Chinese Gov't Seizes All Tent Manufacturing for Earthquake Relief
From Backpacker:
The May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan province registered 7.9 on the Richter scale, killed nearly 70,000 people, and injured close to 375,000. While relief from the Chinese government has been present in the region for weeks, the Chinese face a daunting hurdle: At least 4.8 million and perhaps as many as 11 million people are homeless. To help combat the problem, China has seized control of all tent manufacturing and inventories and directed it to building tent shelters for earthquake victims.
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All the brands insist that the seizures won't have any impact on immediate availability of tents, but the long-term effects are unknown. Some retailers theorize that tent production in China is so efficient that they should have little trouble catching up with future demand, but some camp furniture (which is also manufactured in China) from Slumberjack has been put on backorder already, so all bets are off.
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