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Posts Tagged ‘disaster’

Capping Chernobyl: Nuclear Disaster Site Covered in Giant Protective Dome

05 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

chernobyl-dome

In an unprecedented feat of engineering, the world’s most infamous nuclear disaster site is being covered by a huge prefabricated steel arch designed to shield the world from its fallout. Made to fit over the so-called sarcophagus, a crumbling concrete and lead shelter initially erected at the site, the New Safe Confinement structure spans nearly 1,000 feet horizontally.

The original protective shell over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s reactor was a hurried affair and never meant to be permanent — 4,000 people in the region were still killed in the initial catastrophic meltdown but many more were saved thanks to this hasty intervention. In the days, weeks and months following the disaster, hundreds of thousands of evacuees and emergency workers were exposed to dangerous radiation.

construction-dome

At the cost of 1.5 billion dollars the new lid is also not a solution to last forever, but it is designed to last for 100 years. Weighing 36,000 tons and taller than the statue of liberty (354 feet) the monstrous structure is only partially complete — it still needs to be rendered airtight and radiation equipment is yet to be installed. The entire thing has been constructed offsite on nearby land before being moved into place.

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[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Rebuilding Blocks: Mobile Factory Turns Disaster Debris into Modular Bricks

26 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

mobile-factory-homes-copy

In the wake of intentional demolition or unexpected disasters, the Mobile Factory system can be shipped inside just two cargo containers and begin to turn rubble from ruins into building blocks for reconstruction.

Developed in The Netherlands, the technology filters concrete from other rubble, which is then cast into interlocking blocks (like LEGO bricks) that require no joinery to form stable walls. These units can be stacked without specialized training or equipment, making it possible for communities to rebuild efficiently and cheaply.

The resulting structures are earthquake-resistant, held together in part by bamboo rods threaded through voids in a certain subset of the wall blocks (which can also be used to thread in utilities, including plumbing and electrical lines).

mobile-factory-walls

Since the system fits into a pair of shipping containers, it can easily be transported from site to site, building blocks close to where they will be used and reducing transit time and costs. The reversibility of this construction approach also means that temporary buildings can be erected quickly in the wake of a disaster. In turn, these can be disassembled or adapted easily in the weeks, months and years following an emergency situation.

Consider the 2010 earthquake in Haiti that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions homeless. Over five years later and the country is still littered with 25 million tons of construction debris, which technologies like this can help turn into affordable housing. Indeed, the Mobile Factory organization is looking into expanding their work in Haiti, Peru and other countries in need of this tech.

mobile-blocks

“In disasters, you have piles and piles of rubble and the rubble is waste. If you are rich, you buy more bricks and rebuild your home,” said one of the organization’s founders. “But what happens if you are poor? In disasters it is the poorest people who live in the weakest houses and they lose their homes first. I thought, what if you recycled the rubble to build back better homes for poor people?”

Beyond wars and tsunamis in nations further afield, there are potential urban applications in densely-built places like the Europe and the United States: cities like Baltimore and Detroit spend vast amounts of money demolishing buildings (and in some cases: entire blocks), then clear the rubble and put it in landfills. This technology suggests an alternative: reusing on or close to the demolition site, reducing material and energy waste as well post-demolition transportation costs.

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Designing for Disaster: 15 Ideas for Preparedness & Response

10 Mar

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

disaster design pop up 2

Aesthetics may not be the first consideration when it comes to emergency items like survival kits, post-disaster housing and relief supplies, but good design can make the difference between clunky, inefficient objects that hamper adequate response and the items that save as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible. Often created after designers witnessed disasters close to home, many of these solutions attempt to build preparedness into our daily lives, making it easy to grab a minimalist kit by the door or pack up a panicked pet at the last minute.

Pet Earthquake Emergency Bag

disaster design earthquake pet

disaster design earthquake pet 2

disaster design earthquake pet 3

Have you thought about what you’d do with your cat or small dog if a disaster hit and you had to flee on foot? Transporting them in a standard pet carrier would be cumbersome and maybe even impossible. Enter the Pet Earthquake Bag Kit, created in response to the last major earthquake in Japan. Special pockets and straps make it possible to carry up to two household pets. It come sin two sizes and includes a human/pet emergency kit with water, treats, bandages and calming oils.

