The forgotten hero of Manta
Bamboo is proving to be not just cheap but remarkably resilient against earthquakes. When a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador in April 2016, the coastal city of Manta suffered massive destruction. The Tarqui district was levelled, and deep fissures cut through the streets. But amid the ruins, one unexpected legacy remains. In the former ground zero area, a bamboo pavilion now shelters a fish market, a restaurant, a fire station, and a tourist information centre. Throughout Manta and the province of Manabí, hundreds of bamboo homes still stand firm. “They were all built before the earthquake,” says Pablo Jácome Estrella, regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization. “They stayed standing.”
The strength of movement
Experts say buildings should move during an earthquake—but only within limits. Bamboo’s natural flexibility gives it this ability. Used for millennia in South America, Africa, and Asia, it grows abundantly and offers exceptional seismic resilience. Recent research and lab tests confirm that its strength and lightness make it ideal for earthquake-prone regions. Projects in the Philippines, Pakistan, and Ecuador now embrace bamboo as a sustainable and safe alternative to steel.
Buildings that bend
In Ecuador, people have long known bamboo’s power. Coastal residents once harvested it under the quarter moon and washed it in seawater to preserve it. Despite this tradition, Manta once banned bamboo construction over fire concerns. A local architecture professor challenged the rule by joining the fire department himself. He persuaded them to build a fire station entirely from bamboo. That same station, with its elegant vaulted roof, survived the 2016 quake unscathed. “Nature designed it to bend,” says Bhavna Sharma, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies bamboo construction.
Tested by disaster
Bamboo’s hollow, upright stems are light yet strong. This reduces structural mass and absorbs seismic energy. A post-quake survey of 1,200 buildings in Manabí showed reinforced concrete structures suffered more damage than timber and bamboo ones. Since 2021, a project by Inbar and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation has built hundreds of new bamboo homes in the region. Students at the University of Manabí now learn to treat bamboo and assemble wall panels. Each two-bedroom home costs under $20,000, the same as a house made with conventional materials. “It’s the wood of the wise,” says Jácome Estrella. “Renewable, sustainable, and low impact.”
Lessons from Colombia
In 1999, a 6.2-magnitude quake in Colombia’s coffee-growing region changed everything. Traditional bamboo-and-mud houses called bahareque survived far better than brick ones. “That earthquake changed the game,” says Luis Felipe Lopez, general manager of Base Bahay Foundation in Manila. The government saw that bahareque houses saved lives. Lopez, a structural engineer from the quake zone, realised global building codes ignored bamboo. They copied standards from Europe and North America—regions that barely know bamboo. Colombia responded by commissioning research on its native Guadua bamboo. In 2002, it became the first nation with an official bamboo building code.
A global comeback
Lopez later brought his expertise to the Philippines, where Base Bahay Foundation builds bamboo homes for typhoon-prone areas. Since 2014, the group has constructed more than 800 houses in ten communities. Their bamboo shear wall system, inspired by bahareque, withstands both earthquakes and storms. “It’s light enough for an earthquake and heavy enough for a cyclone,” says engineer Liu Kewei of Inbar. Bamboo’s rapid growth and carbon absorption also make it an environmental ally. “It’s part of regenerative forestry and social equity,” adds Sharma.
Toward standard codes
At Base Bahay’s lab in Manila, researchers from several countries test harvested and manufactured bamboo. Lopez helps shape global building standards, but standardising natural bamboo remains complex. Each culm differs slightly in size and shape. “You use whatever nature gives you,” he says. Still, progress is clear. The International Organization for Standardization adopted bamboo codes in 2021. Governments in Peru, Ecuador, Bangladesh, India, and Mexico have followed suit, while Nepal and the Philippines are drafting theirs.
The right design matters
Structural engineer Sebastian Kaminski stresses that bamboo buildings resist earthquakes only if designed, built, and maintained correctly. When done well, they remain light, flexible, and safe. “Since they’re light, their collapse poses less risk,” he says. But bamboo must be treated and kept dry. “The building needs a good hat and boots.” Treatments like boron prevent insect damage, and roofs and walls must protect against rain.
From tradition to innovation
Beyond resilience, bamboo inspires modern architecture. Designers now build striking pavilions in Vietnam and airy airport gardens in India. In Europe and the US, bamboo use is limited, but the warm climates of the southeast US could soon make it a viable construction material.
Bamboo in emergencies
Bamboo also offers hope after disasters. Kaminski helped write a guide for relief shelters in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps. Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari used bamboo to rebuild homes after a 2015 earthquake in Afghanistan. Her reinforced bamboo houses swayed safely through simulated quakes. In 2023, Lari earned a royal gold medal for her humanitarian work. Her flood-resistant bamboo homes cost as little as $88—far cheaper than conventional relief housing.
Overcoming prejudice
After the 2022 Pakistan floods, officials demanded reconstruction with brick and concrete. Lari criticised this stance, saying traditional materials deserve respect. A spokesperson from the global financial institution involved explained that gaps in testing and building codes limit bamboo’s use. They still acknowledged bamboo’s potential for sustainable, resilient housing. In Pakistan, however, many still call it “the poor man’s material.”
A natural future
That perception is slowly changing. Architects now explore bamboo high-rises and multi-storey projects. For many, bamboo offers not just safety but serenity. “When you are in a bamboo house, you feel the atmosphere,” says Liu. “It connects you to nature and makes you feel at peace.
