Earthbag Houses in Earthquakes
Why they perform better than concrete structures.
We've all seen what's just happened in Turkey and Syria, and despite the massive worldwide news coverage, in truth this isn't a one off for Turks or Syrians, or indeed Iranians (There are over 700 quakes a year in Iran according to the Tehran Times). I lived in Turkey for 20 years and remember well that earthquakes were the thing everyone was most afraid of. Not terrorism, not the economy, not a virus. Earthquakes. The three afore-mentionned countries lie smack bang over three fault lines separating the Eurasian, the African and the Arabian plates. If you live there, you'll be lucky to go through a year without the ground moving and your house shaking.
If you live in an earthquake zone, when it comes to natural building, frankly you won't care how sustainable your house is, or if it's made of cow dung or gold plate. All you care about is whether that thing will collapse on you. This was the overriding reason I opted for earthbag building for my mud home in Turkey. And I never ever regretted it. It's also the reason I began documenting my build and still share my earthbag building PDF for free. Because for people without many resources living in these areas, earthbag is a game-changer. It's no coincidence that the inventor of earthbag was an Iranian.
What happened to The Mud Home in an earthquake?
I experienced four earthquakes over 5 on the Richter scale in my earthbag house in Turkey, and it was an amazing experience. There was something pretty damn fine about sitting in the home I'd built (a home that many had derided for being made of mud not concrete) feeling the floor shift and watching my hanging candles swing, while not hearing a single creak from the rafters. It was as though my house danced. It just felt so incredibly solid. I was especially vindicated seeing as my neighbours house had a huge crack running down it after one quake, while mine had zero damage. My foundations were gravel (rubble trench). There was no rebar and not a drop of Portland cement. Today I couldn't care less if 500 engineers tell me otherwise. Well-designed, properly built earthbag outperforms concrete and rebar. This is why they're now being built in Nepal (another earthquake hot spot). In 2015 all 55 earthbag structures there survived a 7.8 magnitude earthquake with no structural damage, while every other kind of structure from concrete to traditional adobe proved fallible. Yes sorry purists, sometimes the traditional doesn't in fact outperform a new idea.
Why is earthbag so strong?
Strength is not simply about being 'tough'. This is the typical thug mentality of modern thought that is often mindlessly transposed on to building by people who don't know too much about it. Hardness is not strength, and can actually be very brittle. Hardness in construction tends to crack. What gives earthbag homes (especially round earthbag houses) their incredible strength is in fact connection:) It's the locking in of the bags using barbed wire. There is no weak point in an earthbag circle, thus nowhere for it to crack or pull apart. The other reason earthbag can handle quakes is flexibility. Earthbag is a structure that can move with the earth, which means a quake just ripples through it.
Resources:
The Free Earthbag Building PDF: https://www.themudhome.com/earthbag-pdf.html
There's some good information about earthbag structural strength on the Engineers for Change website.
https://www.engineeringforchange.org/research/analysis-earthquake-testing-trends/
If you live in an earthquake zone, when it comes to natural building, frankly you won't care how sustainable your house is, or if it's made of cow dung or gold plate. All you care about is whether that thing will collapse on you. This was the overriding reason I opted for earthbag building for my mud home in Turkey. And I never ever regretted it. It's also the reason I began documenting my build and still share my earthbag building PDF for free. Because for people without many resources living in these areas, earthbag is a game-changer. It's no coincidence that the inventor of earthbag was an Iranian.
What happened to The Mud Home in an earthquake?
I experienced four earthquakes over 5 on the Richter scale in my earthbag house in Turkey, and it was an amazing experience. There was something pretty damn fine about sitting in the home I'd built (a home that many had derided for being made of mud not concrete) feeling the floor shift and watching my hanging candles swing, while not hearing a single creak from the rafters. It was as though my house danced. It just felt so incredibly solid. I was especially vindicated seeing as my neighbours house had a huge crack running down it after one quake, while mine had zero damage. My foundations were gravel (rubble trench). There was no rebar and not a drop of Portland cement. Today I couldn't care less if 500 engineers tell me otherwise. Well-designed, properly built earthbag outperforms concrete and rebar. This is why they're now being built in Nepal (another earthquake hot spot). In 2015 all 55 earthbag structures there survived a 7.8 magnitude earthquake with no structural damage, while every other kind of structure from concrete to traditional adobe proved fallible. Yes sorry purists, sometimes the traditional doesn't in fact outperform a new idea.
Why is earthbag so strong?
Strength is not simply about being 'tough'. This is the typical thug mentality of modern thought that is often mindlessly transposed on to building by people who don't know too much about it. Hardness is not strength, and can actually be very brittle. Hardness in construction tends to crack. What gives earthbag homes (especially round earthbag houses) their incredible strength is in fact connection:) It's the locking in of the bags using barbed wire. There is no weak point in an earthbag circle, thus nowhere for it to crack or pull apart. The other reason earthbag can handle quakes is flexibility. Earthbag is a structure that can move with the earth, which means a quake just ripples through it.
Resources:
The Free Earthbag Building PDF: https://www.themudhome.com/earthbag-pdf.html
There's some good information about earthbag structural strength on the Engineers for Change website.
https://www.engineeringforchange.org/research/analysis-earthquake-testing-trends/
The Mud Home earthquake log
Here's a list of the quakes my little earthbag home danced through.
7 Oct 2015: 5.2 earthquake in Kumluca/Demre
5 Sept 2014: 5.3 earthquake at sea, Cirali-Finike.
28 Dec 2013: 5.8 earthquake at sea, just off the coast of Antalya
10 June 2012: 6.1 earthquake Fethiye to Antalya.
Here's a list of the quakes my little earthbag home danced through.
7 Oct 2015: 5.2 earthquake in Kumluca/Demre
5 Sept 2014: 5.3 earthquake at sea, Cirali-Finike.
28 Dec 2013: 5.8 earthquake at sea, just off the coast of Antalya
10 June 2012: 6.1 earthquake Fethiye to Antalya.
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