NewScientist.com reports on a startling
new technological advance to protect homes from the ravages of earthquakes. According to NewScientist, 1/3 of the worlds population reside in adobe houses, which are very prone to collapsing during an earthquake.
Now a team led by Bijan Samali, director of the Centre for Built Infrastructure Research at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, has developed a cheap, simple way of reinforcing existing adobe houses to help them withstand quakes.
I'm sure you are asking, what is this new, space-age technology? Did aliens invent it? Did the worlds finest engineers gather together in a global summit to solve this problem? Well, wonder no more, and witness the wonders of the twenty-first century:
To strengthen adobe houses, Samali and his team start by hand-drilling holes through the bricks. They then thread through a loop of string - preferably made of a durable material such as polypropylene - and fill the holes with mud.
Brilliant! If only America could develop such breakthrough new technology, we would no longer have to fear the horrifying specter of losing our homes to earthquakes. We would only need to fear government
seizure of our homes.
