In Reply to: Can we not produce earth quake safe buildings ? posted by ¨Per Corell on November 03, 2002 at 10:27:40:
While the average non-technologically advanced village waits for advanced structures , many earthquakes will occur.
In the meantime, low-tech retrofitting is possible almost anywhere.
A few wraps of baling wire around the joins of post and lintels; even the addition of organic fibers (rope, palm, etc) to adobe walls could save many lives.....
These things are not done, perhaps, because until recently, "fatalism" was the dominant religion of the agrarian world; but now that those societies see the abundances promised by technology , they will demand safer structures....
But they will not easily give up their traditional building techniques, nor should they...
Therefore, ways must be found , within and from the customs and heritage of each society, to improve the resilience of structures...