Research & Invention

Breakthrough tsunami flood shelter system

• Ingenious
• Relevant
• Fascinating

Hello Fuelers!  Welcome to the STATIM Shelter System project, a breakthrough disaster preparedness initiative that will help to empower vulnerable communities worldwide to prepare against two of nature's most devastating disasters: floods and tsunamis.

日本語のウェブサイト: http://www.wix.com/dbcorp/statim-shelter-jp

December 26, 2004 is a date that changed me forever. Will always remember the images of the Indonesian tsunami killing hundreds of thousands, and devastating the lives of millions. It's incredible that a civilization able to travel to other planets, build amazing skyscrapers and structures, and even manipulate DNA, is still totally vulnerable to such threats. Tsunamis and floods have killed millions in recorded history but still no direct preparedness alternatives are available! It made me feel devastated, frustrated, angry, and of course vulnerable as a human being.

That was motivation enough to get me started toward finding a feasible and viable solution; as soon as possible. Fortunately my technical background, stubbornness, and sheer ignorance on the amount of work it would require, were my allies in this quest. As you will read below, after hundreds of hours of work, and the collaboration of an extraordinary  group of colleagues, an approach was devised through an elegantly simple concept, yet incredibly effective and capable of mass production and simple implementation. A true example of how low-tech can create high-impact. In September 2010 we had a US patent issued, and the endorsement and support of many experts and prospective implementers.

Then came the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami. Unbelievable! Frustration and anger all over again...! I would imagine that this is how a surgeon feels when he loses a patient in the operating room. Calls and emails started coming in from all over the world inquiring about the project. It was one of these emails where I was presented to the concept of crowdfunding and RocketHub.com as a means to advance this unprecedented project; I was amazed. It is most beautifully summarized in the words of the late Howard Zinn:

"Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”

Well, here I am presenting you the project that vows to transform the world for the many hundreds of thousands of people living in the most vulnerable locations. In many of these locations evacuation is difficult or even not an option at all; so now think what every flood or tsunami warning represents to these people.  

I never imagined that a single person could start making a difference towards finding a solution to such devastating events. But I have realized it can be done, and YOU TOO CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE...! Help fuel this project and become part of what could become a history making contribution. Share with your friends...

Website: http://www.statimshelter.com/

CNN Interview with Ali Velshi: http://tinyurl.com/6ylvanw

CNN Español Interview: http://tinyurl.com/ccqh2zh

Homeland Security Today Magazine July 2011 (Page 32): http://tinyurl.com/cqqnvuk

New Scientist Magazine: http://tinyurl.com/c4pyaum

Reuters: http://tinyurl.com/cfdglk7

The STATIM Shelter:  The STATIM Shelter System is a groundbreaking system that represents the world’s first shelter technology against two of the most devastating natural events on the planet history, Floods and  Tsunamis. It will serve as the definitive protection approach for thousands of islands and disadvantaged coastal communities around the world where topography, proximity to seismic faults, remoteness, or lack of vertical evacuation alternatives make them extremely vulnerable to the devastation of such events. The STATIM Shelter brings a feasible and cost efficient solution for the safety and peace of mind of those communities, and the millions of constituents who reside in them. The STATIM Shelter is a straight forward approach which clearly represents a major breakthrough on how humanity can address these threats.

The STATIM Genset Pod: The Genset Pod is a variant of the STATIM technology directed to providing critical infrastructure applications  with the most resilient power source. It mates a high capacity emergency generator with what will be the most resilient enclosure ever, creating an emergency power source capable of enduring even the most extreme natural events. This technology will play a key role in avoiding future nuclear energy incidents like the one in Fukushima, Japan. Also facilities like hospitals, resorts, and important infrastructure facilities will benefit of such system.

The Urgent Need: Natural disasters and catastrophes have been increasing dramatically both in number and intensity for decades. Damage and casualty numbers have reached record levels every year, during the latest years. The number of people affected by natural disasters is alarmingly high, estimated in the hundreds of millions. But the disasters that have claimed the most amounts of lives throughout history have been tsunamis and floods; still, for the most vulnerable communities and locations, there hasn’t been any true preparedness alternative against these disasters, until now.

Did you know that the 1931 Yellow River (China) floods killed more than 3 million people, and a couple other million prior to that date!!! Deadliest floods list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_floods

The Approach: STATIM stands for “Storm, Tornado And Tsunami Interconnected Modules”. In essence, it is an enclosable hull comprised of a series of pre-cast concrete modules, similar to large diameter drainage pipes. Once assembled via gasketed joints, and a post-tensioned cables technique, it provides a water-tight environment with positive buoyancy and self-righting capability. Inside, the shelters will be equipped with secure seating arrangements for as many as 50 occupants, ventilation, and various options of survival gear and supplies capable of sustaining the occupants during and after the actual event, and until available rescue resources can assist. The STATIM Shelter can be considered the equivalent of an "in-land" life boat.

Our breakthrough approach incorporates many requirements necessary for it to be both implementable in a large scale basis, and capable of delivering the necessary protection and effectiveness. The STATIM Shelter System is a low-cost, low-technology, low-maintenance concept capable of being mass produced "in situ", which also contributes to the local economies where the shelters will be installed.

Status: The STATIM Shelter project has already had a US patent issued, and 14 international patents have been filed and are being prosecuted. We are developing key international collaboration relationships as to help advance project goals in the most cost effective way. Many global companies are already supporting our goal.

We are now initiating working on defining base system requirements and the advanced structural design and details. The structural aspects will then be concurrently assessed and adjusted with naval engineering considerations and the requirements for a fully certifiable seaworthy hull. Our goal at this phase is to be able to attain full design validation through computer model simulations, analysis and testing. This milestone is a critical defining point that opens the door for the successful commercialization/licensing of the technology, and attracting subsequent funding for the project.     

What the contributions will enable: Your contributions will shift our speed and schedule into the higher gear it deserves. It will play a key role in completing the international patent prosecution which is of the upmost importance for the involvement of industry players that will assist in getting to a final product and initial installations. We will be able to enhance our web presence as to professionally communicate our project and progress to all. We will be able to secure outside services related to advance design and modeling. We will be able to cover the collateral expenses related to negotiating and securing future in-kind sponsorships. With your support and participation we will be able to attain the final design validation milestone without risk losing progress already made.

Although we have set a defined crowdfunding goal, the more support we get, the farther and faster we will be able to go with our plans of building, testing and demonstrating prototypes of the system. The roadmap is set, it is a matter of fueling the rocket...

A very special thanks to our enabling sponsors for supporting this important event:

PR Newswire is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 57 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content — from rich media to online video to multimedia — and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company. www.prnewswire.com

Founded in 1989 in Tokyo, TOCS (Total Communications System) is an independent public relations consultancy which ranks among the top 10 PR agencies in Japan, with a ratio of international clients exceeding 70%. TOCS operates three major practice departments for healthcare/medical, IT/electronics and corporate/consumer and provides services to meet the clients' communications needs ranging from corporate reputation management and product promotion. www.pr-tocs.co.jp/english/ehome/index.html

Also, many thanks to the partners and collaborators helping make this project a success:

Matrix Patent Agency (New Hampshire): www.mxpatent.com

McConnell Valdés, LLC (San Juan, Washington DC): www.mcvpr.com

Murgitroyd & Co. (Glasgow, UK): www.murgitroyd.com

Betonindustrie De Hamer (Nijmegen, Netherlands): www.dehamer.nl

NAKAO Intl. (Tokyo, San Diego): www.nakaointl.com

Fly World, Inc. (San Juan, PR)