Minim-Aid Emergency Kit
disaster design minimaid

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This slim and minimalist stainless steel tube kit by Nendo takes up very little space hanging in a closet or on a hook by the door, but contains a raincoat, radio with gadget charger, lantern, drinking water and whistle. Waterproof and capable of floating, it would be easy to grab and carry at the last minute.

Reaction Housing System Flat-Pack Emergency Shelters
disaster design reaction 1

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disaster design reaction 4

Stackable and easy to ship, the Reaction Housing System is made up of two easy-to-assemble pieces that can be used alone for a single unit or connected to multiple units. Each one can be configured as a living space or office and contain single beds that fold down from the wall and portable power generators. Twenty of them can be stacked on one semi-truck or C-130 Hercules plane, and 1,940 could be moved across the country on a freight train to house 7,760 survivors as quickly as possible. At $ 5K each, they’re far cheaper than most other solutions, like the ones FEMA currently uses.

Life Desk
disaster design life desk

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The Life Desk was developed after a number of students were seriously injured or killed by the tables they were hiding under during earthquakes in China. The heavy duty high-strength-steel and nylon desk provides a long-lasting work surface for students and can be quickly folded for shelter in an emergency.

PATCH Urban Survival Kit
disaster design patch 1

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Looking like a small thermos on a key fob, PATCH is an urban survival kit designed specifically for city dwellers in the 21st century, containing all the core elements of a first-aid kit and adding a phone charger, multi-tool, zip ties, emergency blanket and other items you’d be likely to need if some kind of disaster made your surroundings unsafe.

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Designing For Disaster 15 Ideas For Preparedness Response

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[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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How to Prevent and Solve a Photography Gear Disaster?

15 Sep

What could possibly go wrong?

Let me be your fall guy here. I’ve been shooting for 25 years, and I’m completely human. I’m also not the most careful person.

I’ve left a SLR in a drybag that unfortunately collected water, then sat soaking for a week. I’ve had a camera slide off the top of a car (like a coffee cup – but much, much worse) then go bouncing across three lanes of traffic. Miraculously, the camera and its lens survived! I’ve opened my car door and had my DSLR fall only 1.5 feet and break off the lens at the mount. My main 28-300mm L lens has gone into the shop twice as the fabric in the locking collar has worn out. I left a lens behind during a hike, and it was gone when I went back for it. I’ve had camera errors while shooting a wedding, and my main desktop computer has been stolen.

Marcus_jb1973

By marcus_jb1973

Bad things happen sometimes. Sometimes it’s your fault, sometimes it’s not.

In this article I want to help you prepare for the the worst case scenarios for camera and lens care. I want to get you thinking about disasters before they happen and also give some advice on what to do when things go awry. Then at the end I’d love to hear your own tales, especially if they are helpful to other photographers.

We will cover cameras and lens mishaps, such as:

  • Theft
  • Lost or missing gear
  • Dropped
  • Moisture incursion
  • Corrupted/error message

What to do before things go wrong

There are steps you can take just in case things go wrong.

Insure it

Pictures Of Money

By Pictures of Money

Whether it’s for business or pleasure, if your camera gear is valuable to you, consider insuring it. For professional photographers this should be a no-brainer, but often those in the freelance realm aren’t bringing in huge paychecks, so they skimp by and avoid insurance. Don’t!

For non-professionals, check with your renter’s or homeowner’s insurance to see if your gear is covered. You might find there is a limit for electronics, but you can always pony up a few extra dollars to ensure all your gear is insured. Also check your auto policy to see if gear left inside a car is covered (while remembering to always lock your gear in your trunk!), it often is not.

Register it

GotCredit

By GotCredit

This is another part of the process many skip. Registering your gear with the manufacturer helps them update you if something should be found wrong with your equipment. We hear about food recalls on the nightly news because they have huge impacts. But did you hear about the Canon Powershot eyecup recall (14,000 units) in 2014 or the Nikon 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm recall in 2015?

These kind of recalls don’t make big news and often don’t even make the photo blogs.

Claim it

LensTag is a free service you should consider using to track your gear. The online service allows you to enter camera gear to their database, verify it with a photo of the serial number and search for stolen gear before you buy. We have an article here on dPS that explains the service in more detail Lenstag: a World Without Camera Theft.

In the UK there is a service called Immobilise.com which works in a similar fashion; log your items on the site before they are stolen, alert the service when something goes missing, cross your fingers. This service seems more robust and is checked by police in the UK. You can register more than cameras here as well.

