Earthquake

Just one more thing to build for.... earthquake about 100mi. west of here. 6.3 to 6.8 (depending on who's report I read) I didn't feel a thing... maybe because I was bouncing around in a boat   but my son didn't notice though they closed off part of his school. So green build is one thing... making it quake proof is going to colour how somewhat. It is actually a bit of a relief. some of the pressure has been released for now.

    I live in a quake zone. The government is constantly running ads saying that we need to have an earthquake preparedness plan.

      My plan in the event of an earthquake is to call every excavation company and dump truck outfit and get them to dump mountains of red bricks on my property when they come tumbling down. 1 acre covered 5 feet deep equals approximately $500,000 worth of used brick at current prices.  I don't think this is what the government had in mind when they told me to prepare

Good plan, Dale. 

As for green building in earthquake zones, earthbag dome has been approve under the california code, toughest in the nation.  Circular buildings are inherently earthquake resistant. 

Things can be done to re-inforce earthen walls.  There was one guy down in Peru (?) who did shake tests with adobe walls wrapped with plastic fencing - they were very strong, whereas usually adobe is about as bad as it gets in an earthquake. 

A ring of rebar around the top of the walls can also give a lot of integrity to a structure.