SICHUAN QUAKE DONATIONS DEMONSTRATE GREEN BUILDING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000304 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM BANGKOK ALSO FOR USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EAID ECON PGOV CH SUBJECT: SICHUAN QUAKE DONATIONS DEMONSTRATE GREEN BUILDING MATERIALS REF: CHENGDU 270 CHENGDU 00000304 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) This cable contains sensitive but unclassified information - not for distribution on the Internet. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY: Guangyuan, one of Sichuan's poorest prefectures, is the site for a demonstration of earthquake resistant, environmentally friendly bamboo shelters. The standards being employed in post-earthquake reconstruction in Sichuan are only equivalent to those applied in non-quake-prone U.S. states like Arizona, i.e. nowhere near those of quake-prone California, a USC engineering professor believes. Cooperation on bamboo structures might be a useful addition to the continuing U.S.-China dialogue on earthquake-resistant structures. END SUMMARY. A Chinese-American Professor's Donation of Bamboo Shelters to Quake Schools -------------- ¶3. (U) Prof. Xiao travelled to Guangyuan in November along with Zhang Jiqiang, Vice President of Programs for the Blue Moon Fund (a Charlottesville, VA-based foundation that was previously part of the W. Alton Jones Foundation); EconOff accompanied. There they visited schools using modular bamboo shelters designed by Xiao and donated in the immediate aftermath of the May 2008 quake, with Blue Moon support and donations from Hunan University faculty and students. (See also tinyurl.com/bamboo-shelters.) More than a year after the quake rendered the old school buildings too damaged to use, the new buildings are nearing completion, and the modular bamboo structures will soon be dismantled. The materials would be re-purposed for use in home reconstruction and building an agricultural-study center for one school's students. ¶4. (U) Note: Guangyuan is one of Sichuan's poorest prefectures, one of four where annual per capita GDP falls below 10,000 RMB (USD 1,470),and with incomes only slightly higher than in the neighboring Tibetan minority autonomous prefectures of Aba and Ganzi. Its mountainous terrain at the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau makes transportation and economic links a challenge for its mostly rural population. Only about 500,000 of the prefecture's 3.5 million people live in urban areas. Qingquan County, one of the most severely hit areas of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, is under Guangyuan's jurisdiction, but earthquake damaged to the road network made relief work there especially difficult. End note. Advocating New Materials to Increase Quake Resistance, Reduce Environmental Impact, and Increase Rural Incomes -------------- -------------- ¶5. (U) During this November trip, Professor Xiao and Blue Moon sought ways to leverage the temporary shelter donations - and the relationships developed with local government and school officials - to promote the use of the materials in permanent structures. Zhang told EconOff that Blue Moon has also provided funding to the Beijing-based International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) to promote the use of bamboo as an alternative to cement throughout China. (For more information on INBAR's programs see www.inbar.int.) ¶6. (U) The temporary classrooms were the first larger scale use of Xiao's building materials. Other demonstrations have included a number of model houses around the country and what he described as the world's first bamboo bridge able to accommodate truck traffic in Hunan Province (see tinyurl.com/bamboo-bridge.) Now, Xiao and Blue Moon envision doing a large scale demonstration project, hoping that its success will convince local governments in Sichuan to build permanent bamboo-based CHENGDU 00000304 002.2 OF 002 structures on a wider scale. Xiao expressed particular interest in pursuing a partnership with Habitat for Humanity, which has launched several homebuilding projects in the quake zone since last year (reftel). ¶7. (U) Note: Quake reconstruction is overwhelmingly dominated by cement-based structures, with smoke-spewing cement factories -- a huge source of greenhouse gases -- booming as they produce replacement construction materials for the region. However, there are also experimental projects scattered in the quake reconstruction zone and other researchers are also working on alternative construction materials and methods. See, for example: (tinyurl.com/pengzhou-project). End note. Professors' Criticisms of Post-Quake Shelters and Reconstruction Standards; Believes Bamboo is Superior Alternative -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Professor Xiao shared his criticism with EconOff of both the standard temporary shelters in the quake area -- overproduction resulted in a "huge amount of waste" and pollution -- and the permanent construction underway the construction standards being employed are equivalent to those applied in non-quake-prone U.S. states like Arizona, i.e. nowhere near those of quake-prone California. ¶9. (U) Professor Xiao believes that bamboo materials can often replace cement and steel materials in construction. Xiao described the advantages of bamboo-based construction as producing dramatically fewer emissions than cement and requiring far less deforestation than traditional wood. Flexible bamboo-fiber based materials are significantly more quake-resistant than most cement structures, he said. Moreover, he argued that, if it were to become a major source for construction materials, bamboo cultivation could also contribute toward rural poverty alleviation by providing rural peasants with a larger market for a bamboo crop. (Comment: While bamboo has important advantages over cement or wood, if natural forests were to be replaced by bamboo groves a shift to large-scale bamboo use in construction could have important environmental consequences if they were a less effective carbon sink than traditional forests. Currently in Sichuan, the vast majority of bamboo supplies, for both building materials and paper production, are grown by individual farmers around their homes. End comment.) Little Room for Alternative Building Materials in Quake Zone? -------------- -------------- ¶10. (SBU) A meeting between Xiao with his Blue Moon Fund supporters and the principal of Biejie Elementary, one of the shelter recipient schools, highlighted the hurdles they face in attempting to convince decision makers to opt for bamboo over cement. Although the school principal expressed gratitude for the materials - and noted that they had proven to be far superior to the standard shelter materials - the school has proceeded with rebuilding in cement and steel, in accordance with a design provided by Beijing University. Blue Moon's Vice President nonetheless appealed to the school officials to help them persuade the local government to take on a more substantive pilot project for use of the materials, noting that Blue Moon can provide support for design and training in the use of the materials. ¶11. (U) Comment: The perception that only cement and steel can build sufficiently strong permanent structures appears strongly entrenched at every level, despite the fact that so many such structures collapsed during the quake. Cooperation on bamboo structures might make a useful addition to the continuing U.S. - China dialogue on earthquake-resistant structures. End comment. BROWN