HEAVY PLASTIC SHEETING

sheeting

fabric from which bed sheets are made
A bed sheet is a piece of cloth used to cover a mattress. It is this sheet that one typically lies on.
Material formed into or used as a sheet
(sheeted) To be covered by a sheet of cloth or paper or other similar material; To be secured by a special tarpaulin

plastic

A synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be molded into shape while soft and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form
capable of being influenced or formed; “the plastic minds of children”; “a pliant nature”
fictile: capable of being molded or modeled (especially of earth or clay or other soft material); “plastic substances such as wax or clay”
Credit cards or other types of plastic card that can be used as money
generic name for certain synthetic or semisynthetic materials that can be molded or extruded into objects or films or filaments or used for making e.g. coatings and adhesives

heavy

Of great weight; difficult to lift or move
Used in questions about weight
slowly as if burdened by much weight; “time hung heavy on their hands”
(of a class of thing) Above the average weight; large of its kind
of comparatively great physical weight or density; “a heavy load”; “lead is a heavy metal”; “heavy mahogany furniture”
an actor who plays villainous roles

UNHCR News Story: UNHCR prepares for possible flooding in Dadaab refugee camps; appeals for US$2.8 million

Preparing for the Worst: Refugees moving to higher ground at Dadaab when it was hit by floods in 2006.
UNHCR / B. Bannon

UNHCR prepares for possible flooding in Dadaab refugee camps; appeals for US$2.8 million.

GENEVA, November 6 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on Friday called on donor countries for an extra US$2.8 million to help more than 300,000 refugees in two locations in northern Kenya threatened by flooding.

"We have already begun to make engineering improvements in the two camps – Kakuma in north-western Kenya and Dadaab in the east on the Somalia border," UNHCR spokesman, Andrej Mahecic, told journalists in Geneva, adding that much of the money would be used to pre-position essential items such as fuel, blankets and plastic sheets, and to respond to possible outbreaks of disease.

Mahecic said UNHCR feared that the looming El Niño phenomenon – a change in the atmosphere and ocean of the tropical Pacific region that produces floods, droughts and other weather disturbances in many regions of the world – may now threaten the 338,000 mostly Somali refugees in the two camps, which in any case usually are flooded for three months every year.

When heavy rains started three weeks ago, UNHCR began digging trenches and placing sandbags around hospitals, boreholes and other strategic locations in both camps. The agency has also been repairing culverts on seasonal riverbeds that connect different parts of the three camps at Dadaab. Without these measures, many sections of these camps would have been inundated.

"We are also preparing to locate, to higher ground within the camps, refugees who might be worst affected by the floods, particularly the chronically ill, disabled people, the elderly and children and teenagers on their own," Mahecic noted.

In order to protect refugees in Kakuma, the camp harder hit by floods in the past, UNHCR has diverted two seasonal rivers, the Tarach and Lodoket, that have often flooded lower grounds.

The worst flooding in Kakuma was recorded in May 2003 when some 16,800 refugees saw their homes destroyed. A number of latrines overflowed and collapsed, leading to the spread of water-bone diseases, including cholera and dysentery. The overcrowded Dadaab complex, home to more refugees than any other site in the world, last experienced severe flooding in 2006.

My classy plastic sheet window

This actually worked surprisingly well. This is some leftover heavy duty plastic sheeting I bought to put over our bathroom window to stop so much heat from leaking out – kinda a DYI double-pane window. It’s good stuff.