Exclusive content for The Prepper Project.com by Owen Geiger
Anyone who is awake can clearly see the social and economic turmoil all around us. The need to prepare has never been more clear.
disaster shelter
Building Earthbag Tornado Shelters for Profit
In a previous blog post about Earthbag Tornado Shelters I suggested building them for profit. Four years later the same advice is still valid. The marketing process should be even easier now since earthbag buildings are much more common. One key selling point is the cost. Most commercially available tornado shelters cost at least several thousand dollars. The materials cost for earthbag tornado shelters is around $300. That means almost pure profit for the builder.
Byond Shelters for 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.
How We Built A Low Cost Tornado Shelter
![How We Built A Low Cost [Earthbag] Tornado Shelter by Pamela Swackhammer](https://naturalbuildingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/How-We-Built-A-Low-Cost-Tornado-Shelter.jpg)
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.
Storm Safety Shelter
“This was designed for safety in mind. We have had many requests in natural disaster areas (Oklahoma, Colorado, California) that we decided to make a universal plan that meets the international standard for storm shelter safety with an environmentally sound method. The Storm Safety Shelter is designed in accordance with the 2009 IBC and the 2008 ICC/NSSA Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters (ICC-500.)”
$229,000 FEMA Trailers
Comments from yesterday’s blog post prompted me to look up the cost of FEMA trailers for Hurricane Katrina victims. We all know the government buys $600 toilet seats, but this report about FEMA trailers really shocked and disgusted me.
“A new report by government watchdogs obtained by NBC News estimates expenses for each FEMA trailer at the Port Bienville site could reach a staggering $229,000.
“I could have bought a brand-new trailer! Or a house even!” Guidroz says.