Constructing Cement Stabilized Rammed Earth Houses in Gujarat after 2001 Bhuj Earthquake

There was a huge demand for houses to rehabilitate the earthquake affected families in Gujarat state after 2001 Kutch earthquake. The main objective of Hunnar Shaala was to evolve appropriate technologies to help reconstruction work in Kutch. The major focus was to help with technical support in shelter reconstruction and finding proper construction technology. There was a need to think about proper technologies and involve climate condition in actual location.

Initially HunnarShaala worked on Compressed Stabilized Earth Block (CSEB) construction technology. Through laboratory test, we found good technical results using soil locally available in Kutch which is mostly suitable. As a variation of the CSEB technology, cement stabilized rammed earth techniques were adopted and developed to suit the various forms of houses include the traditional houses called Bhunga.

The paper discusses the following aspects of the rammed earth construction.

1. Design and development of moulds to construct various traditional forms of house construction using rammed earth concept.
2. Selection of soils, controlling density and cement content of rammed earth walls.
3. Details of various quality control measures adopted.
4. Time and motion study of rammed earth wall construction for traditional house forms
5. People reactions and response to new technologies like rammed earth.
6. Developing a mechanisms and strategy for large scale house constructions after natural disasters.