David Pottier

Sebastian Köln wrote:

David Pottier wrote: Do NOT build a cob house there!!

That sounds like a challenge. I am sure it is possible to build earthquake resistant buildings with cob and wood. I just don't know how yet.
(I have the same problem here.)

Hi Sebastian

Do you remember the quake that hit Spitak and Yerivan? I do. No amount of rebar steel and concrete will stop the energy unleashed by a major quake. Especially with Soviet construction.

In one quake in Taiwan it took out the 10th to 12th floors of very well constructed (rebar and concrete) buildings. The reason it was that is is this was the "top" of the energy wave released by the quake.

I will assume that large concrete blocks are used like large stones in the construction in Abkhazi as they are used in Mongolia. Have a look at Mongolia's Tsetserleg gorge. If a quake can do this, cob has no chance.
Bamboo flexes. IMHO, the only way to go and a cheap, local resource material.

For yourself, in Abkhazi, there is the Spitak rescue team in Yerevan, Armenia and also AKUT in Turkey as well as Emmercom in Russia.
If Abkhazi has a quake, we will all be there for you.

David

Dale Hodgins wrote:I would like to replace it with a cob house.

Do NOT build a cob house there!!

My background - An International On-Scene-Commander for major disasters like earthquakes. In this regard I have designed earthquake proof houses using flexible concrete. Not cheap but they won't collapse.

I have work as a  consultant to developing nations and have a consulting partner, who is Filipino, and has spent 13 years with the World Bank and 21 years with UNDP.

That being said, a cob house would become an oven in the heat and humidity in this area. It will collapse with either the first typhoon or first earthquake to hit this quake prone area, that is, if the cob doesn't dissolve in the first tropical rainstorm.

IF mud huts would have worked, they would already be using the technology. They don't.  

Bamboo is 1) readily available and cheap; 2) extremely strong and flexible. Look at some images of bamboo scaffolding in Asia. 3) the bamboo and thatch design used traditionally in these areas of Asia breathes, so is cooler 4) typhoon winds pass through the thatch rather than offering a high degree of resistance. Wind Pressures per square foot are extremely high. Look at what the recent hurricane did in the Florida Panhandle. In rescue work, RED is the highest warning level. We seldom get them for a hurricane in North America but get them constantly for the Typhoons in Asia. It is the sapling that bends with the wind that survives.

Spend your money wisely. Hire the locals to cut bamboo and build her a newer, larger, traditional design, home. Add some luxuries like solar energy panels and a BioDigester for methane gas generation. BTW, this BioGas unit is the one used in the Philippines.  We took it a step farther using the digested dung to make pellet fuel so that nothing is wasted and every ounce of energy is extracted.

Rethink your project. Use what's locally available. More than one family can benefit from a BioGas system. I think some MIT engineering students developed a power system form an old car alternator and a simple wind turbine. They have been powering villages in Africa with this system.

Good luck and enjoy changing their lives.

Having grown up on the shores of the North Atlantic where soil conditions were not great, we have traditionally used both seaweed and fish as fertilizers since we arrived in North America in the early 1600's. Both seaweeds and what were considered trash fish, like lobsters and red fish, were simply tilled into the soil in the fall. This was not new for us, we had been doing it on the European shores of the North Atlantic for centuries before.

This might make sense if you live next to the ocean, as I used to and have an unlimited supply of fish waste. I have some questions on DIY fish emulsion.

Top of my list -does anyone know the percent increase in crop yield? Two fields or garden plots - one grown 'aux natural' and the other using either a commercial or a home made fish emulsion.

For the work and risks involved does the increase in crop yield make economic sense? If I could grind up or brew some fish heads and get a 15% increase from my garden then the economics are there.

Band wagons are easy to jump on but what are the rewards and the risks involved. The rewards being increased yields and healthier plants. The risks could be in attracting unwanted vermin like rats, raccoon, flies and in places like the Yukon, I would be very worried about the smell of fish attracting bears.

Another question - are you using the fish emulsion as a foliage or soil feed? And what yields are obtained from both methods?

So far I lean towards Bryant's method of drying the fish. It is easy to store and add to water for application when needed. It would also keep for years.