Although Habitat for Humanity is interested in the provision of permanent housing, the disaster management program is designed to respond to transitional shelter needs created by natural disasters, man-made conflict or debilitating poverty. Habitat builds emergency, transitional shelters which are fully SPHERE compliant and meet other donor requirements, but which are also designed to be a core component for, and located at the same site as, the permanent house.  Habitat for Humanity International  incorporates shelter kits, tool boxes, and CI sheets as temporary shelter materials in the relief phase. These materials are then intended to be recycled for the rehabilitation phase when constructing long term  shelters.

Examples of HFHI-B Disaster Responses :

a)   Bhuapur Flood Rehabilitation Project (2007 - 2008)

In 2007, Habitat for Humanity International - Bangladesh successfully implemented  its first Disaster Response Project in Tangail, Bangladesh, in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity Japan (HFHJ) and Japan Platform (JPF).  HFHI-B and HFHJ has jointly built 122 bamboo transitional shelters which were elevated four feet from ground level in order to withstand the flood water. A total of 546 direct beneficiaries were impacted by the project in two unions; Arjuna and Nikrail of Bhuapur Upazilla in the Tangail district.

b)  Cyclone SIDR Rehabilitation and Sanitation Project (2008 - 2009)

In 2008 the Cyclone SIDR Rehabilitation Project increased security for a total of 1,857 lives by building durable transitional shelters. HFHI-B provided 480 houses with sanitary latrines to cyclone affected families across two SIDR-affected districts. Many of the children of impacted families have now returned to school; parents are working and earning money. An aspect of the project focused on knowledge transfer through a community-based disaster mitigation awareness program, with more than 500 men and women participating in 11 training sessions.

HFHI-B developed Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials, conducted training on hygiene promotion for 480 families, and undertook a public awareness campaign. A major supporter of this project were the Christian Aid Ministries (CAM), who donated funds and provided 280 volunteers for two weeks at a time who worked alongside the impacted families to rebuild their homes. Other generous financial contributions for this project came from Habitat for Humanity Great Britain, Habitat for Humanity Netherlands, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Chevron Bangladesh.

Go to: Core Program, Community-Based Disaster Mitigation

Cyclone SIDR rehabilitation