Shipping Containers and Earthquakes

LiptonCambell
LiptonCambell: I read an article some time ago about a few families who had bought and modified with doors and windows some of those big shipping containers into houses. To me they looked sturdy, storm and earthquake damage resistant and would probably not be that expensive. I wonder if this idea might work in countries struggling with earthquakes ?
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lori100
lori100: Sure it could
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Corwin
Corwin: It's a frickin' brilliant idea. I was looking at some of the designs on Google Images... some of these container-home designs are pretty slick and attractive. Sturdy as all get-go I imagine, too... and probably very cost-effective.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: A good idea maybe but the logistics could be a nightmare. Some of the worst disasters seem to happen in remote, often mountainous, areas with poor road systems. Getting them to where they were required might be impossible. I am assuming that you are suggesting using containers in place of more traditional dwellings before disaster strikes, not after.
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LiptonCambell
LiptonCambell: Lol trailer parks are a nightmare for tornadoes....imagine these homes in a hurricane? Or a Tsunami?

It's good enough when everything is fine....but for disasters...I dunno...
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Corwin
Corwin: I think if someone lives in a remote area with a poor road system, they would have just as much of a problem getting lumber and conventional building materials there to build a home.

I think if you can get a transport-truckload of lumber to a construction area, you could just as easily get a transport-truck to haul an empty container there... they're pretty much the same size, and not much heavier than an empty load.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: A good point Corvin but remember that in such areas the building materials used are probably whatever is at hand rather than shippped in. We are talking about desperately poor people who probably couldn't afford to buy building materials of any kind, so nature must provide.
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Corwin
Corwin: You mean like all those desperately poor people in Japan, California, Seattle and Vancouver.... those desperately poor people?

I think Lipton was suggesting this as a sensible alternative to the traditional modern building materials like wood, aluminum, and brick.... NOT as an alternative to huts made out of sticks and mud.
It's the populated urban/suburban expanses that are vulnerable to major loss of life from earthquakes... nobody ever died in an earthquake because their stick-and-mud hut collapsed on them.

(Edited by Corwin)
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LiptonCambell
LiptonCambell: Honestly, I punked almost the entire original post from another website- they were talking about the Earthquakes in Haiti, as it was topical at the time...
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Serabi
Serabi:

Shipping containers are already being used in South Africa as the answer to the housing crisis. The containers make beautiful homes with bathrooms, lounge and bedrooms. Solar panals are used to generate electricity. We don't have tornadoes or earthquakes here so these Containers are ideal!

We even have schools and outlaying clinics in these containers. They are HUGE!





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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Corvin, I was thinking of the desperately poor people in places like Pakistan. Perhaps you've noticed that they occasionally have earthquakes, like this year. I suppose a few hundred deaths in such places doesn't really matter to us but it might concern them. So how did they die? Could it be that their "huts" fell in on them? As for the developed world, you know, the places where we live, modern building methods seem capable of producing pretty earthquake proof dwellings. The buildings that collapse tend to be older structures. A shipping container may very well produce a sturdy home but how many people would want to live in them? Better surely to replace vulnerable structures with modern equivalents.
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LiptonCambell
LiptonCambell: The cost is also an issue though, geek. It's easy to say the poor need new homes- but where's the money going to come from?
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Serabi
Serabi:

@Lipton, do you know what the lifespan of a shipping container is? I have no idea. (too lazy to research it)

I take it these containers are discarded before they are rusted through. Are these containers currently melted for recycling?

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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: I do not know where the money will come from Lipton. My guess is that no money will appear, the poor will stay poor and the situation will remain as it is. That seems to be the way the world works. Of course, we could all put our hand in our pocket and help out but do we care enough to do that? I don't think so.
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Serabi
Serabi:

@GG - if companies write old containers off and donate them, this is a viable project. Here nearly all of the containers have been donated.

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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Serabi, do you know how many containers have been donated? They seem robust affairs which makes me think that not too many will become unservicable at any one time. Companies are not noted for being ultruistic. I would expect them to donate only what they could no longer use. Supply might therefore be insufficient to meet demand.
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LiptonCambell
LiptonCambell: >>> the poor will stay poor and the situation will remain as it is.

Not necessarily. Numerous nations over the decades that had previously been poor have risen to become rich and powerful. I find that handouts certainly don't work- but sometimes they do. It depends on the people and the method- teach a man to fish and all that jazz, but also there are people who are content with collecting rather than earning- and those kinds of people I find only harm programs that could help others.....

There is no magical answer that works for everyone- the only thing I know for sure is, handouts don't work.

>>> Of course, we could all put our hand in our pocket and help out but do we care enough to do that? I don't think so.

I believe we already do. There are many laws on the books with the intent of using our tax dollars to help the poor, both at home and abroad.

If all it took was to throw some money at the problem, then the problem would be solved. Part of the problem is, some people prefer the way things are.

>>>Companies are not noted for being ultruistic.

First off, the word you want to use is altruistic. And companies don't need to be altruistic to make a positive change on society. I honestly don't think companies should be altruistic at all- you shouldn't run a business the same way you run a charity, or a religion, or a government.
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Serabi
Serabi:

Oh, for sure! But every bit helps. Surely these containers don't last a lifetime at sea. Containers are not the total solution to housing crises. But just a few can mean the difference between studying under a tree or in a classroom, the same with clinics in the rural areas.

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Corwin
Corwin: @ Ghostgeek - I would gladly trade in my old wooden home for a shipping-container design, if I could afford to tear-down and rebuild. As it is now, I can't even afford to fix my leaky roof. And I imagine if I had a shipping container home I'd never have to worry about a leaky roof ever again.

And some of these container home designs are absolutely gorgeous... check this one out:

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2012/04/shipping-container-house-studio-ht-nederland.html
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And incidentally, the people who die in earthquakes in Pakistan are those who live in urban areas. They don't have the strict building codes like we do here in Canada or the US, and they most definitely have roads there.
As I said before, NOBODY ever died from a stick and mud hut collapsing on them.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: You are correct Lipton, my spelling is atrocious. Nations become rich but they always retain their poor. Nations become poor but they never run out of rich people. I really don't see that situation changing any time soon. As for handouts, I agree with you. They don't work. As someone once said, aid is money taken from poor people in rich countries and given to rich people in poor countries. It makes politicians feel better, that is all. Capitalism works. It gives people jobs and puts money in their pockets. Just don't expect it to care about society.

Serabi, yes every little helps but it is a palliative not a solution. Only prosperity can provide what people need.

Corvin, I am sorry to hear about your plight. Your problem, as I see it, is a lack of income. In other words, you are poor. In your situation I am sure you would gladly accept a new wooden house just as much as you would a container, if not more so. As for countries like Pakistan, when they have earthquakes why do you hear about relief efforts taking days or even weeks to reach cut off villages? Not everybody lives in a town and not everybody lives in a stick and mud hut.
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Corwin
Corwin: You've missed my point entirely.

**unfollows yet another thread**
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Bye bye Corvin, sorry to see you go. Better luck in the next thread.
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Wild__
Wild__: Steel Shipping containers might work well in tornado country or even in an area frequently affected by hurricanes, but would be of little help during an earthquake.

1) Earthquakes strike without warning. A steel house is of little help when you are at the mall or on a bridge.

2) Fires, in the aftermath of an earthquake, do more damage than the tremor itself.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: I'm not sure I'd like to trust my life to a steel container in a tornado. They seem able to throw just about anything about.
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Wild__
Wild__: If anchored to a solid foundation, they would be safer than a standard house.
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Corwin
Corwin: Imagine if an earthquake and a tornado happened at the same time.
That would be pretty cool.
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