This modular shelter designed by Ottawa-based HousAll Systems Corp. serves as a classroom for children in Haiti. Built by Ground Effects Ltd. of Windsor, Ont., the building survived the Jan. 12 earthquake. This modular shelter designed by Ottawa-based HousAll Systems Corp. serves as a classroom for children in Haiti. Built by Ground Effects Ltd. of Windsor, Ont., the building survived the Jan. 12 earthquake. (Submitted by James Scott)

Medical clinics and daycares in Haiti will soon be housed in earthquake-resistant and hurricane-resistant shelters designed in Ottawa and made in Windsor, Ont.

Save the Children USA is expected to bring a Boeing 747 to the Windsor airport Friday to pick up a load of the shelters designed by Ottawa-based HousAll Systems Corp. In all, 1,200 units are scheduled to be shipped to Haiti.

A single unit can be assembled by two people in about two hours using a screwdriver, says HousAll founder Miles Kennedy.A single unit can be assembled by two people in about two hours using a screwdriver, says HousAll founder Miles Kennedy. (HousAll Systems Corp.)

Each shelter consists of plastic panels that pop into a steel frame and can be assembled in about two hours, said Miles Kennedy, founder of HousAll.

"Two people can put them up with only one tool — a screwdriver," he said. "They'll withstand monsoon rains, near-hurricane winds and phenomenal snow loads."

Six units were tested as classrooms in Haiti by Save the Children and all survived the massive earthquake on Jan. 12.

In the wake of the disaster, the group wants to deploy new units as outpatient medical clinics to ease the bottleneck at the hospitals, said Ian Rodgers, senior emergency adviser for Save the Children International.

Design evolution

Miles Kennedy, founder of HousAll, says he was inspired to come up with his shelter design after seeing images on TV of the deplorable conditions in refugee camps.

"I wondered to myself, why hasn't anybody done anything better?"

HousAll's original shelter design is 3.7 x 4.9 metres, about the size of a large bedroom. It is intended to house a single family but is suitable for medical clinics.

Ian Rodgers, senior emergency adviser for Save the Children International, says the company came up with a larger version — about 4.9 x 7.3 metres — after his group said it would be even more useful.

During field tests of the units as classrooms, Save the Children received feedback that there wasn't enough ventilation. The company addressed that by putting a window in every panel instead of every other panel, Rodgers says.

He adds that the group appreciated that the company went to Algonquin College and asked students to work on new designs: "People who hadn't sort of got set in their ways."

Rodgers says the invention of new materials was key to the design of the shelters.

"Ten years ago this project probably wouldn't have been possible technologically."

The group also wants some shelters to be set up as daycare centres so parents can safely leave their children there while searching for other family members or trying to recover personal belongings from the rubble.

The units can be locked from the inside. Anyone who runs at the panels from the outside will bounce off, but the panels can be popped out from the inside to create a fire escape.

In the longer term, the shelters can be used as temporary classrooms until new schools are built.

Rodgers said the units are often a good alternative to tents, which have to be replaced every six to 12 months, as they rot or are chewed up by rats. Tents also must be constantly adjusted to maintain tension and ventilation and cannot be reused, because they tend to rot when stored.

In contrast, the plastic shelters are expected to last 10 years.

"If it's only necessary to use them for a shorter period of time," Rodgers said, "you can break them down and pack them away as part of future emergency preparedness."

Kennedy said each unit costs around $3,500 and another $400 to ship, making it cheaper in the long run than a $200 tent that costs $200 to ship and must be replaced every six months.

The shelters are manufactured at Ground Effects Ltd. in Windsor, a former auto parts plant. Richard Mahoney, president of HousAll, said the company is having trouble keeping up with recent orders.

Rodgers said Save the Children is also having to scramble — it planned to approach donors and order more units over a period of two to three years. Now it needs them within the next six months.

In addition to Save the Children, HousAll is also working with two other humanitarian organizations in Haiti — Care Canada and Partners in Health.