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Wonder how well the houses shown here withstand earthquakes?


Presumably not very well, because the houses have no real foundation. But when you look at a seismic hazard map you'll see that earthquakes don't happen in large swaths of the world.


Forget about that, lets start with rain resistance.


The secret is "be in a reasonably dry climate" - this video is about construction in Africa, after all.

There are adobe structures dating all the way back to 500 BC [1] - if you've got the climate of Iran or Yemen or New Mexico it holds up adequately, especially if you only need a single storey.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe


A lack of rain resistance won't kill you suddenly. If mud brick or cave technology were so amazing, we'd all be living that way still. A better way would be to build structurally-sound, partially underground to moderate seasonal temperatures, against wind, hail, and forest fires, and placed to prevent floods.


Just ask all of the Moroccans and Afghanis who are now homeless and lost entire families recently.




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