Emergency Shelter – Page 6 – Natural Building Blog

Colloquium Discussion about Rebuilding Nepal

June 3, 2022October 28, 2015 by Owen Geiger

One of the most significant contributions that I was able to make at the recent Natural Building Colloquium in New Mexico occurred in conjunction with a presentation about what Builders Without Borders is doing in Nepal to help with reconstruction efforts there. This presentation was done by three individuals, all shown in the photo below.

On the left is Martin Hammer, the current director of Builders Without Borders; in the middle is a young architect who recently returned from Nepal having initiated a multi-story urban residential unit using confined masonry within reinforced concrete; on the right is Parshu Dahal, who is a Nepali slated to receive assistance from the Builders Without Borders organization.

IDV: Developing Permanent Shelter Solutions for Nepal

June 3, 2022October 19, 2015 by Owen Geiger

International Disaster Volunteers (IDV) is building permanent earthbag homes in Nepal

“The Nepal earthquakes destroyed almost 605,000 homes, and damaged 288,856 more. While there is an urgent, ongoing need to provide immediate shelter in Nepal this solution is still a temporary one.

Byond Shelters for Nepal

June 3, 2022October 12, 2015 by Owen Geiger

Byond brings shelters to people affected by earthquakes in Nepal

As everyone knows, there’s a huge need for low cost shelters in Nepal. One of the most popular designs is the type shown above that’s being used by Byond.org. Shelters like these are fast and easy to erect. It’s interesting to see the wide variety of uses and building details. The recipients finish the end walls using their choice of materials. People are using recycled brick, adobe, wood, stone and bamboo to close the ends at minimal expense, as well as using recycled doors and windows. Details include porch roofs, vent gaps at top of end walls, benches. Some people extend the shelters to include outside laundry and baths. Free metal roofing from the government can be used on these shelters.

Low Cost Village Housing for Nepal

June 3, 2022September 14, 2015 by Owen Geiger

Buttressed earthbag corners are low cost and add significant strength to buildings.

The greatest need for housing in Nepal is in poor rural villages. Not only can they not afford cement and steel, it’s not practical to carry these heavy materials 1-2 days over mountain passes. We need to identify the most practical low cost earthbag building methods and create a document showing best practices.

Low-Cost Survival Shelter Earthship for Cyclone Pam Survivors

June 3, 2022August 27, 2015 by Owen Geiger

“Earthships can be built to create fantastic survival shelters. This simple shelter is being constructed in Te Puke (New Zealand) as part of a training program aimed at teaching survivors of Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu how to construct these robust buildings for their communities.”

How We Built A Low Cost Tornado Shelter

June 3, 2022June 29, 2015 by Owen Geiger

How We Built A Low Cost [Earthbag] Tornado Shelter by Pamela Swackhammer

Yea, another earthbag book. Kelly and I just published our new books (see links on right side of page if you missed them). There’s this new book on building earthbag tornado shelters. Plus there’s another earthbag book coming out any day that we’ll blog about soon.