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Hi Carolyn,

You are right that local building techniques and materials should be used if possible, and what you suggest makes sense, if only for making sure people can then maintain their houses afterwards. The resources pointed out by Mary Allen are very good for finding good waterproofing; you can also check out Skat's housing resources, of which many are in French.

My main concerns in your case are:

• Whether you can have suitable roof anchoring / bracing to prevent the roof from flying away during a storm (you can do this with stones, just making sure you are considering it).
• How often such events occur, in order to analyse the cost of rebuilding cheaply and often vs potentially building something more expensive but that will last longer.
• And out of curiosity, why the inhabitants felt the need to consult an architect if they have been using such techniques for a long time - is it because they actually want to upgrade, because such disasters happen too often and they mistrust traditional techniques...?

Rémi