Flood-resistant housing

Adapting to climate change in Bangladesh

For many poor people in Bangladesh, severe flooding has become a way of life. Year after year, the floods destroy homes and crops, often hitting the poorest, who live in the charlands of the delta where the Himalayan waters flow towards the Bay of Bengal. Last year, flooding in Bangladesh killed over 700 people, damaged four million homes, and wiped out over a million hectares of crops.

Most of the deaths were not due to drowning, but to disease, spread by the shallow stagnant water that covers everything. But there is a simple answer.

Practical Action has worked with communities to develop simple and affordable flood-resistant housing. Simple ideas, like a two-foot high concrete plinth, which will prevent a house being washed away. Walls made from jute panels that cost very little yet are quick and easy to replace. Or portable hen houses, that mean a family's valuable assets can be safely removed from the waters.

For a few years now, Practical Action has been working with local communities in Bangladesh to make their homes flood resistant. The people are poor - who else would have to put up with the worst land, and such difficult circumstances? - yet the 'house design' we've developed with the community is within anyone's grasp, with just a little help.

Below you can see all the different methods we've found - from new ways to build walls to techniques for mixing soil and cement together - and the way in which everyone in the community does the work to make the improvements happen. Each one draws on local know-how, and the materials used are readily available and highly cost effective. Together they are designed to ensure that, though the floods come and go, the house will stay standing.

The result? Last year, we helped many families protect their houses with methods like these. Each and every one of the houses came through the monsoon floods unscathed.

For the Mollahs, just one of the families we've already helped, it is a dream come true. "Before, when the rain came, we wouldn't sleep," Mr Mollah remembers. "We were terrified, but now at last we can live our lives in peace." And with their home intact, the family can bring in their crops, send their children to school, and keep their businesses running. Their whole livelihood can continue, grow and thrive.

Year after year, floods threaten the homes and livelihoods of thousands of people in vulnerable parts of Bangladesh. Yet a few simple, cost-effective improvements can help a house to stay standing throughout the monsoon season.
	Jute panels make resiliant walls that cost very little yet are quick and easy to replace. Treated bamboo poles on concrete bases are strengthened with metal tie rods to hold the wall firm and safe. For all the walls in ten houses, the materials cost £62.
	A plinth raises a house up. Made from soil, a little cement and some pieces of stone and brick - strong and high enough to last through repeated floods, unlike the traditionalearthen floors that simply wash away. £31 pays for the casting and finishing for two floors, as well as the small amount of cement used.
	Animals are considered in the plans too. Crucial to the family's welfare, poultry and livestock have a separate area in the improved houses, to improve hygiene - and the henhouse can be picked up and carried to safety, out of the way of the floodwater.
	Bracings and fastenings bind the walls firmly to the house 'skeleton' through a network of holes and notches - locally called a 'clam system' - and the whole building can stay standing through the strongest of winds and rain. Nuts and bolts, screws, ties and nails for 20 houses come to just £120.
	Water-thirsty plants are set around the house, such as bamboo, banana, hogla and kolmi - they 'drink up' flood water and hold onto the soil, helping the whole homestead stay intact. Most plants can be found growing wild locally, but a little people power is needed to get them in place.

Related projects

Floating gardens in Bangladesh
Much of the land in the Gaibandha district is covered by water during the monsoon season, making it impossible to grow crops. Practical Action has developed a technology to allow farmers to grow food on flooded land.

Preparing for floods in Nepal
Early warning systems, protective shelters and strengthened river embankments can help to reduce the impact of disastrous floods in Chitwan, Nepal.

Adapting agriculture to climate change in Sri Lanka
Salt water in Sri Lanka's coastal rice fields is a problem getting worse as sea levels rise. Practical Action's work has included farmer-led trials of traditional and modern rice varieties which are saline-tolerant.

Coping with climate change in Nepal
In order to address the adverse impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities, Practical Action Nepal has been working in Chitwan to identify and develop adaptation and coping strategies.

Increasing the resilience of poor communities to cope with the impact of climate change This project aims to increase the resilience of 37,000 men, women and children from vulnerable communities in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to cope with, and adapt to, the impacts of climate-induced hazards.  It builds on Practical Action's existing experience of working with natural disaster-prone communities in South Asia, bringing together issues of poverty reduction, environmental and natural resources management, disaster risk reduction and climate change. Read more ...