Disaster response and risk reduction

Habitat focuses on working with local communities and local government authorities to provide permanent or transitional housing solutions to survivors of disasters. Habitat’s approach focuses on providing technical assistance and project management expertise to implement disaster response projects. Habitat houses or shelter kits are provided to them free of charge. However, families are encouraged to contribute materials (often salvageable items from damaged homes) and “sweat equity” to support the rebuilding of their homes and communities.

Habitat Bangladesh has implemented the following Disaster Response and Risk Reduction projects since the year 2007.

Transitional bamboo shelter from Bhuapur project

In mid 2007, heavy flooding affected various areas of central Bangladesh. In response, Habitat Bangladesh and HFH Japan jointly supported more than 600 people by building 122 flood-resistant houses with sanitary latrines in the Bhuapur Flood Rehabilitation Project. These bamboo transitional shelters were elevated four feet from ground level in order to withstand the floodwater.

In November 2007, Cyclone Sidr, Bangladesh's worst named disaster, killed some 3,500 people, injured tens of thousands and displaced 2 million. In particular, over 1.4 million homes were destroyed or damaged. In early 2008, Habitat Bangladesh implemented its Cyclone Sidr Rehabilitation Project with assistance from the Christian Aid Ministry. This project directly supported 2,400 people by providing 480 transitional houses with sanitary latrines to cyclone-affected families. This project also focused on knowledge transfer and awareness building. This involved developing relevant education and communication materials, conducted training on hygiene promotion for the 480 families, and delivered a public awareness campaign on disaster management.

In the end of 2009 Habitat Bangladesh started its disaster mitigation program building disaster resilience houses, transitional shelter, and training community people to build disaster resilience houses to minimize the cost and saving lives.

Sl. no	Projects	Financial Year	Number of Families served
			Structural	Non-structural
1	Bhuapur Flood Rehabilitation Project	FY 08	122	650
2	Cyclone SIDR Rehabilitation Project	FY 08-09	480	1000
3	Disaster Mitigation at Water logging area in Satkhira	FY 09	40	60
4	Community-Based Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness for most vulnerable community	FY 10	231	1000
5	Community-Based Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness for vulnerable communities in selected sub-districts of Bangladesh	FY 11	300	1860
6	Community-Based Disaster Mitigation (CBDM) and Preparedness for the most vulnerable	FY 11 -13	389	4020
7	Community-Based Disaster Mitigation and preparedness for vulnerable communities	FY 13	365	5430
8	Emergency Transitional Shelter and Technical Assistance Relief for Families Affected by the Tornado	FY 13 -14	59	44
9	Community-Based Disaster Mitigation (CBDM) and Preparedness for the most vulnerable	FY 14	98	2195
10	Emergency shelter relief for families made homeless by the severs storm	FY 14	52	137
11	DRR and PASSA Increase Community Resilience	FY 14	68	00
12	Community-Based Disaster Risk Mitigation (CBDRM) Program for the most vulnerable	FY 14 -15	200	6650
13	KIPO	FY 15	7	00
14	Cyclone Roanu Response	FY 17	47	2400
Total			2458	25446

Cyclone Roanu response: 2,400 families to receive shelter kits

Cyclone Roanu, packing winds as strong as 88km per hour, battered the coast of southern Bangladesh on May 21st, 2016, forcing families to flee their homes. 500,000 people were evacuated into shelters as the cyclone made landfall. The storm left 24 people dead from floods, landslides and collapsed houses. The powerful cyclone damaged approximately 83,978 houses and affected approximately 139,852 families in the impoverished southern coastal districts, with many low-lying villages inundated by a storm surge that swelled up to two meters high.

Responding to this disaster, Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh launched the “Emergency Appeal for Cyclone Roanu Project” at Banskhali Upazilla, in Chittagong District. The project aims to help families improve their shelter situation, and Habitat Bangladesh is now distributing emergency shelter kits to 2,400 families. As for the contents of the kit, each family will receive one hand saw, two types of hammers, one hoe, one shovel, one cutting knife, one kilogram of rope, two kilograms of steel nails, one woven sack, eight pieces of bamboo and two bundles of corrugated iron roofing sheets. Each family will also receive 1,000 taka to pay for transportation for the materials. This project is funded by the Disaster Relief Fund, by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and by an individual donor, Rajinder Kaur. Habitat Bangladesh built transitional shelters for another 47 families from the same area. The transitional shelters were funded by KOICA HA and Habitat Australia.

The district selected for this relief program is known as Chittagong, the most heavily damaged district hit by Cyclone Roanu. Habitat Bangladesh selected remote areas that were affected by Roanu, as these communities have many vulnerable families, whose houses were destroyed or partially damaged. Many of the families in this area live on government-owned land and make their living from day labor and fishing.
To coordinate program implementation, Habitat chose a partner organization known as YPSA, which stands for Young Power in Social Action. Based on the primary assessment list of 2,000 cyclone-affected families, Habitat Bangladesh staff verified a selection of families, to ensure that those in need were chosen to receive the emergency shelter kit support. This included ensuring that the families are residents of the target area, that they live in damaged homes, that they are willing to participate in their recovery, and that they are not receiving duplicate shelter support or other shelter assistance from the government or other private aid organizations.

Distributions to affected families are underway. The time frame for the shelter kit distributions is expected to be completed in a three-month time frame.