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Surviving The Apocalypse... In A Lifeboat
No, this has nothing to do with uber ultra-rehypothecation, fractional reserve banking gone terminally nuts, gold being allowed to rise above $2000, or a second tier Keynesian economist in charge of the Fed's plunge protection team. For the doomsday prepper who has everything, WIRED magazine introduces the water-ready modular bunker (called STATIM pods). Designed to make sure you get through the first wave when the next big Tsunami hits, the 'inland lifeboats' are eerily reminiscent of the Movie '2012' or perhaps 'Waterworld'.
As the seas rise and cities fall, imagine a community of these built and arranged in new flood zones, perhaps for scientists seeking to learn about new littoral urban ecosystems or salvagers prospecting for the remaining treasures of a lost civilization. Every night, the tribe would return to their STATIM homes, sleeping soundly with the confident knowledge that when the next flood happens, everyone will be all right.
Brace for the Apocalypse! Surviving the worst in an inland lifeboat
Because the STATIM pods are modular, you can customize them for your particular nightmare scenario.
First things first. Before worrying about food storage or access to clean water during a major disaster, you need to make sure you get through the first wave safely. But never fear: When the next big tsunami hits, a water-ready modular bunker called the STATIM pod aims to float you above the flooding.
Invented by Miguel Serrano, President at Brahman Industries, the STATIM (Storm, Tornado And Tsunami Interconnected Modules) pods are designed to withstand the awesome power of tsunamis, while giving survivors a fighting chance in the aftermath.
Brahman Industries calls the pods “inland lifeboats.” The reason: they’re buoyant and self-righting, so when the floods come, they will bob to the surface. They’re also low-tech, easy to maintain, and easy to construct, which means there’s a possibility for wide deployment. The company’s plan is to install and anchor them in flood-prone areas so when the alarm bells ring, those most at risk can rush to the safety of the pods. Inside, up to 50 people can cling to secure seating arrangements.
It's the end of the world, but this guy is feeling fine.
The biggest issue with rescue-shelter design is always cost. We already know how to make structures that can withstand natural disasters; it’s just incredibly expensive. The key to keeping costs down is using concrete, a cheap and well-understood building material. “We’re addressing a high-priority need with a low tech approach,” says Serrano. When STATIM reaches scale, Serrano aims to offer the 50-person pod at around $1,800 a head.
The tubular hull is made from a series of pre-cast concrete modules. The modules can be created at local factories, shipped separately, and then aligned and winched together on site to create a watertight seal. “Everyone knows how to do this,” says Serrano. According to the company, the assembly process for the pre-cast parts requires about the same amount of knowledge as installing a drain system.
A STATIM pod waits to be assembled.
The pod continues to serve the people inside long after the first wave of disaster. “After Katrina, they spent three weeks just rescuing people with helicopters,” Serrano says. Because the pods are buoyant and equipped with communications devices, rescuers will be able to easily meet up with the pods to tow them away. A boat or helicopter can transport 50 people at a time to safety.
And because the parts are modular, the pods are customizable. By including different segments equipped with all kinds of survival gear, your personal STATIM pod can be modded to your anticipated needs.
The next step, says Serrano, is creating pods that house critical infrastructure. The company has proposed a variation on STATIM called the Genset, which houses working generators. Having survivable power sources would have prevented the Fukushima meltdown, Serrano says, by providing power to the nuclear plant’s critical systems after the tsunami. Other variations include pods with desalination facilities and a version of the pod that can withstand an EMP blast, ensuring that critical electronics would survive a nuclear strike.
The eerily calm diagrammatic disaster illustration. Not pictured: STATIM occupants bracing before nature's fury.
While the intention of the STATIM system is that they be temporary shelters, let’s indulge ourselves in a little bit of design fiction for a moment. What about the pod’s potential to facilitate long-term living in environmentally extreme places?
As the seas rise and cities fall, imagine a community of these built and arranged in new flood zones, perhaps for scientists seeking to learn about new littoral urban ecosystems or salvagers prospecting for the remaining treasures of a lost civilization. Every night, the tribe would return to their STATIM homes, sleeping soundly with the confident knowledge that when the next flood happens, everyone will be all right.
