The document summarizes shelter projects in Southern Sindh, Pakistan following flooding in 2012. It describes distributing emergency shelter kits that can be used as temporary shelters and later roofing kits when families rebuild walls. The kits cost £58 each and include materials for a safe roof. It also discusses challenges of emergency shelter, encouraging flood-resistant rebuilding, and doing no environmental harm. It highlights stories of families like Keila receiving materials to rebuild safely and training local partners provide on resilient construction techniques.

1. DFID Pakistan
Humanitarian Unit
Update on shelter projects
in Southern Sindh
June, 2012
Leila Bheel, mother of 8 and builder of
her home in Tando Allah Yar district.
She has received all the materials for a
safe roof, from HANDS, DFID’s local
partner.

2. In March, 2012, parts of district Sangar, Sindh, looked like
this, 7 months after monsoon rains.

3. 3 months on it looked like this, the water has receded, most houses have simply
dissolved.
The shelter here is an emergency shelter kit that can be used as a roofing kit when
the family rebuilds their walls.

4. • Inside the shelter
• £58 per unit
• Used as temporary
shelter
• Later as roof kit
• Note beam for future
roof structure
• Double the value of a
tent
• And half the price

5. What are the key challenges?
• Emergency shelter for the first weeks
• Then people return to villages and start to
rebuild – though assets lost and little cash
• Millions are affected and donor funds limited
• We need to do “more for less” (good VfM)
• New houses must be flood-resistant
• And try to do no harm! (to environment,
community and their culture)

6. First: an overview of what is normally done by
humanitarian actors as a shelter response
Large tent, £130 - £180 range. Limited adaptability
– can’t be used to reconstruct the home. And
more than TWICE the price.

7. £18 / Unit Cheap but not very good (not
much protection and dignity)

8. A basic or medium sized tent. Around £100 / unit – without
blankets or light. So, at least half the number of people can be
reached with the same money.

9. In contrast – a DFID / IOM designed family shelter
£60 / family – including a solar light

10. • HANDS, local NGO & IOM
(International Org)
• We adapted emergency kits
into roofing kits
• C. £58 / kit
• Family rebuilds walls
• Effectively transitional
shelter
• Walls can be reinforced to
be DRR later

11. Some great stories
Kiela, mother and house
builder
Now has a safe roof
HANDS phase 2 will then
secure her walls
Meaning she will have a
DRR house
We need to bring out
these good stories!

12. Keila outside her window.
Note depth of wall, good
thermal mass and natural
cooling!

13. Solar light – these cost about 600 PKR (£5) and save people between 300 and 600
PKR per month. Light is critical for protection, to see snakes (who are also displaced
in floods and come into settlements), for education, etc. They also don’t cause fires
– a constant risk with kerosene or candles.

14. Illumination – costing around
$7.50, distributed through
IOM and HANDS, 2011
response. (these shown in
previous slide)
Toughstuff, cost around $15,
but also can charge mobile
phones, distributed through
CONCERN and partners, 2010
response.

15. Mustafa, project manager for
HANDS, discussing options to
further reinforce the walls so
this house will be more flood
resistant.

16. Another home restored – with just £58, which included this solar light,
saving the family around £3 a month, around 15% of her monthly income

18. Family
Protection

22. In Tando Mohammed Khan district, where the whole
community worked to rebuild each others houses. By
themselves, for no payment except their own motivation.
DFID / HANDS supplied the roofing materials

24. Targeting those most vulnerable – elderly, widows, single
headed households prioritised

25. CBOs and village planning – for disaster preparedness,
protection and planning

26. Rebuilding traditional houses –resistant to future floods

28. Cost: 20,000 PKR (£140) per house
80% cheaper than many other models

29. Damage caused by 2011 flooding
Slowly collapsing as wood in the walls has been compromised

30. Local roundhouses (chora) are prevelant in many parts of
Southern Sindh.
These show how local reeds are used to build the walls, then
mud and lime plaster added later.

31. One of IOM’s local NGO partners now training people in community about safe
reconstruction methods – which maintain vernacular design but introduce critical
design elements to make the houses resistant to future floods

32. Lime is a traditional building material that has been displaced by cement in recent decades. It
is far better to combine with earth and provides a water resistant wall while preserving and
wood or biomass that is used inside the wall. IOM teams will do extensive training on the use
of lime over the next 9 months, including vital health and safety measures.

