US RESEARCH, into how to provide housing from shipping containers, at Clemson University, South Carolina will likely pay off this summer by providing shelter to earthquake victims in Haiti.

"Because of the shipping container's 'unibody' construction, it is also very good in seismic zones and exceeds structural code in the United States and any country in the world," said assistant professor Martha Skinner of the Clemson's School of Architecture in a college statement.

Ms Skinner said such surplus found at ports of Caribbean countries where imports outweigh exports said the project is a "double mission" of rehousing and recycling. She added, "with a few simple cuts at the port, a storage container can be turned into something that is liveable and opens to the site."

The most important aim is to get displaced persons back on their own land where they can work, said the Clemson press release.

Source: www.schednet.com