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Solid Help For Humanitarian Aid? Introducing, The Concrete Tent

Concrete Canvas, YouTube

Worldcrunch

CARDIFF - Introducing the concrete tent: It’s made of a material called Concrete Canvas and needs only water and air to "pitch it."

The material has all the elements of concrete, but is flexible enough to move before it hardens. Inspired by plaster casts for broken bones, the fibers of the materials evenly absorb the water. After the water is introduced, it takes 5 hours to harden and become completely solid.

The material comes in an outer plastic casing, into which 800-1000 liters of water is added. Then, it is inflated using a leaf blower and a car, or other method of towing to drag out the 50m2 structure. In just 24 hours, a totally solid structure can be erected.

It is being touted as a way to revolutionize the way that humanitarian aid is delivered in disaster or conflict zones. With thermal properties -- so it stays warm or cool inside -- it also keeps a sterile environment for surgery or other medical treatment.

The tents are designed to last more than 10 years, and have been created to withstand a high compressive load -- be that sandbags, fill material or even snow. They can also provide protection against shrapnel, blasts and small arms fire.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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