Adobe mud blocks are one of the oldest and most widely used building materials. Use of these sun-dried blocks dates back to 8000 B. C. (Houben and Guillard 1994, referenced in EERI adobe tutorial). The use of adobe is very common in some of the world's most hazard-prone regions, such as Latin America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and other parts of Asia, the Middle East, and southern Europe. Around 30% of the world's population live in earth-made construction (Houben and Guillard 1994). Approximately 50% of the population in developing countries, including the majority of the ruralpopulation and at least 20% of the urban and suburban population, live in earthen dwellings (Houben and Guillard 1994). By and large, mainly low-income rural populations use this type of construction.