Window flaps with nets should solve the summer heat problem and a solar powered fan.
Yurts - Relatively Safe Housing for Earthquake-Prone Areas???
by ziddina 62 Replies latest social current
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mrsjones5
Cool place. I love Big Sur.
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144001
Thanks, but I've done my share of camping in my life. Now I'm an old geezer, and I enjoy comfort more than I enjoy being eco-friendly or earthquake-safe.
Edited to add:
Big Sur is very nice, and I've camped there many times. Now, I stay in Monterey in a hotel, and drive south to Big Sur. I have spent many vacations in the Big Sur area over the last quarter century. It's California's answer to Hawaii. It's a paradise, and it isn't found in an orange book published in the 1960s by the WTBTS.
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perfect1
Yes, the hole up top is not so effective. Yurts as available in the US are made of some sort of vinyl plastic stuff- not really as insulating as animal skins. And I did not mean its hot in a hot climate, I mean, in the sun, its hot!
The structrual frame just sort of stretches out like an accordion.
In an earthquake, if it collapsed on you you would definitely survive.
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mamochan13
Zid - yurts are very cool. But I agree with jgnat. I recall a night in June, sleeping in a tent in northern Alberta, where I was sure I was going to freeze to death. Not sure I could do that in winter here. Mongolia has temperature extremes (check out some of the Mount Everest documentaries), so perhaps they know something we don't. My grandparents wintered in a similar structure when they first arrived here, so maybe it's possible?
PS, the board acting funny - I"ve noticed if I resize my browser it fixes it sometimes?
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ziddina
GUYS, how many times must I explain this??
A yurt is NOT a "Coleman ™ " tent, nor a "Sierra Designs" backpacking geodome tent!
Yurts are SUBSTANTIAL. And they EVOLVED in a VERY COLD, windy, harsh climate!!
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ziddina
Here are more pix of yurts - perhaps these will help to clear up some of the confusion...
This is a yurt build for ALASKA'S climate... Here's the link: http://www.nomadshelter.com/
Someone mentioned "Pacific Yurts" - this is the interior of one of their yurts:
And here's the link for Pacific Yurts: http://www.yurts.com/how/default.aspx
Someone else may have already posted that link...
Just to give some perspective on the subject, here's one that's much closer to the traditional Mongolian yurt, right down to the symbols on the yurt:
I'll post more in a bit - setting up my speakers right now....
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ziddina
I must add - the reason I started this thread, was to suggest an alternative form of housing that may be much safer in earthquake zones.
THAT is why I posted those 'bare-bones' pictures at the very beginning.
While we're on the subject, I suspect that the PRINCIPLES of yurt construction could be adapted to build more conventional structures, too...
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Black Sheep
Even in an earthquake zone there are plenty of options without having to live in a temporary roundhouse for the 500 years between devastating earthquakes. Living in a yurt isn't going to stop your refrigerator, fireplace, or TV falling on your kid if you haven't secured it.
Have a look at pics from earthquake devastation. What causes the deaths? Often it is unreinforced mud, concrete, brick, or stone. The deaths in Christchurch weren't caused by homes falling down, so having thousands of families living in yurts for a hundred years wouldn't have saved one life.
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ziddina
I'm very familiar with pix of earthquake devastation; having lived in both Denver, Colorado when it was experiencing a spate of earthquake activity in the 1960s and in southern California during both the Loma Prieta earthquake and a quake that struck southern California shortly after we moved there - that quake killed one person who was unfortunately positioned near a brick wall when the quake struck.
The greatest loss of life from earthquakes doesn't occur in single-family homes, so much as in apartment buildings, hotels, and other multi-dwellng units.
However, the CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES used in yurts - multi-strut supports for walls, multi-tress support for the roof - could be adapted to multi-dwelling units, too.
Use your imagination!
And living in a well-built yurt with all the amenities WOULD be practical. The Mongols have done so for around 3,000 years.
