Emergency Shelter for Kashmir Flood Victims

You can make homemade bales with a hand press if bales aren’t available.
You can make homemade bales with a hand press if bales aren’t available.

A recent flood in Kashmir has displaced millions. Aid workers have been blocked from the area, but hopefully this information on emergency straw bale shelters will be helpful.

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$229,000 FEMA Trailers

Your tax dollars hard at work. Agency spent more on trailers than it would have cost to buy new houses.
Your tax dollars hard at work. Agency spent more on trailers than it would have cost to buy new houses.

Comments from yesterday’s blog post prompted me to look up the cost of FEMA trailers for Hurricane Katrina victims. We all know the government buys $600 toilet seats, but this report about FEMA trailers really shocked and disgusted me.

“A new report by government watchdogs obtained by NBC News estimates expenses for each FEMA trailer at the Port Bienville site could reach a staggering $229,000.

“I could have bought a brand-new trailer! Or a house even!” Guidroz says.

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Straw Bale Emergency Shelter Cold Weather Upgrades

An airlock improves energy efficiency on the straw bale shelter.
An airlock improves energy efficiency on the straw bale shelter.

Suggestions from one of our readers on how to make the straw bale emergency shelter more comfortable in cold climates. This amazing shelter can be built in just a few hours.

“I just found your website as I am on a quest to ‘put a roof over my head’ as cheaply as possible. I have just started to browse through your website and I read a comment from a lady who had ‘survived’ very cold weather and snow in the Emergency Straw Bale shelter, so I looked and found the post about this shelter.

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Straw Bale Shelter Video

The blog post the other day about Temporary Shelters made with straw bales was a big hit and so I located this old instructional video and got it uploaded to my YouTube channel. I’ve already received more positive comments than most any of my other videos. This video has an incredible story. It was almost … Read more

Temporary Shelter

So, you’ve bought a piece of land in a remote, rural area with few or no building codes and more jackrabbits than people. Where do you live while you’re building your sustainable home? Pay rent? Nah, that’s so twentieth century. You want free accommodation so you can put your money toward your new home, and … Read more