11.   Squalid apartment blocks stand very near the pyramids, and mud brick houses cling to the Luxor hills where pharaohs are entombed.

12.   The death toll is so high in the villages because most houses are made of mud brick, which makes them unable to withstand such strong earthquakes.

13.   The mud bricks crack in the sun.

14.   They are made of mud brick, many with domes, decorated with primitive frescoes in bright colors, depicting biblical scenes, well-preserved by the dry desert air.

15.   Walls rising from the foundations were made of mud brick, which have now disintegrated.

16.   With time, they fashioned houses of mud brick, then concrete block.

17.   Piles of broken mud bricks spread far across the vast field.

18.   Piles of mud bricks that were once homes are melting in the rain and slowly washing downhill.

19.   Outside Chinese cities, one-story homes -- sometimes made of mud bricks -- are common.

20.   But many huddle under the heavy brown wool of tribal tents or build huts of sun-dried mud bricks.