Owner Driven Reconstruction model developed during the rehabilitation of Kutch earthquake affected persons is fast becoming a popular model for rehabilitation of disaster affected people in India and abroad. The latest in the list is Bihar where the World Bank has agreed to fund the construction of one lakh houses based on the ODR model.
Sandeep Virmani who has been closely associated with the development of the Kutch model said that the World Bank liked the concept and has agreed to help finance the construction of one lakh houses. These houses are for the people affected by the flood in Kosi River in 2008, one of the worst disasters in Bihar. Sandeep Virmani is an architect by profession who is devoted to the cause of community life development by passion.
He said that one of the unique features of the Rehabilitation of the 2001 Kutch earthquake affected persons is the Owner Driven Reconstruction. This gives owners greater freedom in deciding about the construction. At the same time the Kutch model makes sure that all new buildings are disaster safe. Sandeep Virmani is working in the Kutch district for past two decades or so.
Explaining the concept in detail, Sandeep Virmani said that in the Owner Driven Reconstruction, the owner gets money for the reconstruction. He has a support mechanism for the construction of the house. It deals with technical help in the construction of house of certain fixed safety parameters relating to natural disaster.
In Kutch, Sandeep Virmani said, the houses are basically with seismic safety. In the case of Bihar, three kinds of disasters have been taken into account. They are floods, winds and seismic disasters. These three play important role here. In the ODR local needs and skills are also taken into account, he said.
Talking about Kosi rehabilitation, he said that the region is known for masonry skills of its people. They build houses of bamboos and bricks. The technical support package has taken both of these aspects into the consideration. In short, Sandeep Virmani said, you can have house of any shape, size or design. But it must have uniform technical strength to meet any kind of natural disaster.
He said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar liked the idea and gave go ahead signal. Until now the affected persons were given relief only, he said. Though some feared corruption and misuse of money to be directly given to the beneficiaries, Nitish Kumar was very keen on the decentralized construction concept. Three stage payment and the responsibility of local people of the area works as a check on this Sandeep Virmani said.
He is very appreciative of the approach of Nitish Kumar for the real Owner Driven Reconstruction model. At other places, Sandeep Virmani said that they had to convince authorities of the importance of the ORD and the need for faith in people in using funds for their houses. With Nitish Kumar, it was otherwise, he said. He wanted to involve in a bigger way.
For Sandeep Virmani and others involved in the development of the model, it is a constant learning exercise. He said that in the case of Kashmir everything was excellent up to the construction of 30,000 temporary shelters. The construction of permanent shelters was taken up after two months turned out disastrous. Beneficiaries were paid lump sum amount and there was not check to ensure that they really built the houses. The ultimate situation is anybody’s guess.
World Bank will sign an agreement with Bihar government on January 19. For the technical support and smooth flow of the ODR teams have been set up, he said. There is a team of two masons and a social worker for every 200 houses and one engineer for every 1,000 houses.
In post Sunami period, he said, 8,000 houses were initially built on Kutch model by people from Kutch. Later on local NGOs took up the task. In the case of Iran, Kutch model was adopted partially.