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Renowned architecture firm Shigeru Ban have been developing emergency shelter/partition kits for earthquake relief since the 2004 Niigata earthquakes in Japan. Ban recognized that after the quake the biggest issue was housing the massive amount of people left without homes and shelter. Crowded into shelters, gymnasiums and stadiums, the usually private people were forced to get much more personal with their neighbors. In order to ease tension and give a sense of calm, Ban used cardboard pieces, first for people to sleep on, instead of the hard floors, and then as some people were able to leave the shelters, the cardboard was used to build walls.

Since then, Ban has been perfecting a kit to deal with these types of situations in Japan. The kit as of now includes -

“a strut-beam structure using paper tubes that can be furnished faster and conveniently at any site, with white cloth for partitions. The joints were made of plywood, and ropes were used for braces .For flexible partitioning depending on the family size, the modularized unit dimensions were standardized at 180cm. For administration, it is impossible to forecast partition needs, so low cost and high speed were the priorities in developing this partition system.” (from the Shigeru Ban website)

Ban is collecting donations to help them make more kits and to deliver them to the many emergency shelters. They are also seeking volunteers in the area, please visit their website to see how you can help.