Brilliant idea or disaster waiting to happen?

We are less than three years removed from the worst natural disaster in our country's history. Hurricane Katrina left indelible images of some of the worst human suffering we've ever seen. And these nearly three years later, there are still victims looking for homes. Some are even still living in those now infamous FEMA trailers, some of which are contaminated with formaldehyde. It continues to be an unthinkable reality in a nation like ours.

On the other side of the world, both physically and politically, China deals with its own disaster. More than 50,000 people are dead after the 7.9 earthquake a few weeks ago, and millions more are looking for homes. So China is building a town of cookie-cutter housing for 20,000 people. The government hopes it will be ready for people to start moving in within a few weeks. At first glance, it seemed to me to be a brilliant idea. But could it also be a really bad one?

Crews in Leigu are quickly putting up the buildings with walls made of Styrofoam between sheets of metal. The floors will be dirt covered with plastic. There will be electricity and running water in the one-room units, but there will be community baths and kitchens. Again, the general idea of building mass housing quickly, especially as the rainy season threatens the tent villages that have sprung up filled with victims, seems logical. But think of the consequences. The tight, cramped quarters could quickly become breeding grounds for disease. And then what? Is this just a quick-fix until permanent housing can be rebuilt? That was the goal of those FEMA trailers, and we've seen how that's worked here in the free world. But in Communist China, you can just see these buildings becoming long-term homes overflowing with people suffering. And what happens, God forbid, the next disaster strikes? I doubt these things would stand up to another earthquake. And with so many people packed in, the injury and death rates could be even more staggering than this time around.

The fact is, whether it's the trailers along the Gulf Coast or these make-shift tenaments in the mountains of China, whether it's a capitalist democracy or a communist regime, when it comes to massive disasters, there are no simple solutions.