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By now, you’ve probably read about the bureaucratic tangles that have been delaying the arrival and distribution of tents, food and other international relief supplies following the April 25 7.8-magnitude earthquake that has shattered or damaged several hundred thousand homes and other structures in Nepal.

Some shipments are getting through, but there’s an enormous gap between the number of tents that are getting to devastated communities and the enormous need (one million tents, by the latest government estimate). There is great urgency given that the annual monsoon rains are about to begin in earnest.

Luckily, human ingenuity and a powerful sense of community spirit have combined in a big way. Where basic materials are available, a D.I.Y. tent-making effort has sprung to life. This photo and note sent on Sunday by Roger Bilham, a University of Colorado seismologist who has long displayed a passion for pursuing both science and public service, say much:

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This morning, after mapping a 750-meter-long lateral slump fissure [example] east of the airport, I found myself at the center of tent fabrication from 100-meter-long rolls of plastic tablecloth now being sewn into 4-meter-by-10-meter panels. Each tent can house five people and consists of a rectangle of canvas placed over an A-shaped frame of bamboo poles which the villagers must provide. The monsoon is expected in about three days. My host is a businessman with contacts in the government who, quite unlike the government officials, has sprung into action. During writing this note the number of sewing machines has doubled. An entire Toyota dealership is now assembling tents — one every minute. The estimated need is for 500,000 tents by the end of the week. The government thinks that with current supplies they can obtain 300,000 rectangles of canvas, and are uncertain where the rest will come from. The Toyota repair garage owner with whom I am working is turning out one per minute using six sewing machines and 50 workers to cut and fold the canvas. The canvas is estimated to have a life of about one to six months in the monsoon and will then need to be disposed of or replaced with more canvas. There is no immediate solution for permanent structures that will be needed for the coming winter.*

Others are pursuing innovative approaches from outside Nepal to get needed supplies there. Liesl Clark, among other things a co-founder of the Buy Nothing Project, is working with Bilham and others on ways to sidestep the bottlenecks. In a note yesterday, she explained:

Hundreds of thousands of people are having to make do sleeping in their fields, afraid to return to damaged buildings that need assessment or complete rebuilding. We’re a worldwide network of mountaineers, filmmakers, doctors, sherpas, scientists and Nepalis creating an underground railroad to the most affected villages, delivering pre-packed duffel bags filled with family-size tents and tarps into the hands of anyone willing to ship them or courier them into Nepal.

Learn more at the new Person2Person4Nepal.org website and a related Crowdrise #HelpCarryTheLoad fundraising campaign.

On Facebook, a new Himalayan Disaster Relief Volunteer Group is a nexus for getting aid where it’s needed.

Note | * Bilham’s note was edited slightly for clarity.