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Christchurch, New Z</title></head><body>
<div>Hi all...</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>First, congratulations to Bruce and everyone involved in the
EBNet Haiti project!! Well deserved, and in amongst stiff
competition from what I have seen.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Second, a former staff member and dear friend of mine was very
near one of the major events in the Christchurch earthquake. She
was at work at her architecture firm's office about 50 meters from
where a huge boulder fell out of a cliff in Sumner, NZ, and crushed
the Sumner RSA veterans' club. And her house (which was
partially wrecked) is in sight of the beach where the famous Shag Rock
collapsed. She and her partner are safe, thankfully, and have
moved in with friends with power and water outside
metro-Christchurch.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I mention this because she is local (Sumner is a seaside suburb
of Christchurch), knowledgeable with design and building, especially
with alternative methods, and likely looking for something to do...
she says her firm's primarily custom-residential work will be at a
standstill for the foreseeable future. Also, she already has
disaster response construction experience, having worked, during
graduate school, in New Orleans on building a demonstration affordable
eco-home for Katrina victims. Graeme (and anyone else), if you
are aiming to help out in Christchurch and can use some local, able
hands and brain cells, I can highly recommend Shana. Here is her
email...</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Shana Payne <shanapayne@gmail.com></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Best wishes to the Haiti teams, and to anyone venturing into the
Christchurch area...</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Tom Hahn</div>
<div>Ecosa Institute</div>
<div>Prescott, AZ</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Hi Bruce - well done - amazing how an
approach using local stuff works.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>One mesh idea that seems to work well
that I have just started using is Cintoflex D - a polypropylene mesh -
very light and cheap but very strong and easy to use - easier than any
bamboo lath or metal lath I have used so far. Very tough walls
can be made using bamboo uprights, with either a spit bamboo lath, or
by tying on a mesh, and then installing light earth daub or
plasters.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Good keying between earth and lime seems
to be essential, esp if there is much risk of high levels of
moisture around - I have seen de-lamination between earth and
lime if driving rain forces moisture in as far as the earth
under-layers that can both soften and expand.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>On a different note, we may need aspects
of your design down here too now that we have our own earthquake
disaster in Christchurch to deal with. Its a real horror
story - it was a very shallow quake right under the city and local
ground accelerations were up to a massive 1.88g under a city that was
already recovering from the effects of a larger quake a little further
away last September. </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> Any references to a strawbale
emergency shelter design that really works may also be of great
benefit too if anyone has one -</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>most people have some temporary shelter,
but winter is coming on, and it is harsh down there, and around 10,000
house are uninhabitable. A lot of people are camping out
in their yards with no power or water supplies. Emergency
services are coping really well it seems, even though 40% of city
center buildings are too unsafe to enter.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Cheers</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Graeme</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Graeme North Architects</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>49 Matthew Road</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>RD1</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Warkworth</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>tel/fax +64 (0)9 4259305</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href="mailto:graeme@ecodesign.co.nz">graeme@ecodesign.co.nz</a></blockquote
>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href="http://www.ecodesign.co.nz">www.ecodesign.co.nz</a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
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