In times of dire distress such as a natural disaster or a war, large numbers of people are temporarily displaced and mobilized away from their residences. In extreme cases, mass evacuations can reach into the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing their countries into surrounding countries unprepared for housing these people. Examples of these mass evacuations were witnessed during the Refugee Crisis stemming from the Syrian civil war and terrorist attacks that had plagued Syria and Iraq. Countless refugees flooded into nearby Mediterranean and European countries such as Italy, Greece, France and Germany.
Temporary refugee camps consisting mainly of tents, tarps and shipping containers were hastily set up in designated areas. The livability conditions in many of these refugee camps were poor and unsanitary, with many of the improvised accommodations lacking consistent protection from wear and tear, harsh weather and disease.
One notorious camp, known as the Calais Jungle in France had seen its population swell from 500 in 2014 to over 7000 in 2016. During that time, the temporary tents and improvised shelters had wore down, offering little to no defense against the wind and rain, and provided ideal conditions of diseases to spread.
French authorities brought in dozens of metal shipping containers into the camp. The authorities evicted the refugees from their tents and forced them to live in these steel containers. Although the shipping containers provided much better protection against the weather, many refugees complained of the spartan appearance, the loss of the sense of community and the lack of mobility of these heavy containers. Hence, as the population grew, many of the refugees resorted back to the makeshift tents.
In late 2016, the Calais Jungle was forcibly torn down due to public outcry over the unhealthy conditions, leaving the refugees to resettle to other regions of France.
Clearly there is still a need for a type of refugee shelter that provides the mobile portability of a tent, the sturdy protection of a shipping container, the modular expandability to establish community structures such houses, schools or hospitals, the capability of being rapidly deployed on-site with little to no assembly with minimal hand tools, and the capability of rapid disassembly in order to be reused in the event of camp demolition. This is where the RUSH wagon comes in.
The Background
What's the RUSH?
Deploying RUSH Wagons to a Site
Benefits of the RUSH Wagon
RUSH stands for Refugee, Urgency, Survival, Homeless. The RUSH wagon is a mobile, extendable, modular and multi-functional wagon that can be used as a portable refugee or homeless shelter when towed along by a single adult human being. It has a compact configuration that can accommodate a single adult person, and it can fully extend its telescopic slide out sections to provide sleeping accommodations for up to four people. In addition, the wall panels can be detached to allow its frame to rigidly attach with similar RUSH wagons to create a much larger and shared accommodation.
The skeleton of RUSH wagon is the lightweight, rigid aluminum frame, held together by hardened steel corner braces. Detachable, insulated wall panels made from twin-walled polycarbonate sheets and extruded aluminum are fastened to the frame with high-strength steel carriage bolts. The frame is fastened on a flatbed wagon chassis with a steerable tow arm and all-terrain wheels. Extendable slide out sections commonly seen in modern RV's allow the interior space to triple in volume.
Flat-packed RUSH wagons are deployed by truck or airlift to a camp. The RUSH wagon is assembled on site in 1 hour by 1 person using a wrench and screwdriver. The RUSH wagon can be towed by 1 person, making it easy to situate it in a camp site. Once settled in a site, its slide out sections extend out to allow up to 4 people to sleep inside. In addition, the wall panels can detach, allowing the wagon to join with other RUSH wagons to create a shared interior space.
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Provides a mobile shelter for refugees and homeless people in rural or urban encampments
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Provides secure accommodations for up to four people (a small family) and their possessions
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Provides an elevated sleeping accommodations to keep occupants dry and healthy
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Provides privacy and dignity for refugees and homeless people
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Provides a rigid housing structure that can withstand harsh weather conditions
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Provides a long-lasting, durable housing for more than 3 years
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When joined with other RUSH wagons, it provides unlimited configurations and expansions for community spaces such as field hospitals, schools, stores and communal housing.
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Includes build-in storage for emergency supplies (blankets, first aid kits, food, water, clothes, etc.)
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Easy and fast assembly and disassembly on site by 1 person
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Re-usable and can be flat-packed for storage
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A single 40' shipping container can fit 27 flat-packed RUSH wagons, fully stocked with emergency supplies (food, water, medicine, clothing, blankets) to potentially house up to 108 refugees.
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Stronger than a tent, more mobile than a shipping container, preserves a sense of community within a refugee camp
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Multiple windows provide plenty of light and ventilation
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Twin-wall polycarbonate sheets used in for the wall panels have a high fire resistance
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Most walls are detachable from the inside, providing an emergency exit from most walls
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All-terrain pneumatic wheels provides mobility over rough terrain
In the compact configuration (without tow arm): Width 1200 mm x Depth 2200 mm x Height 1900 mm
In the extended configuration (without tow arm): Width 3500 mm x Depth 2200 mm x Height 1900 mm
Tow arm dimensions: Width 200 mm x Depth 850 mm x Height 30mm
Flat-packed dimensions: Width 1300mm x Depth 2300mm x Height 850mm
Internal cubic volume (compact configuration): 3 cubic meters or 106 cubic feet
Internal cubic volume (extended configuration): 8.8 cubic meters or 310 cubic feet
Dimensions
