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Design Concepts: When Disaster Strikes

by Matthew Zuras on May 27, 2010 at 12:23 PM


The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless.

We've written previously about the key designs you'll need for the end of the world. But, as BP's oil begins to coat more and more poor pelicans, and as some wonder if hurricane season will bring a deluge of black gold on the seemingly cursed Gulf Coast, we thought we'd touch on some necessary emergency gadgets that you might need, like, tomorrow. We're not trying to say that the more evangelically inclined folk are correct with their end-is-nigh talk, but 2010 has already seen two major earthquakes. And who knows what else is on the horizon? Let's get prepared with the best emergency kit possible.

Rescue Baloon Kit by Jaeseok Han

Let's face it -- your cell phone's GPS, 3G, and Wi-Fi triangulation are all for naught if networks get compromised in a disaster. Imagine you're in a remote location and need to alert rescue crews, or you're stuck in an urban area so densely packed with distressed people that no one can distinguish your family's cries. Jaeseok Han's Rescue Balloon Kit is your best friend, with its compressed helium canister and inflatable beacon. Charge up the balloon, launch it into the air and wait for rescue to arrive.

Rewave Desalinization Device by Yu-Hong Chen

Maybe the electrical grid hasn't been knocked out, but municipal water has been compromised. Living on the coast, your only water supply is salty seawater. What to do? The Rewave Desalinization Device is a compact-water purifier designed precisely for this situation. Utilizing a reverse osmosis process, Rewave floats in rough waters and powers itself via the waves' kinetic energy.

H20 Water Purifier by Leonardo Manavella

Desalination devices are all well and good if you live near open water, but what about us land-locked folks? If an earthquake, tornado or major fire ruptures water lines or contaminates them with sewage, you'd better look to those 20 gallons of distilled water you bought back in 1999. Oh, they're gone? Then you may have to drink your own, uh, micturations. Luckily, urine is a sterile liquid when it comes out of us, although we imagine it doesn't taste all that great. Leonardo Manavella's H20 Water Purifier looks like a little droid, but it contains an activated carbon filter to separate the good stuff from the yellow stuff. Just squat or stand, and wait for your precious aqua vita. Don't laugh! This might save your life.

Mini Multifunctional Emergency Vehicle by Sincere Tone Design

Ambulances and firetrucks obviously have their uses, but they're jam-packed with so much stuff that they're overly obese. Could these giant machines move through the rubble-strewn streets of Port-au-Prince without difficulty? Probably not, and that's why rescue armies need a small fleet of Sincere Tone Design's Mini Multifunctional vehicles. This sturdy (and, dare we say, adorable) little car is designed for short-distance transport to aid in emergency extractions, firefighting, supply deliveries, security patrols and debris clearing. Think of it as a tough, souped-up, little go-cart for the catastrophe zone.

Firescuba by Dang Jinwei

It may look a bit like a McDonalds' french fry container, but this little cardboard box could be your best friend in a fire. Smoke inhalation, as opposed to burning, is the leading cause of death during a blaze, but it's a little impractical for us to carry around gas masks all the time. Dang Jinwei's Firescuba begins as a compact, folded piece of cardboard that opens up to reveal a carbon filter. Just breathe in, and exit calmly -- and be sure to fill your Firescuba with some pomme frites on the way out.

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