Summary of our work in Southern Pakistan (DFID - IOM - Heritage Foundation) where over 400,000 families lost their homes.

1. Reconstruction after 2011 Flooding – Sindh A DFID-Funded project through IOM with Heritage Foundation

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

4. Without a ring beam the heavy girders “point load” onto specific points on the wall causing it to crack, buckle then collapse

5. This conventional / brick and mortar wall is vulnerable because there is NO ring beam beneath the heavy steel girders!

6. A typical house in lower Sindh. The top of the wall is not protected by the roof – making it vulnerable to monsoon rain getting in, weakening and eventually causing the walls to collapse. By extending the eaves further out this would be resolved

7. This house has already been rebuilt – without technical advice so the building is once again vulnerable to collapse in heavy rains. For this reason, technical training is one of the best ways to build resilience to future floods / heavy rains. Training should take place in as many communities as possible, using “hands-on” learning, re-building at least one house properly – as reference for the rest of the community. Rain will flash in here and weaken the wall Point loading by this beam will cause collapse of the weakened wall

8. A typical roof in lower Sindh: weak and bearing directly onto the walls (& no ring beam to distribute the weight).

9. 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

10. Bamboo rafters placed at around 50cm centres on top of the bamboo girders. This roof offers greater structural integrity than the popular model of two steel girders and widely spaced bamboo rafters. It is also much cheaper. Girder Rafter

12. These roofs are far stronger than typical roofs made from steel girders and bamboo poles (partially because of the shorter distances between each girder & rafter). So they can be used as “refuge platforms” in case of future flooding (or to grow food, store stuff, etc.). This is a good example of innovation, building resilience and value for money!

13. Local kids with architecture students from Karachi who should be proud of their voluntary work within these communities. And Carmen, from UN-OCHA whose coordination facilitated this programme

15. Critical DRR measures: house on raised platform, lime-strengthened external plaster, roof protruding over walls with longer eaves than usual

17. Technical training delivered by Heritage staff and volunteers (student of architecture from Karachi)

18. Proud of their new homes, some people are decorating them – showing their pride and ownership

20. Experimenting with low-cost bamboo construction for a temporary school based on similar building systems

21. Yasmeen Lari, co-founder of Heritage Foundation – who have been working with bamboo and lime for 5 years in Kashmir, Swat valley and Sindh

23. The critical elements to affordable, flood resistant and sturdy homes: bamboo and lime (also have far lower environmental impact than brick, other timber and cement)

26. These houses have been in the water for over 3 months – and are still standing. This is testament to the capacity of well-built earthen walls to withstand flooding. As the pitched roofs have sufficient eaves, the top of the walls were also protected, preventing collapse.

27. Same community, different angle

28. In the same community this roof has collapsed. Probably due to poor wall construction and lack of ring beam; water may well have infiltrated through thatch roof into top of wall.

29. Typical construction technique in many parts of Sindh: walls are built around wooden posts, plastered with earth. These posts should be raised off the ground or placed in a lime-concrete bed to protect them from fungus and rotting.

30. A reed house from the same community already under reconstruction. This will be covered with mud plaster on both sides of the walls, upon which the roof will be placed. Strategic technical advice provided now could greatly increase the resilience of this building.

31. This shows how heavy roof beams without a ring beam have caused the walls to buckle and crack. They are also trunks from mature trees – which led to further deforestation in the area, something that should be avoided.