Additionally, the grooves in bamboo collect water, making bamboo homes prone to saturation and mildew damage. Many countries, especially China and Costa Rica, have research teams developing new bamboo building designs that will be stronger than those that currently exist. The new homes are being developed to last longer and survive conditions like rain, winds and earthquakes.

In Costa Rica, engineers are developing safe ways to incorporate bamboo into household structures. The country sponsored a National Bamboo Project in 1986 as a "new technological approach to prevent deforestation in Costa Rica. The idea was to replace the use of wood with an alternative, cost-effective, and seismically-sound building material" (Li). The team built 30 homes by using thick bamboo as a frame and then casing it with woven bamboo covered with mortar. These homes were put to a test when a 6.7 magnitude earthquake (same magnitude as the Northridge earthquake in 1994) rippled through Costa Rica with its epicenter being very close to the location of the homes. "Not one of the (bamboo) houses had a single crack" (Stevens), while many other nearby structures collapsed.

The unique characteristics of bamboo allowed these structures to withstand the earthquake, while the heavy, inflexible concrete structures did not. The bamboo used in the National Bamboo Project could support 500 kilograms per square centimeter; this is nearly twice the strength of concrete (Stevens). Handley adds that a top surface area of 10 square centimeters of this bamboo can support a 5000kg elephant (Handley). In addition, the bamboo's flexibility and light weight allowed the homes to "dance" with the earthquake until the waves ceased.

Benefits of Using Bamboo
Bamboo is environmentally friendlier than other types of wood. Bamboo is renewable, whereas other woods take hundreds of years to reach a mature stage. With bamboo replacing conventional lumber, fewer forests would have to be cut down for human consumption, thus reducing the greenhouse effect and other adverse environmental impacts of deforestation.

Using bamboo as a main construction resource will boost the market for bamboo and stimulate growth in developing economies. Bamboo is a strong and cheap construction material and more governments are investing in research to build safer homes for their people. Moreover, bamboo's light weight makes it favorable for construction and easy transportation.

Bamboo is a strong alternative material that is spawning a new worldwide trend towards renewable natural resources. When research and building codes for bamboo structures are successfully implemented, such structures will appear more commonly around the world.