Peruvian Catholic university shares designs to strengthen adobe homes

Published: 2007-11-02

PACHACUTEC, Peru (CNS) -- Higinia Rupay remembers her terror as the ground began to heave and bricks from the neighbor's wall crashed through the flimsy roof of her home. She rushed into the street, fearing that her simple adobe house would not withstand the magnitude 8 earthquake that struck Peru's southern coast Aug. 15. By the time the tremors stopped, many houses in this tiny farming community, about 150 miles south of Lima, had been reduced to rubble. Hers showed no damage, but like most of her neighbors, she was hesitant to go back inside. Her granddaughter was braver. "She said, 'Grandma, the house doesn't have any cracks -- I'm going to sleep in my room,'" Rupay said. The secret to the house's strength is hidden in the walls, where researchers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru are testing a system that uses wire mesh to reinforce the corners of the building, typically the weakest part of an adobe house.

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