Cal-Earth Institute is happy to humbly dedicate the following two pages
to the overwhelming requests related to the latest series of disasters in the world.
It is meant as a start to providing guidance for human shelter.
Click here for the 2-page "Emergency Sandbag Shelter" pdf file.
(Get Acrobat Reader)
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water in the boat
is the death of the boat
water under the boat
and the boat's afloat
- Rumi
Natural disasters are human created disasters blamed on nature.
After a fire, hurricane, flood, or earthquake we immediately declare that this was a natural disaster, an act of God. Then we ask if we have insurance, or how soon will the goverment or U.N. come to help? And these are repeated and echoed in the media around the globe over and over again. But these are not the right questions. The right question is why did our house burn, fall apart, or get swept away? And when we have the chance to re-build it, why should we build it the same way and in the same place? Ultimately "natural disasters" are human created disasters blamed on nature.
The human impact in nature and its effects: pollution, deforestation, land mismanagement, the green house effect, and more, will undoubtedly accelerate the rate of disasters in the future. Added to that are the man-made disasters: millions of displaced humans, wars and human aggression and act of terrorism with its incalculable damage to human life and property. There is a sense of urgency to educate ourselves and our children to act more in harmony with nature, rather than insisting on dominating and interrupting the environmental process. As well as urgency to awaken to a new set of questions where we, and not nature or God, are to be blamed.
We must also prepare ourselves for the inevitable disasters. One of the best ways to shield against fire, flood, and storm may as well be with earth, water, air and fire. Nature does that itself. The equilibrium of the natural elements are the natural balancing acts among these universal elements.
To build simple emergency and safe structures in our backyards, to give us maximum safety with minimum environmental impact, we must choose natural materials and, like nature itself, build with minimum materials to create maximum space, like a beehive or a sea shell. The strongest structures in nature which work in tune with gravity, friction, minimum exposure and maximum compression, are arches, domes and vault forms. And they can be easily learned and utilize the most available material on earth: Earth. Here, using a simple sandbag-and-barbed-wire technology, named Superadobe, designed by architect Nader Khalili, and developed by his associates and apprentices this documentary video shows how to:
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Superadobe Technology is designed by Nader Khalili, engineering by P. .J. Vittore, models of which have been constructed and tested for the City of Hesperia, California, Building and Safety Department, in consultation with I.C.B.O. (International Conference of Building Officials), in the forms of arches, vaults, and domes between 1993 and 1996. These successfully passed the California required codes for the models.
Superadobe is a patented system at the service of humanity. It is offered free to the owner builder. Licensing is required for commercial use.
The video "Emergency Shelter", a documentary, is produced to be used as part of a set of learning tools developed and used during the apprenticeship training program at Cal-Earth Institute (such as the compass for the dome's curvature, hands-on techniques, and so on). These can teach you, step by step, how to build. To learn how to build your emergency structure, you must begin with a small practice dome, a storage shed in your backyard for example, to understand hands-on all practical aspects of the tools and materials, after which you may have the skills to increase the size of your shelter.
By practicing to build the eight foot interior diameter dome we hope that you will learn how to shelter yourself in an emergency situation with some basic materials that can be stored in your closet or carried in your car trunk.
The students shown building in this video had never worked with earth before, but they built their 8 ft. diameter dome in a total of ten hours. They were participants of Cal-Earth's apprentice course and were taught by a teacher. The students added niches, storage, plastering, and doors in the following days.
And in the following months Khalili, his associates and apprentices built many variations of small shelters each 120 sq. ft. or less in floor area which you can visit at Cal-Earth Institute.
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