earthship biotecture disaster relief: [Tsunami] Andaman Island, India

Written by Earthship Biotecture

Saturday, 29 July 2006 10:27

Earthship Biotecture Travels to The Little Andaman Islands, India.
Demonstration, Transfer of Knowledge; also hardest hit by the 2004 Tsunami.
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We stage an educational/building seminar to build a demonstration room that can be replicated by local builders while providing a basic education as to the principles and concepts of the Earthship structures.

Click for the Anaman Odyssey Image Gallery

The Andaman Odyssey
A group of architects and planners from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands formally requested assistance from Earthship Biotecture, a Taos, USA based company to help them deal with shelter, water and sanitation issues intensified by the 2004 tsunami disaster.

An e-mail appeal from the group states that, “a month since the disaster hit our islands, it is time we did more than just food and medicine distribution.”

The need to rebuild soon is urgent as impending monsoon rains in May will take a heavy toll on the displaced population. The expertise of Earthship Biotecture in the areas of catch water, water recycling and independent sewage treatment is being sought as all of the existing wells in the area are contaminated.

A three week journey in May of 2005 with two weeks of construction in Hut Bay on Little Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal, India.

Immediate and long-term relief for housing have been considered by many to be separate projects with different objectives. The Earthship Biotecture program goals are to efficiently integrate immediate housing relief efforts and long-term sustainable housing development into one program, concentrating on a transfer of knowledge to local organizations and local citizens. The initial immediate relief demonstration structures become pilots that can be added on to for larger permanent homes. The housing must be designed in such a way as to be easily replicated by locals to build a strong, independent future.

Earthship Biotecture has just returned from an expedition to the other side of the planet, headed by Michael Reynolds to Hut Bay in the Little Andaman Islands, India in the Bay of Bengal to build a demonstration project from existing “scrap” materials on site and teach locals how to replicate the techniques. Earthship designed buildings heat and cool themselves without using fossil fuels, make all of their own electric power with solar and wind, catch their own water and reuse it four times and are made out of natural and recycled materials.

Michael Reynolds has been spearheading the Earthship movement in New Mexico and around the world for over thirty years. Demonstration Earthships have been built in Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Japan, Belgium, Scotland and England. Michael Reynolds has been profiled in hundreds of newspapers, magazines and books including The New York Times, The Guardian (UK), The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) and The Architects’ Journal (UK).