In the event of an emergency caused by a disaster such as an earthquake or typhoon, it is necessary to make use of what you have at hand. Sleep is important in order to restore physical and mental strength as much as possible for recovery. We will introduce how to improve the quality of sleep during evacuation using the cardboard boxes containing relief supplies.
Cardboard containing relief supplies to be used at evacuation centers
When a major earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, or nuclear power plant accident occurs, many people will be unable to stay at home. In the event of a large-scale disaster or radioactive contamination accident, it is difficult to ensure safety, so people may not be able to return to their homes and may be forced to live in evacuation shelters for a long period of time.
At evacuation centers, there are few rooms with small partitions and tatami mats, so you have to sleep directly on the wooden floor in a large space such as a gymnasium. Cardboard can be useful in such cases.
Corrugated cardboard consists of two sheets of paper called “liners” sandwiched between corrugated paper called “cores”. This core part acts as a cushion and insulation. For example, we often see homeless people laying out cardboard boxes when they sleep on hard ground.
Insulation is especially important when sleeping in a shelter. In winter, no matter how many quilts are piled up, you may still feel chills down your spine. Remember, when you sleep, your body heat escapes more through the mattress than through the comforter. If you don’t have enough blankets or futons, you can wrap them around your body to keep you warm in addition to laying them on the floor.
Read Also: Harmful effects of staying up all night and how to deal with sleepiness
Create partitions that reduce the stress of group life
After the disaster, life-threatening experiences and the loss of many things become a great source of stress. Even if you feel calmer, the longer you live in the evacuation center, the more stress you will have to live with other people.
Even if you want to sleep as well as possible and recover your physical strength for recovery, these stresses often prevent you from sleeping well.
In such a case, you can reduce the stress of living together by blocking other people’s eyes with a partition made of cardboard. The cardboard interior site ” Magokura ” suggests how to make a shelter partition that can be done with a pair of scissors.
You can easily make it out of a regular cardboard box that contains relief supplies, so please give it a try. The quality of sleep is improved from the security of having your own space.
Creating a “home” in a shelter… Creating a “personal space” even in a small space
Cardboard that can be used to create spaces depending on your ingenuity. Let’s secure a comfortable space with things at hand
It is said that “a child who grows up in a house with a high ceiling becomes a big person”, but if the ceiling is as high as in a gymnasium, the warm air is light and goes up, instead of the cold air reaching the floor. It will come down. Therefore, some people say that it is unavoidable to be cold when sleeping. Even with the heating on, it’s hard to get warm when sleeping on the floor of the gymnasium.
Settled homeless people collect cardboard boxes and make a “cardboard house” to live. The insulation and heat retention properties of cardboard are quite high, so the inside becomes quite warm with just your own body temperature, making it easier to sleep.
To make a cardboard house, you can easily attach a roof to a cardboard partition, or you can connect several large cardboard boxes and crawl inside.
There is also a cardboard house built outdoors.
Saai Mokuzai’s cardboard temporary tent ” Octagon ” has a size of 6.5 tatami mats inside, and 5 adults can lie down. It can be assembled without special tools and can be completed in 1.5 to 2 hours with 3 to 4 adults. Proven outdoor durability for 6 months and can withstand up to 20cm of snow. Once the disaster is over, I would like you to consider stockpiling at local governments.