Earthquake protection for poor people’s houses
Practical Action
The improvements to materials, construction techniques or design suggested in this article are,
to a large extent, a compilation of lessons learnt from past earthquakes in various regions of the
world. Fieldworkers in earthquake-prone countries will learn their own lessons, through
observation. They may not, however, always be well informed about better technologies that have
been suggested elsewhere, where similar conditions prevail; hopefully this article has provided
some new ideas.
References and Resources
Guidelines for Building
Technical Principles of Building for Safety, Andrew Coburn, R. Hughes, A. Pomonis
and R. Spence, Practical Action Publishing, 1995.
Building with Stone and Earth Part 1 & 2, Practical Action Technical Brief
Seismic Resistant Housing, Pakistan, Article 25, [Online]
Guidelines for Earthquake Resistant Construction of Non-Engineered Houses,
Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), Pakistan, 2006
Shelter Centre Library website
Earthen/Adobe Construction
Small-scale Manufacture of Stabilized Soil Blocks, ILO; 1987.
Architecture for the Poor, H. Fathy, University of Chicago, USA, 1973.
Earth Construction: A Comprehensive Guide, Hugo Houben and Hubert Guillaud,
Practical Action Publishing, 1994
Earth Masonry: Design and Construction Guidelines, Tom Morton, 2008
Making Stabilised Soil Blocks, Practical Action [Online]
Galvanised Wire Reinforcement Technology: Earthquake Reinforcement for Non-
Engineered Stone and Earth Constructions, Sjoerd Nienhuys Huys Advies, 2006
Timber Reinforced Masonry
Bhartar Construction Timber Reinforced Masonry: An Illustrated guide for
Craftsmen, 2007
Micro Concrete Roofing Tiles
The Basics of Concrete Roofing Elements, SKAT, 1993
Product Information: Micro Concrete Roofing Equipment, SKAT, 1997
Micro-Concrete Roofing Tile Production, Practical Action Technical Brief
People-Centred Reconstruction
Safer Homes, Stronger Communities: A Handbook for Reconstructing after Natural
Disasters, Abhas K. Jha, World Bank, 2010.
Building Back Better, Michal Lyons and Theo Schilderman (Ed), Practical Action
Publishing, UK, 2010.
Disaster Mitigation – a community based approach, Andrew Maskrey, Oxfam, UK,
1989.
Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness and Response D Sanderson Practical Action
Publishing 1995
Disaster Risk Management and Reconstruction in Latin America Montoro & Ferradas
Practical Action Publishing 2012
Owner Driven Housing Reconstruction Guidelines, International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Cresent Societies (I, 2010
PCR Tool 1: People-centred Reconstruction (PCR): An Introduction, Practical Action
PCR Tool 8: Participatory Design, Practical Action
PCR Tool 10: Quality Control, Practical Action
The Sphere Handbook Sphere Project, Practical Action Publishing 2011
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