Tag it

Tagging your equipment with contact information is helpful for having your goods returned when they go missing accidentally. I accidentally left a camera on a log on a trail many decades ago and the next day someone had turned it in to the park ranger’s office. Good people do exist! Give them a hand.

Avery, the label company, has a number of options for inkjet and laser printer. For instance, their 6570 label is meant to stay on permanently and can be cut to a useful size. This is a good option, though not perfect, for inkjet printers while the 6576 labels work better on a laserjet printer. You might want to write your information in permanent marker, but know that it will fade and need replacing.

Write it down

Ana C.

By Ana C.

This tip is the most common sense, but I feel it needs repeating. Grab a piece of paper and an old fashioned pencil and simply write down the serial numbers for your gear. Then store it in a safe place. Saving this info online is also handy, via services like Dropbox or Evernote, or email it to yourself, so it can be retrieved from any computer if you are away from home.

What to do after things go wrong

Theft

When I realized my Mac had been stolen during a break-in to my house, my stomach churned to the point of almost throwing up. Luckily, my camera was with me at the time. If it was stolen, I was prepared in a way I wasn’t for my computer. I have my camera serial numbers written down and in electronic form that I can retrieve from anywhere online (while noting it’s pretty easy for astute thieves to scrap off serial numbers).

The first step after a theft is to report it. Whether it is a break-in at home or a snatch and run in a foreign city, any insurance company will typically desire a police report with higher value items.

If you are keen on recovering your gear, don’t trust to the police alone to find it; start looking! In the US places liked Craigslist or eBay are popular choices for thieves looking to offload gear. Pawn shops are another option, but searching them all, depending on where you live, can be time consuming.

You might also want to try services like StolenCameraFinder.com or CameraTrace.com. I have not used either service so I can not vouch for them, but they both have the ability to search for your camera’s serial number (see section about writing down this info). CameraTrace also sells those permanent stickers I talked about earlier to make a reunion with your gear easier.

Missing

Sometime we are our own worst enemy and we misplace things, expensive things. If you never do, then you can skip this section.

Patrice-photographiste

By patrice-photographiste

For everyone else, the obvious thing to do is to retrace your steps. Believe that there are good Samaritans out there (there are!) who want to get you back together with your camera or lens.

If you visited shops, ask the employees if they have seen a camera. The best way for you to get back together with your gear is to let others know you are looking. Leave a card with your contact information everywhere you might have left your gear.

You can also try other online services like CameraFound.com, which will warm your heart when you see how many people are actually trying to help others retrieve their camera or phone equipment. It lists over 1000 found cameras even in far flung locations like Oman and Kazakhstan.

Breaks

Watching my camera fall out the passenger door, in slow motion, had me cringing before it hit the cement floor of my garage. I had reached over to open the door for someone and didn’t see the camera precariously wedged between the seat and the door.

This was a Canon L series lens and I thought I was out $ 1200 to buy a replacement. With a break this bad (the lens snapped off the mounting ring that holds it to the camera body) and no experience with repair shops, I thought I was out of luck.

Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious

By Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious

Many major manufacturers provide free estimates for repairs but you will be on the hook for shipping costs. Ask around at local camera clubs as well to see if there is a trusted local repair shop in your area. They can often save you some money, but make sure they are authorized by your manufacturer. My point is to not despair; get a quote first.

I was happy that the repair for my lens was only $ 200. Spending $ 200 still sucked, but it meant I was back in business, and didn’t need to drop $ 1200 on a new lens because of my own stupidity.

You might want to ask around to see if there is a reputable local repair shop other owners use. I know in Seattle there is such a store, and they can tell you the moment you walk in if your camera is salvageable or a goner. They can often be cheaper than a repair from your manufacturer.

Also, things like cracked LCD covers can be replaced for relatively little money. If the LCD itself is broken, giving you weird colors and streaks, then it’s time to get it repaired. Adventurous photographers have replaced their own LCDs with success, but if you have any doubt, pay a pro to do it.

Moisture incursion

It’s no joke that moisture and electronics make horrible friends. The electronics always get the worst of it, but there are some things you can do to possibly limit or stop damage.

