When it comes to disaster relief, the innovation of two women is shedding valuable new light on how to help people cope after catastrophe by focusing on needs that aren’t immediately obvious.

In 2010, Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta were graduate students at Columbia University’s architecture school when Haiti was devastated by an earthquake. They were assigned in one of their classes to design something useful.

While most students concentrated on food, water, and emergency shelter, Anna and Andrea learned from a relief worker in Haiti that access to light was a critical and often-overlooked need. So they devised a solar-powered lantern that was inflatable and waterproof.

In the years since, the women have fine-tuned their design and started their own company, LuminAID. Today, once their lantern is in the sun all day, the LED light provides hours of illumination that’s not only eco-friendly but essential in emergency situations when batteries are scarce.

Since the lamp is inflatable, it provides diffuse light, which makes it easier to light a room or a tent. And not only is the simple, rechargeable lantern lightweight and easy to use, it’s much safer than candles or toxic kerosene.

With their latest edition, the lamp also has the ability to recharge devices like cell phones in the solar charger. That new feature is potentially life-saving in emergency situations, for refugees relying on their phones to find safe passage out of a war........

© Sarnia Observer