VZCZCXRO5909
PP RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0304/01 3482332
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 142332Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3628
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY 0032
RUEHC/USAID WASHDC
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 4343

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