First, shut everything off! Take out the batteries too. Damage to electronics from water happens when the water acts as a connector between two items inside your camera, which normally won’t share power. The power from one circuit uses the water as an excellent conduit to move wherever the water touches. This is the classic short circuit that we think of that smells of melting wires and plastic. In worst cases, things can catch fire.

Limit those chances by shutting everything down, and taking out the batteries, until you are 100% sure the inside of your components are bone dry. This can takes days or sometimes weeks.

Kevin Baird

By Kevin Baird

To dry out equipment on your own, go for a slow fix. Using a hair dryer may work for something like a memory card, but not for a whole DSLR. A time tested method is to use something that naturally absorbs water, like rice or the desiccant packs that come with new shoes. You want to make the new host hungry for the water inside the camera instead of just from the atmosphere itself, so put your camera, and soaked parts, together with the rice or absorbent items inside a ziplock bag large enough to hold them all.

Lenses can be tricky as water might leave a film behind on elements inside as they dry. If after a thorough drying, the quality seems affected, it’s time for the lens to get a professional cleaning.

My personal advice with salt water is to not mess around with home fixes and get the camera in to a reputable repair shop or manufacturer as soon as possible. When salt water dries it leaves behind the salt, and that can corrode your camera’s innards a year from now without you realizing it.

Corruption or error messages

“Err 99” pops up on your camera. What do you do? Freaking out seems like a good option. But better than that these days, is simply googling the error.

Kate Sumbler

By Kate Sumbler

I can’t cover all the errors for all cameras, but I have run into these situations about four times in my 14 years of owning digital cameras. They are nerve-wracking  to say the least.

The first steps are always, 1) Breathe slowly. 2) Power off the camera if it appears any image writing activity is done. 3) Remove the battery (ies) and wait a minute before putting them back in.

Some errors dictate sending your camera in to the manufacturer. Some are cleared by the steps above when your camera simply stumbles over its own circuitry. Google is your friend and will list many remedies. Read forum threads to get a feel if certain suggestions cured other people’s similar issues.

Conclusion

I hope the tips here have helped you start thinking about disasters before they happen in order to lessen their impact. And if things do go south in a hurry, take action as soon as you can to get your gear back in working shape.

Most importantly, I’ve seen a lot of camera and lens gear mishaps, but I haven’t seen them all. I’d like to hear about problems you have had, and what you did to fix them if you think the information might help other readers.

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The post How to Prevent and Solve a Photography Gear Disaster? by Peter West Carey appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Hoverboard Creators Patent Hovering Homes for Disaster Zones

15 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

patent image

The creators of the world’s first working hoverboard have turned their sights toward larger-scale projects, patenting a three-part hovering foundation system to defend houses in earthquake- and flood-prone areas facing threats from natural disasters. The basic idea: decouple buildings from the ground temporarily, isolating them from unwanted movement happening below and around them.

floating box

arxpax hoverboard technology

Arx Pax, based in Silicon Valley and the creators of the Hendo Hoverboard using Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA), designed this new approach to floating homes during emergencies, using a buffer medium over a construction platform. Their physical technologies will be connected to ShakeAlert, an automatic warning software developed in part by the University of California, Berkeley and the U.S. Geological Survey.

patented natural disaster home

“The ShakeAlert program aligns well with our long-term vision,” said Greg Henderson, co-founder and CEO at Arx Pax. “Weaving ShakeAlert into our MFA seismic isolation solution provides a valuable new tool to architects, engineers, and developers who are looking for a better way to build in areas affected by earthquakes. Our goal is to eliminate structural movement by pinpointing the exact time an object or building’s ‘landing gear’ should retract and activate the hover engines.”

 

patented earthquake proof architecture

Currently, many large buildings already have countermeasures to protect them from strong winds or earthquake forces, but few small structures can afford similar protections. Arx Pax hopes to make similar approaches cost-effective for individual houses and lower buildings in general, raising them up in the face of floodwaters or shaking ground.

sensitive equipment

earthquake floating building system

In addition to helping homeowners, Arx Pax sees applications for this technology for places including surgical operating rooms where stability is essential or laboratories, server farms and other spaces with sensitively calibrated equipment.

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When disaster strikes, photo editors can help save memories

22 May

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When homes are damaged, often the most important items cannot be replaced. For victims of fire, floods and other natural disasters, family photos are among the worst things to lose. Operation Photo Rescue brings together victims with professional photo editors to turn damaged images back into clear memories. Learn more on connect.dpreview.com.

 

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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