Last month’s earthquakes have triggered a mini-boom in alternative housing options, one of which is a project that is building as many as 200 houses using bamboo.
A dozen organizations, businesses and non-governmental organizations plan to build 100 temporary dwellings for earthquake and hurricane victims in a community in Chiautla de Tapia, Puebla.
The project, developed in collaboration with the people of San Juan Pilcaya, has completed the design phase and on Monday the first house was erected. The second step is to deliver and install 100 more.
The cost per house ranges between 15,000 and 20,000 pesos (US $800-$1,100), depending on the size. The basic house measures three meters by four meters.
Aristarco Cortés Martín, director of the Institute of Design and Technological Innovation (IDIT) at the Ibero-American University, said his school is working with Grupo Puebla Bambú, an umbrella organization of individuals and parties whose goal is to promote the use of bamboo, to provide a quick response to people affected by the September 19 earthquake.
The bamboo for the project comes from the northeastern Sierra of the state where about 800 hectares are being cultivated.
San Juan Pilcaya is a subsistence farming community of about 900 people in the state’s Mixteca region. The earthquake damaged 353 homes, about 85% of the town.
The temporary houses are intended to provide a family with basic living infrastructure until they can implement a permanent solution.
The latter is also part of the bamboo project. Its final stage is to find financing to design and build 100 permanent homes.
Source: El Universal (sp)