EARTHQUAKE RECONSTRUCTION, CLAY OR CEMENT?
Nicaragua, 2000, post disaster reconstruction
Author: Kurt Rhyner, Architect, Dr. Prof.
The reconstruction of several hundred houses in Guatemala, after the earthquake of 1976, was the beginning of what eventually became grupo sofonias and the EcoSur network. Three months after the catastrophe that had killed some 23’000 people, we began to look at rebuilding in the rural department of Salama. Our task was to find ways to promote solutions that were affordable to the poor population and at the same time would improve the strength of the houses.