For R Saraswathi Devi, daily life now takes place inside a cramped, 5.5m-wide metal container in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur. When she needs to prepare meals for her husband and two young daughters, aged 12 and 14, she steps outside to a makeshift open kitchen.

When nature calls, all four of them must share a single outdoor toilet and bathroom with two other households.

Though basic electricity is wired into the containers, conditions remain far from the comforts of the real homes they once knew.

Next door, Saraswathi’s 77-year-old mother-in-law lives alongside Saraswathi’s married daughter and a son-in-law who undergoes regular dialysis.