Live in the Philippines: Tacloban/Ormoc City

Typhoon Yolanda devastated Tacloban, Ormoc City, Coron and other areas in the Philippines last year
Typhoon Yolanda devastated Tacloban, Ormoc City, Coron and other areas in the Philippines last year

Reporting live from the region hit by Typhoon Yolanda last November. One year later the damage done by that super typhoon is still readily apparent.

Read more

High Wind Damage to Homes

F-3 tornados can turn most homes into a pile of debris.
F-3 tornados can turn most homes into a pile of debris.

Earthbag building is more than ‘just a good idea’. It could save your life, your family’s lives and everything you’ve worked for. Maybe you’re new to the concept and not yet ready to build a home this way. You might want to start out with a storm shelter to protect against hurricanes and tornadoes.

Read more

How to Build a Low Cost Earthbag Tornado Shelter

Save thousands of dollars by building your own earthbag dome tornado shelter. (See link below for free plans.)
Save thousands of dollars by building your own earthbag dome tornado shelter. (See link below for free plans.)

Designing an earthbag tornado shelter has been on my to-do list for years. My intent was to modify my free plans at Instructables.com (see below). Yesterday I can came across the following article at Yahoo and found out concrete tornado shelters are costing thousands of dollars. So I decided to write this blog post to summarize how to make your own storm shelter out of earthbags (sand bags), local soil, gravel, barbed wire and plaster. The dome shown above cost about $300 a few years ago. A smaller dome used only for emergencies could probably be built for half that cost if you eliminate the buttresses, the living roof (earth and plants on top) and are clever in making a door out of salvaged materials.

Read more

CORGANIXS: Disaster Resistant ISBU/Earthbag Homes

Anyone watching the news can’t help but notice the large number of devastating natural disasters that have been going on. One of the greatest needs in the world is disaster-resistant housing – houses that can hold up against hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, flooding and other natural disasters. Alex Klein, author of Introduction to Container Homes and … Read more

World Shelters — Bags of Shelter

Today’s post is from the World Shelters website at Appropedia.org. Bags of Shelter is an earthbag shelter designed for World Shelters to use as transitional shelter for people in Haiti affected by the January 2010 earthquake. World Shelters is a non-profit organization dedicated to producing housing for disaster relief and general humanitarian needs. A four … Read more

Barrels of Hope Plastering and Fundraising Event

It’s time to plaster!!! Isn’t it great! All the bags and roof are up. Now it’s just the finishing touch – plaster! Weather permitting, we will be plastering on Saturday December 4th. This is the easy part so come join us and have some fun! To learn more about the Barrels of Hope for Haiti … Read more