RESOURCE BOX
Resources for safer design
When national and international building codes do not cover the materials and construction techniques used in school
design, design teams may find international construction guidelines that address several non-engineered construction
system useful. All are available online; links are provided in the appendix.
Guidance Notes on Safer
School Construction, published
by UNISDR, INEE and
the World Bank, provides
process guidelines and
design principles for hazardresistant school construction.
Many aspects are relevant to
community-based approaches.
Construction and Maintenance
of Masonry Houses for Masons
and Craftsmen, edited by
Marcial Blondet and published
by Pontificia Universidad
Catolica Del Peru, SENCICO
and EERI, provides guidance
on confined masonry, including
information in an easy-tounderstand cartoon format.
Earthquake-Resistant
Construction of Adobe
Buildings: A Tutorial, published
by EERI/IAEE World Housing
Encyclopedia in 2003,
provides guidelines on adobe
construction in seismic regions.
Reducing Vulnerability of
School Children to Earthquakes,
published by UNCRD, explores
the use of community-based
approaches to safer schools
as a tool for community and
regional development. It
includes many case studies of
projects that constructed safer
schools and built local risk
awareness and capacity.
The 2011 and 2013
Compendia on Transitional
Learning Spaces, produced
by UNICEF’s education sector,
provide on-site selection and
building layout choices based
on safety and child-friendly design principles. Many of
these site selection, design and construction choices are
also applicable to permanent school construction. Case
studies provide architectual drawings and details about
cost, materials and implementation at more than 20 sites
affected by natural hazards and conflict.
SECTION III: DESIGN
Guidelines for Earthquake
Resistant Non-Engineered
Construction, published by
UNESCO in 2013, provides
technical details for designing
and constructing un-engineered
buildings. These are buildings
which are spontaneously and
informally constructed without
any, or very little, intervention
by qualified architects and
engineers in their design.
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