An uphill climb is an everyday affair for the women of Degand
walking uphill
A global blogging adventure to visit Heifer International projects in 12 countries in 12 months in 2012
An uphill climb is an everyday affair for the women of Degand
Heifer 12 x 12 
Adobe brick can also be made as earthquake proof. Here in New Zealand there are budiilng codes available for adobe brick. I’m very interested in budiilng with adobe brick and I am particularly sensitive about its resistance to earthquake because the whole island is a fault line! Earthquake proofness is accomplished with mainly two tricks the embedding of wire meshing in every third course of adobe bricks ( the equivalent of the barbed wire in earthbag construction) and no long straight runs of walls without cross bracing (can’t remember the longest segment possible without bracing). Cross bracing basically means that a perpendicular wall or stub must exist at regular intervals. Corners can also overlap for greater strength ( studies in Australia have shown this to be a further improvement)My little town of Murchison on the S.Island of NZ was the epicenter of an earthquake nearly an order of magnitude greater than the recent one in Haiti. In 1929 a magnitude 7.8 struck this town. The worst damage (to people) was called by falling masonry, so avoid the brick veneer and/or chimneys!The next biggest issue was land slips and rising rivers due to blockages, so take care WHERE you put your nice earthquake proof house!
Wow .. what a thoughtful and thorough response to building new, earthquake resistant structures !! I spent a month in NZ way back in the 80s and absolutely loved it — specially the South Island — plus I always think Kiwis are so inventive and practical.. and you’ve proved it, Jorge! Thanks SO much for the comment. (Heifer isn’t involved with home-building, but I am going to pass this along to my friend Kathryn whose partner does a LOT of work with Habitat, who was rebuilding homes in Haiti! -Betty