Cohousing-L Mailing List: common house as a disaster shelter?

[Ed_Stauff (Ed_Stauff]

I've been musing over the idea of having a common house be able to
serve as a disaster shelter.  One could equip it with such things as a
generator, super-good insulation, an auxiliary heat source (e.g. wood
stove), water storage tank, etc.  I'm thinking of relatively "small-
scale" disasters, such as severe storms that knock out power for a day
or two, where the common house could serve as a haven for community
members whose houses have become temporarily uninhabitable.  One could
also try to make the common house more earthquake-resistant in areas
where that's appropriate.

Has anyone discussed such things during the design process?
Has anyone implemented any ideas like this?

Thanks,

-- Ed

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