• Covid-19 rapid deployment test centre

    Two of the most pressing needs worldwide in the coronavirus pandemic are for more hospital beds and testing centres. No country in the world has enough hospital beds or intensive-care unit (ICU) beds for a pandemic. We need structures that can be quickly and easily assembled, are inexpensive and meet technical requirements. Architects have always […]

  • Biodiversity conservation and business

    The biological diversity makes our lives livable in the planet trough an array of ecological processes which provide us vital products and services, such as foods and materials that contributes to the economy. Although, factors such as habitat destruction, biological invasion and climate change have been taken numerous species to extinction. The lasting natural areas […]

  • Blue Freedom – Providing reliable first aid electricity from hydropower

    Electrical power supply is among the first critically important services in disaster areas. Especially natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floodings lead to a destruction of the installed power grid and portable electricity becomes indispensable. One innovative solution is Blue Freedom Portable, a lightweight hydropower generator with 5W output capacity. With a weight of […]

  • Transition of Shelters – Portable Emergency Shelter

    Migratation of refugess are indeed a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a Society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. It affects both physically and mentally. It also causes health and safety […]

  • Inflatable Refugee Tents

    A new refugee tent has been designed by the team at M2B Inflatable in Sofia, Bulgaria.  This refugee tent is inflatable and will offer an affordable, dignified and practical shelter against extreme weather.  The inflatable tent provides immediate emergency housing solutions and adapts to any disaster area. The inflated walls of the tent will offer […]

  • The Modern Yurk – A Possible Design for Relief Scenarios?

    The Scottish company Trakke has redeveloped the nomadic yurt shelter and created the Jero Yurt. The temporary housing innovation is a lightweight dwelling that pops up and was designed to be used for events such as backyard parties or off-grid camping experiences with a modern twist. The Jero’s compact design even allows it to be […]

  • innonatives kitchen challenge winner

    innonatives first challenge winners 2015

    The innonatives team is proud to present the first winners of the first completed innonatives challenge. Please see here for the winning solutions of the Sustainable Kitchen challenge http://innonatives.com/challenge/sus-brazil/solutions-sorted/winners Congratulations to the winners !!!  Your innonatives Team

  • AIDF Disaster relief infographic d4d

    Download & share the #infographic on the importance of #PPPs & #tech in disaster management: http://bit.ly/1qj6Evn  http://ow.ly/i/6Ku5d

  • PowerCube Pop-up Solar Generator Provides Relief to Disaster-Struck Areas

    It was seven years ago that Ecosphere Technologies revealed its first iteration of a self-contained relief unit for disaster-struck areas. The company has since been busy refining the system’s form and function and has now announced the completion of what it says to be the world’s largest deployable solar power generator. Capable of generating 15 […]

  • Sustainability Maker needs you !

    Join the next big thing! Attend the first Sustainability Maker Convention, the world’s first conference on Open Innovation, Crowd Sourcing and Crowd Funding for Sustainability. Be among the first to witness the start of the next Sustainability innovation movement and to know about the www.innonatives.com open innovation for Sustainability platform. Registration Please register online before October […]

Introduction

Disasters such as, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, famines and wars cause destruction and suffering to humankind. Whether these are natural and inevitable, or man-made and unnecessary, we can improve our means of reacting and aiding the victims affected.

This website is to function as a source of information and a communication platform for exchanging knowledge, experience, ideas and projects. How can we design life in a way that we are better prepared and have better infrastructure, methods to avoid damage, suffering and death tolls?

Most important and featured

Green solar grill

Derek Ham writes over at Barbeque Lovers about a solar-powered grill project he has been working on that uses latent heat storage to both extend cooking times, create hotter temperatures, and reduce the problem of intermittent sun. Based on technology developed by MIT professor David Wilson, the concept is expected to generate cooking temperatures of 450F, and […]

Uganda is up to speed – electric

“The car is ready, the Kiira EV can pick speed very fast, the motor stands strong, the reverse is perfect, it properly climbed a 55 degrees incline, the performance is good” exclaimed Mr Paul Isaac Musasizi, the Project Manager of the Vehicle Design Mission at Makerere University, which has produced Uganda’s first electric car. The vehicle for […]

New Years Wish 2013

So the world survived December 2012 and that is a good thing, … but still too many people suffer from malnutrition, war and crime, exploitation and environmental disasters! …. Let’s make 2013 the “yes we do” year and fight all those man made disasters and make the world a better place. Together we can make […]

Landfill Harmonic

Teaser for the upcoming documentary “Landfill Harmonic.” The film introduces the town of Cateura, a slum in Paraguay built atop a landfill where residents have created music from the trash heaped upon them. Scouring the rubbish, the determined music-lovers have built violins, cellos, and other classical instruments, resulting in the “Recycled Orchestra.” The preview of […]

Watch sea-level rising

Sea-level rise is occurring much faster than scientists expected – exposing millions more people to a destructive combination of storm surges on top of sea-level rise, scientists said. Earlier this year they found sea-level rise had already doubled the annual risk of historic flooding across a widespread area of the United States. The implications are serious – […]

SafetyNet from Dan Watson on Vimeo.

SafetyNet

The SafetyNet is a new trawling system that could help cut down on the catch and subsequent discarding of juvenile and endangered fish. By exploiting fish behavioral habits and physiology the trawl separates different species and ages of fish. The goal is to use SafetyNet devices in conjunction with legislation to help tackle the issues […]

Use Earthquakes to monitor them

No doubt earthquakes have tremendous power – for: break things. It would be much smarter to use the brute forces of nature for something meaningful. This though in mind, a student of the New Zealand Victoria University developed a seismic sensor, which is driven by the force of the earthquake that he just studied and documented. […]

The Design Development of Hexi-House – Phase 2

Since July 2012, father and son team Jim and Chris Rooney have been working on Hexi-House – a new easy-to-assemble and sustainable housing solution designed to be deployed for disaster relief. In September Designs4Disaster featured phase 1 of the design development where the team outlined their core concept for the product and provided some early […]

Map system tracks hurricane / escape routes

Google has updated its Crisis Map to cover Hurricane Sandy, with a view to helping people survive the weather event. The map can be used to track the storm, as well as provide regional alerts and other information that would be useful in such an emergency, and is similar to the Crisis Map used by […]

Satellite blinks Morse code

A new form of satellite will paint Morse code in the sky. The satellites are cube-shaped and can create any message out of Morse code in the night sky. Once launched and fully developed, they could serve any number of functions. The satellites could blink emergency alters in times of disaster, they could send messages […]

The Shelter Effect

The Shelter Effect or how a safe home can change everything. Come and share your experiences here: www.facebook.com/TheShelterEffect The numbers are all out there. Over a billion living in slums, millions sleeping in flooded homes, countless shelters devastated by disasters every year. But it’s no longer news — earthquakes and hurricanes don’t kill people. Buildings […]

Water and Salt = Light

Green House Co Ltd will release an LED lantern that generates electricity with water and salt. The lantern GH-LED10WBW does not require a dry cell or rechargeable battery and emits light when water and salt are put in the lantern. It can continuously generate electricity for eight hours per charge of water. To use the […]