Building Construction in Korea

To meet South Korea's vast housing needs, the UN Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) has set aside about $2,500,000. This will be used partly to help the Ministry of Social Affairs carry out its plan to build 5,500 permanent homes, half of them in the Seoul area. UNKRA has provided technical advice for this scheme and special machines - landcrete machines - to make earth blocks mixed with a little cement. These blocks are not only most useful as building material, they also cut building costs considerably. The landcrete machines are used too, in other parts of the country, by the Government and by one or two private agencies helping to build homes. This picture illustrates the production of earth blocks: Earth is dug up on the very location of the construction project, filtered through a sieve, and later used in the machine. Here a laborer carries a finished block to the stack. [No exact date]