[Cob] cob houses

[Amanda Peck]

I know this has been posted to the coblist before, and I've posted it 
elsewhere in this context but, take a look at the Gernot Minke booklet in 
the link below. As far as I can tell, Minke is always worth reading 
carefully.

I've also been reading lately about domes and vaults and what they need to 
have to be relatively earthquake proof--buttress sizing, not making a vault 
too long, and so on, topics discussed in Paulina Wojciechowska's Building 
with Earth.

Cal-Earth's domes--superadobe/earthbag--have gotten approval in high-seismic 
areas.  I think I read that Khalili (of Cal-Earth) said he was headed to Bam 
for rebuilding.

Also you might go back and look at the damage in the Mexico City earthquake 
(it wasn't, technically, it was somewhere out on the west coast and not 
considered terribly important there, but the damage--lots and lots of 
it--was done in Mexico City) or articles about what would happen in, say, 
Memphis Tennessee if the New Madrid Fault did a "big one."

Here's the link:

http://www.gtz.de/basin/publications/books/ManualMinke.pdf

............................
     There has been a 45,000 person death toll in Bam Iran, mostly 
attributed
to the buildings being built of earth/mud brick.  Is there a way to
reinforce cob/earthen homes so that they will not collapse in a earth quake?

     Thanks, Steven D. Catalano of Washington Crossing PA

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