“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.
There is also a huge need to support permanent rebuilding and reconstruction. Permanent shelter is always complicated however, and Nepal’s extreme terrain presents challenges to transporting building materials to remote areas.
In response we’re working with Endra Rai’s “Outdoor School Nepal” to evaluate the use of earthbag construction in Sindhupalchok. This would eliminate the need to transport significant amounts of materials which could instead be sourced on site.
Our team in Nepal has already supported Endra’s construction of one earthbag house in Sukute, and we’re planning to work with Endra to build more earthbag structures to further develop our understanding of how the process could be more widely applied.
Please donate now to help us develop permanent shelter solutions in Nepal.”
Dear Mr. Geiger,
Do you see ‘Earthbag Architecture’ as permanent shelter solution for urban setting ? Or this is good for rural area only ?
Urban areas like Kathmandu are densely populated. That drives up the cost of land and so people build multi-storied structures. Earthbag is best suited to single story structures, especially in earthquake zones. So in Nepal earthbag is primarily for rural areas.