Straw house survives simulated earthquake

RENO, Nev., April 6 (UPI) -- A U.S. civil engineer says she designed and built a straw bale house that has survived a major earthquake simulation.

University of Nevada-Reno alumna Darcey Donovan said she built the full-scale, 14-by-14-foot house, complete with gravel foundation and clay plaster walls. The house was subjected to 200 percent more acceleration-shaking than was recorded during the 1994 Northridge, Calif., earthquake -- the largest measured ground acceleration ever recorded in North America.

After a series of seven increasingly forceful tests, officials said the house shook and swayed violently during the final powerful test, cracked at the seams and sent out a small cloud of dust and straw -- and remained standing.

Donovan was testing her innovative design for straw bale houses she has been building since 2006 across the northwest frontier provinces of Pakistan, in the foothills of the Himalayas between Pakistani tribal areas and Kashmir. Her design uses bales as structural and load-bearing components rather than just insulation, as in other straw-bale designs.

"We're very pleased with the results," said Donovan, founder of the non-profit Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building organization. "The house performed exceptionally well and survived … twice the acceleration of the Northridge quake."

Donovan says she will write a detailed report to be published in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's World Housing Encyclopedia.