During this year’s hurricane season, we’ve witnessed storms of unprecedented strength and frequency. The Gulf Coast and Caribbean islands have been battered and beaten. Parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are forever altered. Billions of dollars of property is destroyed and many thousands of people are displaced.
Every natural disaster delivers a wide range of threats and challenges. The actual storm or event is itself just the beginning.
Recovery presents a whole new set of problems to address. How do you stage recovery assets? How do you get physical and human assets into the affected area? How do you safely house recovery personnel? How do you safely shelter displaced residents? How do you secure a steady, sufficient supply of necessary resources and manpower? How do you secure the supply chains for those crucial resources? How do you get power to residents and rescuers? How can you predict and prepare for costs? How can you ensure that assets and personnel will endure throughout the recovery process? How do you protect recovery personnel and residents from the next storm? How do you get people back to their normal lives? This is just a sample of concerns that disaster recovery experts and planners face. Castle Enclosures address all of these concerns and more.
An ever-changing climate will mean even more vicious storms. An ever-growing population means more lives at risk. Ever more development means even more loss. The challenges are always multiplying. The stakes are always growing.
Governments, businesses, and individuals are using new techniques and technologies to respond to disaster recovery challenges. For example, electrical and utility providers utilize new technologies to protect utility assets. Governments have changed how they warn citizens and manage evacuations. Many families have improved their preparedness for disaster to the point where being a ‘prepper’ is part of our common lexicon.
But when it comes to emergency housing, little has changed. Despite a notorious history of problems, we still use the same old manufactured homes and trailers for emergency housing. It’s time to reexamine how we house and protect both displaced survivors and emergency responders.
We’ve learned some hard lessons from past storms. Rita followed the heels of Katrina, teaching us how important is was to get safe emergency housing in place quickly. Katrina survivors required emergency housing for up to seven years, showing how important is that transitional housing be durable. Many survivors prefer shelter than can be situated on their original home site, so that they can monitor repair and rebuilding. After a history of toxicity and fires, HUD added new safety requirements for FEMA housing. But, right now, we face a shortage of emergency housing, especially shelter that both meets government regulations and residents’ needs. Months after recent storms, many survivors are still displaced and waiting on FEMA to deliver shelter.
Castle Enclosures are a revolutionary type of construction that uses an innovative technology to deliver a whole new, flexible transitional housing solution. Castle’s proprietary concrete design is mobile as a trailer, but with the safety of a storm shelter. But Castle Enclosures ad flexibility and durability never seen in transitional construction.
Unlike manufactured housing, Castle can be combined and even stacked up to four stories, to meet a variety of needs. Unlike existing HUD-approved options, Castle may be placed on an’ existing home site, so residents can get back to school and work, get settled back into their own community, while repairs and rebuilding progress. Castle Enclosures can be configured as dorm housing for rescue and rebuilding personnel. Whatever the housing need, Castle Enclosures can be configured to meet it. Then, when needs change, or the next storm comes, Castle structures can be stripped down, reconfigured, and reused. Or, residents may choose to buy Castle Enclosures, and use them as they would permanent construction, for up to 40 years, or more.
Castle Enclosures even offer a solar power option, making them independent of an electrical grid. This means rescuers can get to work saving lives more quickly and residents get back to their lives sooner. Nobody is waiting around for utility providers.
Because of their mobility, durability, and flexibility, Castle Enclosures allow recovery assets to be staged more closely and brought in more quickly. Rescue and response get underway more quickly. Residents are housed more quickly and in their own community. Kids don’t miss school. People can get to work. Businesses can survive. Communities are rebuilt more quickly.
Castle Enclosures allow disaster response and recovery to go from a reactionary exercise into a proactive exercise. They are the seeds of rebirth and true recovery. Castle Enclosures are a 21st century solution to a 21st century problem. Please contact us at 855-228-9522 or info@castleenclosures.com today for more information on how we can be your transitional shelter solution.