As an area becomes picked over, helicopter scouts are dispatched to the horizon to find new fields of discovery. When a suitable destination is discovered, the helicopters return, towing the community to their coordinates. In this way, the group slowly makes their way along America’s flooded coastline, passing by long lost levies and through once thriving port towns. Thanks to an accompanying desalination pod, the group can remain operational away from freshwater for a long, long time.
Back in the present, Brahmin’s disaster-related design pulled in seed funding earlier this year. Serrano says that they anticipate the first demonstration units will be available in early 2014. In the meantime, keep watching the horizon.
An exploded view shows how the modules of a STATIM pod are assembled.
Images courtesy of Brahman Industries.
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Or you could move to higher ground.
It needs a retractable ladder (making it hard for the unwanted to board ) and machine gun turret to knock off the "excess" survivors and pests, and I am ready to make my monthly payment to save a seat.
nobody would be able to spot that behemoth
If you have a need for one of these, you should move.
They may as well name it the 'G.O.Y.I.M.', since it looks like people are supposed to be herded into the things like cattle.
Oracle boy just bought his own lifeboat... a whole fucking island. Talk about the ultimate retreat. Did you see the reports of all the solar, wind, etc. they're putting on there? That man is gettin' out of Dodge.
Getting out of Dodge, right into theFukushima shit storm.
And everyone else will be traveling to that island.
What a Beatyfull copy of Noa,s Arc,love the Hara Crishna color.
But looks like, it has a lack of space, for all the Animals,
But who needs animals in the furture:Waterworld,or rather icecube!
Blace for the race,luckely one can swim,even upstream,even if six turns out to be? NINE!Ups forgot the wife cant swim,danm,porspone the appocalyps or ragnarock,please Odin!
Yeah, times are rather funny these years of,was it trickle downwards,even Newton figured this one out,the downwarding to the sheeps:
Sincerely:Charlie Waterfall,downwards waters!
The problem with Tsunami's though, is that it isn't just water crashing against you, it's like a liquid garbage dump is coming at you, and it can even be on fire.
I have little doubt this would work in a test environment of only oncoming water, but oncoming water mixed with sharp debris? Maybe. It would be better if that was in the diagrams and whatnot.
I don't see any bathrooms.
" constructing a home for 5 pre collapse humans ,is remarkably similar to constructing a sewer system," he said
You know one might scoff at this (and fucking lose it reading these comments - ZHers you have really outdone youselves with this one) but if one looks at the Farsight project and its merry band of Remove Viewers plus the predictive linguistics work of Half Past Human folks one of these Tampax survival contraptions might make sense.
http://youtu.be/6Pk8udsan2o
Best case scenario is a small tsunami wave and everyone gets a free trip to six flags roller coaster.
In a large tsunami you would not want to be inside one of those things unless you are chuck yeager. Assuming everyone does not suffocate because the device is trapped underwater by trees and other debris in a low lying depression, the broken necks and ruptured organs from the impacts and rolling make this thing a bad idea.
Worst case scenario is the receding wave takes it out to sea.
Its such a stupid idea it must be backed by a former federal official who used his connections to get a government contract to build millions of them.
They should dual purpose it for asteroid mining!!!
Ok, one last clip, then I gotta go: You could paint the letters, R, E, I, R, on the side, and sell eye-tests to pirates! RRRRRR!EEEEEEE!IIIIIIII!AAAARRRRRRR! (Covers his eyepatch)
I am still searching for the first class corner. Dont tell me i am going to be boxed in with 49 proleteriats.
Plus a 25 mph wave front should have pinned the dang thing on the bottom with the cable taught and floating would be prevented until there is no current.
Aww screw it.
Any one too fat to run sufficient to get to high ground deserve to bob out to sea.
It's a weenie wagon
Tomb for the shroom
Folly tube
All those seats and no place to screw?
you shoulod have included this as well in the article
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-10/04/tsunami-survival-pod
summary: 9there is video with the link
A company called New Cosmopower is following on from the devastating natural disasters in Japan in March by developing a resilient, floating personal pod that can be used as a shelter in the event of a tsunami.
The bright yellow, spherical chamber is called the Noah Disaster Shelter -- presumably to highlight the fact that it can help you survive a catastrophic flood of biblical proportions. The fibreglass pod can fit up to four adults in what looks like incredibly cramped and uncomfortable conditions. It features a central supportive structural pole and a waterproof sealed door.
Does it still float with 500 people fighting on top?