Paliha

Paliha minimizes and slows down the amount of water that enters the home during a natural flood, buying extra time for rescue or evacuation.

Long Description

Paliha means ‘Shield’ in Sinhala, which is the main language of the people in Sri Lanka. It is a simple, collapsible item that can be deployed easily to help the people living there to buy time for evacuation or rescue. Many times, floods can go up to knee or even waist height, which could impede movement as well as damage any items that are vulnerable to water and increase the risk of contracting water-borne diseases as well.

Paliha minimizes and slows the amount of water from coming through the front door in the case of knee to waist height natural floods. Its angled surface helps to part the water without letting much of it come into the home. It is made out of corrugated plastic, which is a cheap, recyclable yet strong material. Being extremely lightweight, it can be deployed at the door within seconds. Several flaps at the centre and sides can be slotted into openings gives the product structural integrity, space for hand grips, as well as provide a form of impact resistance to the product. They also act as openings to let water fill the hollow gaps inside the Paliha, which then flow out from the side.

At the back are two strips of polyurethane gel that acts as reusable adhesives on even and uneven surfaces. This allows Paliha to be deployed as many times. If it starts to lose its adhesive capabilities, simply give the strips a simple wash over and it can be reused again.