Building Safe Earthen Houses in Rural Seismic Areas
The Pisco 2007 earthquake in Peru has destroyed almost all the adobe houses and
historical monuments in Pisco and neighboring cities, towns and
villages, killed more than 500 persons, and left thousands of people with
injuries and homeless. This catastrophe was neither unexpected nor surprising,
because every single earthquake that occurs in developing
countries where construction with earth is common leaves a similar sequel of
destruction, economic loss, injuries and deaths. Earthen buildings are
particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because of the low strength and fragile
behavior of their walls. Inhabitants of earthen houses in the seismic areas of
the world, most of them poor, therefore live under unacceptable risk.
First, the presentation will describe the observed response of traditional,
unreinforced earthen buildings during earthquakes. Several available
low-cost reinforcement techniques for earthen dwellings will be presented
next. These reinforcement techniques have been developed at the
the seismic safety of earthen buildings. Finally, the challenges involved in
the dissemination of economical and safe construction techniques to the
actual builders and dwellers of earthen houses will be briefly discussed.