It's designed to be disaster relief — in a box.

A small Ontario firm is using retrofitted shipping containers to provide some of the essential equipment aid organizations need when working in areas as devastated as the parts of Haiti damaged in last week's earthquake.

The One-Power unit can provide air conditioning, water purification and other functions. (Havard Gould/CBC)

The mobile relief units, designed by Hamilton-based One-Power, can be customized to perform such functions as water purification, power generation, heating, air conditioning, hydraulics, drilling and satellite communications.

The units are powered by a Caterpillar engine and can house four or more modules, depending on the particular needs of any given project.

"It can be interchanged on site so the tooling can be whatever you want it to be," One-Power president Vince DiCristofaro said. "Different disasters are going to call for different tools."

The units were originally designed for use in the oil and gas industry — for powering exploration projects in remote areas — but the company recently began exploring the idea of using them in disaster zones. Haiti will provide the first opportunity to use the mobile units for relief and reconstruction efforts.

Two of the containers have been commissioned by a U.S. aid organization and left for Haiti this weekend aboard a Canadian Forces CC-130 Hercules supply plane. Once there, the units will be able to be deployed via helicopter anywhere in the country, One-Power said.

'We can be up and running within 30 minutes.'—Ryan Schofield, One-Power employee

"We can be up and running within 30 minutes," said Ryan Schofield, one of three One-Power employees who was to accompany the units to Haiti.

"I'm hoping when we show up," he said before his departure," it's going to make a real difference in these people's lives."

The units are packaged in standard-sized, ISO-certified containers of the kind that are shipped all over the world are easily transportable.

A Hamilton company has developed an innovative all-in-one relief supply unit that can be used in the aftermath of disasters. (Havard Gould/CBC)

Aid experts say the importance of being able to produce 60,000 litres of potable water a day, for example, or heat and cool things to temperatures ranging from –34 C to 170 C, can't be overestimated — especially in areas cut off because of damaged road infrastructure.

One-Power says it is working on preparing about six more units for use in Haiti and is in talks with the Canadian government about having it purchase more of them for use in Canada's relief efforts in Haiti.

"I wish I had 100 ready to ship to anywhere in the world that needs help," DiCristofaro said.

With files from Havard Gould