Innovative designs and approaches in sanitation when responding to challenging and complex humanitarian contexts in urban areas

As recent emergencies have shown, there are still significant challenges in the timely provision of safe sanitation in natural disasters or conflict situations. In urban emergencies or areas where it is impossible to dig simple pit latrines because of high water tables, hard rock, or lack of permission, it takes agencies considerable time to construct elevated latrines or alternative designs such as urine diversion toilets. This paper describes the challenges often faced in the rapid construction of latrines in emergencies and then looks at a number of case studies, from the Haiti earthquake and the 2010 floods in the Philippines, of how these obstacles were overcome. It also documents some of the recent innovations and improvements suppliers have made in increasing the scope of their emergency sanitation equipment.