“A Nelson trust’s humble earthbag school has gained international attention after it withstood the devastating Nepal earthquakes. Now, First Step Himalaya wants to use the earthbag technology in its work to rebuild the schools it supports in Nepal.
disaster resistant
Earthbag School in Goldhunga, Nepal
“Now Kathmandu’s outskirts also have an earthbag building! It will be used as an after-school house for the children of Goldhunga, a village located 30-minute drive from Thamel, in Kathmandu. It will be soon filled with computers, books and other supplies. Its size is 10x15ft and it is composed of one room and one floor.
Open Source Disaster Resistant Earthbag Homes for Nepal
From the archives — I realized yesterday that this open source disaster resistant earthbag house could be easily adapted to Nepal.
Add a roof of recycled wood and metal roofing and for very little money (under $1,000) you’d have a safe, decent home in short order. This design is 25 sq.m (270 sq.ft or about 16’x16’ interior) It’s extremely simple and easily to build.
Emergency Shelter Option for Nepal
The photo shows the earthbag shelter design in our proposal to the UN. Earthbags are highly recommended since they’re tried and proven. However, in disaster areas bags and training may not be available, so it’s always good to have options. The emergency shelter idea explained here maximizes use of existing material and skills in Nepal in order to build shelter as quickly as possible.
Summary of Earthquake Resistant Earthbag Building Methods
We’ve posted quite a few blog posts over the years about how to reinforce earthbag buildings. Due to the earthquake in Nepal, we’re getting lots of questions about reinforced earthbag methods for earthquake regions. The following list will save people lots of time searching our blog and websites. Watch for more news on this topic in the future.
Earthbag Building: Potential Trillion Dollar Market
Yesterday I wrote to the two largest industry associations that are related to earthbag building — the Geosynthetics Society and the Textile Bag and Packaging Association. The Geosynthetics Society is the professional organization that represents engineers who design large earthbag projects for highways, railroads, erosion control, mining, marine facilities and many other industrial applications. The Textile Bag and Packaging Association represents manufacturers of bags and tubes that in addition to earthbag building are used for many purposes such as grain and feed bags, cement, etc. Both of these industries are poised to capitalize on a rapidly emerging new market in earthbag building.