Architects Seek Plastic Bottles to Build Shelters for Mexico Quake Homeless Sophie Hares - Thomson Reuters Foundation
go to original September 26, 2017

Sustainable Habitats: Building Homes with Plastic Bottles (Euronews Knowledge)

Tens of thousands of empty plastic bottles could be filled with rubble and earth to build quake-resistant emergency shelters for people made homeless in Mexico's recent tremors, said architects who are urging people to donate bottles.

Starting in the shattered town of Jojutla in Morelos state, near the epicenter of last Tuesday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake, the scheme aims to help locals build cheap shelters big enough for two to four people, made from bottles filled with the debris of their collapsed homes.

"Right now, people are sleeping in the street, in the rubble, in the rain. So we need housing now - we can't wait for the moment the government decides it's going to help," said Ana Vanessa Rendón Zúñiga, one of three architects who set up the Viviendas Emergentes (Emergency Housing) campaign (VIEM).

"There are millions of bottles among the donations of supplies that have arrived... Our plan is to go to the communities and show them how to build these homes," she added.

Last week's quake, which shook Mexico City and surrounding states, killed 331 people and damaged 11,000 homes, with many survivors now living in tents or emergency housing.

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