Hurricane Katrina was the largest crisis to hit the United States last year. But we should remember that the Kyrgyz word for crisis also means opportunity.

Actually AsiaPundit has no idea what the Kyrgyz word for crisis is, but thanks to Democracy in Central Asia, AsiaPundit discovers that  to Kyrgyzstan officials did sense an opportunity.:

After Hurricane Katrina destroyed thousands of homes, the good people of Kyrgyzstan saw a business opportunity. So the embassy rented a booth at the Washington Convention Center and got Kyrgyz officials on the program as speakers and hosts of the Homeland and Global Security Summit. This allowed the embassy to erect a yurt, the traditional nomadic tent of Central Asia, and offer it as a housing solution for the Gulf Coast.

"After Katrina, people really need some temporary houses," explained the Kyrgyz Embassy’s Saltanat Tashmatova, at the front door of the yurt. A brochure says the 14-foot-high structure, made from sheep’s wool and "cool in summer," sells for $10,000 — but the floor model can be had for $7,000. Any sales yet? "We just started," Tashmatova said with a shrug.

Picture via this site, where you can buy an authentic Mongolian yurt.

How comfortable would a North American find yurt life? Ask Lars.:

Think of it as a high tech Mongolian teepee. I live in a yurt on an organic farm in the Willamette Valley in Western Oregon. I have lived here since the Fall of 1995. The cabin I had been living in was crumbling and in imminent danger of sliding into the river. I didn’t want to move away from the farm so I needed to provide myself with some temporary living space. After some research, I discovered yurts. I had no idea that the temporary living space would be so wonderful that I would make it permanent.

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