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Inset: Abandoned house used as
a cow shed. Below: Abandoned
government sponsored houses
in Bangladesh.
‘Build back better’?
The government of Bangladesh has been
popularising the slogan ‘build back better’,
since committing themselves to rebuilding
Sidr’s ruins. In the case of their housing
scheme, the slogan implies building stronger
houses that can withstand future cyclones.
If the government was right, it could bring
prosperity to the communities of Sidr. But, if
it fails, it could result in a massive loss of life.
In a stormy situation every single tin sheet could
become a spinning blade. Unfortunately, this
grave scenario is likely because Cyclone Aila
– which had one-third the strength of Sidr in
terms of wind velocity and surge height – struck
a few months after the housing programme was
accomplished; it partially damaged every single
house from this scheme. Thereafter, everybody
under this scheme received a small grant for
repairing their homes. Since these houses
became vulnerable to a weak cyclone like Aila,
can they withstand a super cyclone like Sidr?
If not, are we inviting potentially new risks to
the community?
During the last couple of decades, natural
Dushtha Shasthya Kendra
DSK (Dushtha Shasthya Kendra) is a national
NGO that followed a rather different approach
in helping people rebuild their homes from
ruin that was more inclusive of their needs.
They had a budget of 27,000 Taka per house,
which was less than half of the government’s
budget. They informed the beneficiaries of the
budget deficit and asked their advice on how
to accomplish the project with this financial
constraint. They also considered the issue of
extreme hot and cold conditions through the
use of excessive tin sheets and instead used
bamboo-fenced walls using tin only for the top
roofs.