Rational
Gleb Labazine 3293245
Designing for disaster.

Float Pack:

The basis of my concept is focusing on the cyclone regions of Bangladesh, typically areas that are strongly affected by the monsoon season. The region affected experiences heavy floods and cyclones during that season due to its land being way below sea level. A lot of crops and vegetations are lost during this season of disaster. People affected in these areas are usually isolated and surrounded by water where the only way to reach them is by boat.

The Float Pack is a food aid distribution package and it provides to those in affected areas a more effective and reliable way of receiving their emergency food aid. The Float pack will carry a 10kg sack of rice along water to serve per individual. It has inflatable qualities along sides to keep it afloat and is made from a waterproof material that similar to a dry bag (PVC coated nylon). It has back pack straps, adjusters and clipping so it can then be used as a back pack to transmit the contents of the bag (it being rice) across land to a nearby village, a safe haven or a place of refuge.

The Float Pack is distributed off boats into waters where the rice sacks are put into the Float Pack then inflated with a Co2 gas gun. With the application of pressurized air within the inflatable properties the bag conveys more buoyancy when it is thrown out into the water, therefore less change of it sinking once it hits the water surface. The inflatable component of the bag was designed by the measurements of volume contained by conventional air and the amount of it needed in cubic meters to keep a 10 kg bag afloat. If the bag is blown manually through the manual valve it would be just as effective as pressurizes air in terms of keeping the weight afloat.

Once an individual has The Float Pack in their sight they would drag it in to shore and fit it on as a backpack. Once they have reached the safe refuge they can take out the contents and keep this bag for future comings. This would include packing their valuables in a secure waterproof bag and a means of transporting them safely along water from one place to another over a period of time. The material this it is constructed from is a food safe material, it would keep the contents safe from leakage and contamination. Instructions are also included on the bag which are only represented in a graphical form for aid workers and receivers to understand the practicality of this bag on how it should be used and prepared.

Due to my research I have discovered that there really isn’t a conventional method of distributing food along water to those in need in flood affected areas. What my research has showed me were people lining up in heavy flooded conditions, standing waist high in line waiting for their rice sack. It has also showed that there is great difficulty bringing back the sack of food onto dry land without dropping the sack into contaminated water. That is where this idea took off, providing a more efficient system of distributing food can create a more affective, healthy and an unproblematic method of receiving food especially in that affected region.