin with and hope that it will stay on very long I think. Another option would be to drill a hole all the way through the pvc pipe and use small bolts with fender washers on the nut side to prevent wind from pulling the nut back through the pvc and ripping the tin off.

The shipping containers are the best bet in my opinion. I have made some pretty nice hunting camps with those used containers in the past. Some of them even had small wood burning stoves/heaters and a few even had hot a water tank and plumbing if there was electricity available.

They, the shipping containers are great, but hard to move, and there really aren't enough on hand, plus they are not reported to be being used.

Far as PVC, it does go together with only glue.

Down to two assembly tools: Glue and Screwguns.

Cutting with a plumbers saw might be required to fit to space.

No electricity required. Cuts easier than wood.

Dog run chain ground anchors could maybe work with all fast and furious, cheap and simple.

Don't know really who the purchasing agent is.

Red Cross? UN? USAID? Haiti?

A refresher of the links to all the related discussions

The original thread Shipping Container Housing is over 1500 posts long

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/49244#newcomments

New Thread as a Compilation:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/52324/Alternate-Methods-of-Emergency-Housing-as-it-Relates-to-the-Crisis-in-Haiti

How to Install & Anchor Shipping Container Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50522#newcomments

Methods For Installing Doors & Windows In Shipping Container Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50523#newcomments

Drainage, Sanitation & Other Issues Related To Shipping Container Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50525#newcomments

Potable Water In Conjunction W/ Shipping Container as Housing:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50537#newcomments

What Shelter Designs Work Using Corrugated Iron

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/50850/What-Shelter-Designs-Work-Using-Corrugated-Iron

Scrap ships as housing

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/51898/Ship-Breaking

The new Blog started by Clemson University:

http://www.seed-haiti.net/?page_id=2

Bioneers Forum

http://connect.bioneers.org/forum/topics/alternate-methods-of-emergency

Please feel free to contact me should you need any help with any of CR4's features

Here is some of the contact information for the various political entities:

The Whitehouse:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

The US Senate:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

The US Congress:

http://www.congress.org/

or

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

The holder of the purse strings:

http://www.usaid.gov/contact.html

Here are some numbers Transcendian came up with to call with polite communications as people die. See if you can get something good to happen.

Try Beau Mills at 919-859-5999

Try Merorores at 212-370-4840 Haiti Mission to the UN.

Try Unicef at 1-800-486-4233

Try Countryman & McDaniel at 310-342-6500

Try Christian Lopez of Latino Housing Development at 716-881-7051

Try 212-963-1234 and see who you get and what they want you to do. It's the number for the UN.

Try 509-229-800 and ask for Kenneth H/Merten. He's one I aint got to bothering yet. See if he knows Raymond Joseph at 202-332-4070. (check number.) For USAID try 202-712-4007, ask for Mike.

Try 202-271-4416. Bette Cook.

The list is not in order. Mr. Lopez is attempting to get shipping container housing to Haiti, and deserves support. Countryman and McDaniels have information and contacts we need. We do need the UN to act right, but making that happen will be tough. USAID has already told us to go to hell, and all US Government agencys seem to defer to them