According to police reports, there are still more than 16 million people living in refugee shelters after last month’s earthquake as of April 4th.

The shelters, though a step up from complete homelessness, are far from bastions of comfort. Hundreds of people are living under the same roof, their privacy guarded only by makeshift cardboard partitions. Thanks to relief efforts some basic necessities are made available, but people continue to struggle in the absence of everyday goods.

While those displaced by the earthquake have nothing to do but wait for a return to a normal lifestyle, a website designer known as NOSIGNER has created a wiki called OLIVE for users share practical ideas to help with life in the shelters.

For example, the shelters are a particularly stressful environment for those with babies and toddlers. Though goods like powdered milk, diapers and wipes are distributed regularly, some parents might wish for a safe and comfortable place to sit their child down.

It turns out that with just a cardboard box and a knife you can MacGyver your own baby chair. The instructions, taken from the OLIVE English website, are as follows:

Cardboard Baby Chair

Materials:
• One cardboard box (W32 x D32 x H19 cm, which accommodates six 2L plastic bottles)
• A utility knife, or anything you can cut the cardboard with

NOTICE: Put on work gloves for your safety. You may cut your fingers with the knife or edges of the cardboard.

Instructions:
1. Build a cardboard box as shown in the above diagram.
2. Make cuts in the cardboard box along the dotted line; all horizontal cuts should be 25cm, and all vertical cuts 9.5cm—about half the height of the box.
3. Push the middle part inward; now your baby chair is done!

There are a number of other creative ideas on the site, and anyone is free to edit if you would like to add your own.

OLIVE (English): https://sites.google.com/site/oliveinenglish/

Translation: Steven