“Four years ago, I was camped upon a hill in Turkey watching the canvas of my tent buckle ominously. The wind howled, and rain started to drip onto my forehead. I’d been living in the tent for six months, but winter had suddenly arrived. I needed a house. Fast.
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Transitional Earthbag Shelters in Syria
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has launched a test project for temporary shelters made from bags filled with earth in Syria. The architect, Anas Aljbain, is using ARCHICAD to develop the designs.
Culturally Sensitive Disaster Response Work
I had a great talk the other day with a freelance journalist who travels and documents things such as the earthquakes in Nepal. One of our common concerns is how NGOs, and foreigners in general, respond to disasters. Aid work is fraught with well-intentioned people and innovative solutions that often go terribly wrong. Remember the emergency food dropped to war refugees by US military planes? It was unrecognizable to them and so they ended up feeding most of it to their animals.
Earthbag Building – An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Unprecedented growth in earthbag building is being fueled by Nepal’s huge need for affordable housing and schools.
Low Cost Earthbag Options for Nepal
Budgets are obviously limited for most every project in Nepal, while at the same time the need for affordable housing and schools is almost endless – hundreds of thousands of new, safe structures are needed. Here are a few suggestions to rebuild sustainably and affordably.
No Earthquake Damage to Rammed Earth Monasteries
A nice lady here in Nepal just told me there was no earthquake damage to the rammed earth monasteries in the Himalayas after the recent earthquakes. In fact, most of these structures have survived earthquakes for centuries.