With hundreds of villages across rural China devastated by recent floods and landslides leaving populations temporarily homeless amid reconstruction, a sanitation nonprofit is collaborating with Lida Group to address sanitation shortfalls during transitional redevelopment phases.

Following disasters, makeshift tarpaulin shelters often lack toilets for months as rubble is cleared and housing rebuilt – heightening public health risks. To trial solutions, the China Sanitation Training Initiative (CSTI) will partner Lida deploying portable container lavatory modules at rebuilding sites.

“Temporary shelter must consider hygiene and disease prevention alongside secure roofs,” says CSTI Program Manager Li Wei. “Our training helps village rebuild committees prioritize basic sanitation, but stop-gap facilities are also needed until water and sewer networks recover.”

Lida’s standardized prefabricated toilet and shower units deliver self-contained fully-serviced bathrooms within standardized steel containers positioned modularly. Solar power maintains water heating, and graywater recycling systems will be tested.

Initially 20 modified lavatory modules transport completely plumbed to three Shanxi sites for communities currently using exposed fields or communal makeshift shelters. Feedback will guide refining designs culturally and for mobility between scattered villages as reconstruction progresses in phases over months or years.

CSTI will oversee installations and train local committees maintaining facilities responsibly. Hygiene lessons disseminate through posters in modules. Sanitation is prioritized alongside other basic transitional infrastructure like kitchen shelters and learning spaces being rebuilt via a community-led process overseen by non-profits.

Program Associate Yi Wen noted the pilot seeks demonstrating containerized sanitation units as an urgently-needed stop-gap wherever WASH recovery lags housing reconstruction. “Integrated with ongoing public education, these facilities establish hygienic transitional living habits supporting long-term health gains.”

Future innovations could integrate biogas digestion of graywater and solid waste to empower self-managed facilities autonomously servicing scattered hamlets through renewable energy generation. Linked solar micro-grids may remotely monitor conditions and supply maintenance plans to voluntary village operators.

Pilot monitoring evaluates user satisfaction, technical performance under rugged transitional conditions, cost-effectiveness versus ad-hoc alternatives and potential scale-up. Findings aim showcasing containerized sanitation modules streamlining rebuilding processes by establishing basic services efficiently while permanent infrastructure recovers.

If successful bridging the interim period, Lida and CSTI seek promoting adoption worldwide wherever communities rebuild dispersed housing organically for extended periods lacking amenities after earthquakes, floods or conflict displacement. The approach could revolutionize transitional sanitation provision globally.

In summary, the pilot partnership leverages Lida Group’s portable modular designs to evaluate establishing standardized container lavatories rapidly at temporary settlement sites constructed as disaster-impacted rural communities rebuild housing lacking water and sanitation facilities. Monitoring will guide refining the solution demonstrating its potential fulfilling critical interim hygiene needs worldwide wherever dispersed communities lack amenities long-term during drawn-out rebuilding phases after crises.

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