Er. Sahadeo Hipparkar
Consulting Engineer, Sangli
hipparkar@yahoo.com

Abstract :

The earthquake at Koyananagar in 1990 caused failure of many building structures in nearby villages. The Govt. of Maharashtra directed to do emergency repairs using local materials.

The author was in charge of this work. The paper gives detailed information about the use of Bamboo, locally available impermeable soil ( ‘Karela’), rice husk and timber for repairing the damaged portions of about 70 house in a village. The experience showed that these buildings stood stable and remained intact for last 20 years. This indicates potential of these materials in constructing eco friendly houses in villages at nominal cost and with unskilled local labour.