33. Hearing from the community on their perspectives, vision and
priorities. Community organisations are formed to receive the
training and organise the financing of the reconstruction process

34. IOM and HANDS select elected focal points in the communities who will receive money in
their bank accounts on behalf of all the beneficiaries. Money is advanced in three phases,
each requiring the previous phase to have been completed so the funds are conditional on
progress by the whole community. This way the community manage their own
reconstruction.

36. Keila, the self-
builder, and her
family

38. A completed house following Heritage Foundation / IOM designs. The wall is
finished with a mud&lime render, while the roof now has extended eaves to
protect the top of the wall. People have taken so much pride in their new houses
they have started decorating them with local artwork!

39. Heritage Foundation is DFID/IOM’s local technical design and training partner. Here they
have built a series of building components to help with training of local people and
organisations, showing them how to build flood resistant buildings with natural materials.

40. Yasmeen Lari, head of Heritage Foundation explaining the different
components

41. An example of bamboo structure for a twin-pitch roof. This avoids the use
of local trees – a non-renewable source of building material, causing
serious environmental damage
A cross-section of a safe foundation made
from earth and lime, with a projected “toe”
to give further durability in case of flooding

42. The Ring Beam
Local people learning to make a
ring beam of bamboo and lime-
concrete.

43. An extended eave, built by local people during Heritage Foundation
training. This will prevent rain flooding into the top of the wall.
The ring beam runs below these bamboo girders, now
out of site, covered in earth plaster

44. Stronger roofs – safer roofs
In time of flooding people can use these as a refuge

45. A traditional Sindhi round-house, built on a
raised platform by Heritage Foundation as a
model. Lime mud render for water-resistance.

46. Traditional grass thatch on top for
insulation and increased rain protection

47. Reduced Environmental Impact
• We’re trying to measure the impact to
global and local environment
• Life cycle analysis & embodied energy
• University of Bath, UK: Inventory of
Carbon and Energy
• Measures in MJ/Kg and CO2 / kg

48. Examples
Material Mj / Kg CO2 kg / kg
Steel (typical / recycled) 24.4 0.482
Cement 4.6 0.22
Fired bricks 3 0.060
Limestone 0.85 -
Timber (average) 8.5 0.125
CGI (iron sheet) 39 0.7
Source: University of Bath, Embodied energy and carbon in
Construction materials (2008)

49. Reduced Carbon Emissions
• For only 20,000 one room shelters
• Usually (e.g. post 2010-reconstruction)
5,000 bricks per house procured – would
equal 100m bricks for the 20,000 houses
• Earth and lime chosen as alternative
• Estimated environmental saving: 57,000
tonnes CO2 and 5,600 acres deforestation
avoided.

50. Steel for roof structures
• One beam weighs 27kg
• 2 beams per house = 54kg
• 54 x 0.48 kg CO2 = 25.92 kg CO2 / house
• If target is 20,000 houses = 518,000
Tonnes of CO2 to atmosphere (not emitted)
• We need further (independent) research to
validate these estimates
• Alternatives exist – such as composite
bamboo beams

51. FAO: 23,000 families get sunflower inputs & kitchen gardens and training
This will soon be increased to over 60,000 kitchen gardens and thousands of
fodder trees (including moringa trees)

53. Map showing DFID-funded projects at union council level;
legend at top right explains what each bar represents.

54. Innovation for
DRR

55. HANDS-built District Disaster Response Centres
In collaboration with Relief Department, Sindh
Warehousing, coordination centre,
accommodation, office space, communications
centre.

56. Community Centre
Refuge in times of flood
Community literacy centre
Café and library
Resource centre
Training centre
Demonstration examples
Paid by Heritage Foundation

57. Overall targets post 2011 floods
• 50,000 families get help to build a flood resistant
one room shelter (home)
• Almost 30,000 families get a roofing kit
• 30,000 families receive emergency shelter/NFI
packages
• 87,000 families receive horticulture or agriculture
support
• 16,000 families receive moringa and other fodder
trees = long term fodder and food supply