People have unique house construction technique, well suited for flood prone situation (foldable and portable house)

2023-02-20

Location

Continent:

Asia

Country:

Nepal

Location:

Gobargada

Region:

South Asia

Disaster Characteristics

Disaster Group:

Hydrological

Disaster Type:

Flood

Disaster Sub type:

Flash Flood

Disaster Response

DRR Phase:

Prevention

Response Category:

Nature based

Response Subcategory:

Knowledge-skill

Knowledge attribution

The lifestyle in the floodplain is maintained keeping the flood incidents in mind. The villagers are always prepared to relocate to another area if they have to. The land they reside on is temporary, so the houses built in the village are temporary in nature. They are built with the idea that it is more efficient, less time consuming, less expensive, and is a safer option even if the flood damages and destroys the house. As materials are locally found, it doesn’t cost them much time and money to gather the materials.

Description

Houses are made without using mud, stone or brick. Locals just used locally available materials, such as, Khar, Pater, Bamboo, wood. The construction of the house is very basic and doesn’t take much time either. If they have to relocate to another place, it is quite easy to bring their house by separating different structures and carrying them on a tractor. Moreover, if the flood destroys the house it wouldn't harm them much as it is lighter and can float on the water. The only change that can be seen at present is very few use of concrete pillars while constructing the houses. These pillars are the byproduct of Trikhutti that is used to prevent the flood.

Images

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Caption:Foldable house in flood prone zone