Modern Earth Buildings

19

Natural disasters and earth buildings: resistant design and construction

H.W. Morris,     University of Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract:

Earth buildings are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes, tropical storms, major wind storms and floods; the risks, causal mechanisms and failure modes for these natural hazards are described. Thousands die each year due to unreinforced earth building collapses in earthquakes; designers must assess the hazard, ground conditions and seismic lateral loads and use suitable structural forms and reinforcement. Unstabilised earth materials are highly susceptible to flood inundation requiring site consideration; in severe winds the low tensile strength requires special attention especially to the roof tie-down ...