The Context
In 2015, the earthquake that shook Nepal saw damage mostly in the outskirts of Kathmandu.
Gundu, a village in Bhaktapur district, about 20 km from Kathmandu. lost more than 190 homes, most of stone and mud masonry, most damaged beyond repair.
A rapid assessment identified the need of temporary shelters for households primarily led by women, and of the elderly – most of Gundu’s male population having emigrated for work. 10 of these households were led by pregnant women. With frequent aftershocks and continued tremblers, people also needed a safe space, something the community lacked in the immediate aftermath.
The Relief
In the relief phase, we built 80 transitional homes.The concept was for a space designed for temporary living until their homes were rebuilt. The shelter could later be used as an animal shed or for storage. With the thought of building safe comfortable structures using materials easily found in the area. The group rallied a team of bamboo builders and volunteers to construct lightweight bamboo shelters plastered in earth for better insulation, and tin roofing.
Three years on, many in the community have rebuilt their homes, converting the shelter into a tea house, or using them for animals. Some continue to live in them.
The Recovery
Currently in the recovery phase, having identified the need for a safe space immediately post disaster, we are spearheading the construction of a community building in Gundu. The idea for the building is first to serve as a safe house after future earthquakes. Secondly, noting trends in reconstruction using modern materials like cement and metal, we are concerned that people in Gundu lack access to information regarding the use of traditional and locally available materials such as earth, stone and timber to construct safe modern structures while maintaining the traditional façade of the village homes.
The Building Concept in collaboration with Home-makers Union Group
In collaboration with the community, public land was allocated for the building, and the local municipality offered to construct the foundation. With funds from Taiwanese leading women’s group we were able to work with two local Nepali company (ABARI NEPAL & RAMMED EARTH SOLUTIONS) who work with natural building materials to construct the community building using compressed stabilized earth bricks (CSEB). To avoid importing soil or taking it from arable land, soil excavated for the foundation was used to compress a soil and sand mixture stabilised with 3 to 5 percent cement into the building blocks used for the walls. The single story CSEB building is now complete.
Compressed Brick Making Machine- Training the locals
Mud from the foundation
Locally made bricks after the training
Construction in process
The building has already begun to serve it’s added purpose of familiarizing the community of Gundu with improved earth plastering techniques. A workshop was organized including women from Gundu and Taiwanese volunteers to learn about and apply an earth plastering technique used in Jumla district of West Nepal. The mix is comprised of local clayey soil and goat hair, and sand and lime. The plaster serves as a robust finish to the earth blocks.
Preparing mud-plaster
Applying Mud plaster
Finished wall and roof
In short, the functions of the community building include:
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a safe house post future disasters/emergencies, equipped with medical kits and tools
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a demonstration space for the use of local natural building materials
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a venue for training on various topics useful to the community
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a learning space and library for children in the community
Community Building- Gutter system has also been built to harvest rain-water from the building
Workshop with students from Taiwan inside the community building
Remaining works:Currently, we are carpeting the floor with locally made straw carpets for warmth and to support local workmanship. We will be putting furniture and books. We plan to host a workshop on organic farming end of Feburary 2019.
We take this opportunity to thank Homemakers Union Group for your support and without you this would not have been possible.