An Atlanta startup that provides tubing used to quickly deliver water and other liquid supplies to disaster victims has received $40,000 from the Chilean government.
T.O.H.L., or Tubing Operations for Humanitarian Logistics, was one of 100 companies from 36 countries that were awarded funding from Startup Chile, a program aimed at attracting entrepreneurs to the South American country.
Created by Georgia Institute of Technology students, T.O.H.L.’s coiled tubing allows water and other liquids to be pumped across into disaster areas where infrastructure is damaged and traditional delivery methods by land, air or sea are delayed.
With T.O.H.L.’s system, a helicopter drops the hose across up to five miles of land within 48 hours. A pump at the source can deliver enough water to supply more than 8,000 people with fresh water, according to information on the company’s website. Though designed for immediate relief, the product can also serve as a semipermanent solution until hard infrastructure can be built.
T.O.H.L. was founded in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where it sometimes took days for trucks to cross collapsed bridges and deliver water to remote areas.
Chile, which is offering the startup funding, had an earthquake of its own a month after Haiti’s. The devastation wasn’t nearly as drastic despite being one of the largest recorded tremors in history.
For more information about T.O.H.L., visit www.thetohl.com. Learn more about Startup Chile at www.startupchile.org.
