Haiti's quake survivors making due.

In this article on Yahoo a man has built a temporary shelter that's 8'x9'. A 40' container could be made into 4 such shelters that would be much more water proof. There are lots of empty containers in the US thanks to our trade deficit with China and others. These containers could be made into permanent shelters later on.

To paraphrase Jefferson, "If the people wait for the government to build their housing they'll be drowning in the rain"

An idea for Haiti

It occurs to me that one of the ways we could help the Haitians is by building housing and other buildings by using the shipping containers that we ship the much needed items to Haiti in. The various charities could ship food, medicine, clothing, blankets, tents, etc in the typical cargo containers, along with the large "Big Bertha" forklifts and necessary building supplies to modify the containers into protective shelter, and eventually into decent (or better) housing. It would certainly offer better protection than the shanties that were previously built in Haiti.
The containers are cheap. They run around $1500-$2500. The various charities and government agencies will have to ship in them in any case. There are currently hundreds stacking up in LA and Long Beach harbors.

Here are a few links.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/01/shipping_contai.php

http://dornob.com/cargo-container-house-plans-continue-to-expand/

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2007/01/really_its_a_ca.php

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/look/look-kansas-citys-new-cargo-container-house-078421

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/shipping-container-homes-460309