Hunnar Shaala Foundation for Building Technology and Innovations, Bhuj, India
(A Registered Not-for-Profit Corporation

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Socio-Technical Assessment of Post Tsunami Reconstruction in Tamilnadu

Post-tsunami reconstruction in Tamilnadu was marked by large scale NGO involvement within the framework established by the Government of Tamilnadu through various Government Orders and Technical Guidelines. This framework was based on NGO taking up different villages of reconstruction under coordination of the District Collector and building as per the plans and design as per the technical guidelines and CRZ regulations. Local Panchayats and coastal communities in general did not have a defined systemic role in reconstruction process. The technical guidelines were based primarily on modern materials and knowledge systems and did not recognise traditional artisanal practices. The perceptions and premise on which this framework of agency led reconstruction was established did not seem convincing to Hunnarshala. Hunnarshala in its effort to explore ways to strengthen the policy environment and make it more facilitative of community involvement and promote region specific indigenous habitat solutions decided to take up the socio-technical assessment proposed by UNDP and Government of Tamilnadu.

The assessment was taken up in three parts. The first assessment report was prepared in May 2006 covering three districts affected on east coast i.e. Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Villupuram. This assessment report helped in making overall analysis of the post tsunami reconstruction and arrive at a set of recommendations that were discussed and finalised after deliberations with various experts in a workshop on July 11, 2006. The assessment was made more comprehensive with second part covering four other affected districts – Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Kanchipuram in September 2006.
In April 2007, another round of assessment was planned to understand follow up on recommendations from earlier reports and derive recommendations for second phase of housing reconstruction planned by the Government with the World Bank funding. The third part of the assessment covered Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Kanchipuram and Kanyakumari.

The overall analysis from the assessment suggested that quality of construction in general was quite good but extent of community involvement was very low. This was also constrained due to use of concrete based technologies involving high professional skills instead of artisanal knowledge, extremely high costs and relocation of settlements. High demand levels had put pressure on extraction of materials and often led to scarcity of good quality materials. Relocation also had created a temptation for some of the community members to have two houses possibly and there was likelihood of low occupancy or some alternative use of the houses in such cases. Assessment showed that there were confusions about appropriate sanitation options in the coastal context. The district administrations had good monitoring mechanisms in place and were getting regular progress updates on reconstruction. The third report also assessed ecological and energy aspects of reconstruction particularly with regards to site planning and use of construction materials. Reconstruction had not incorporated aspects of backwaters, deltaic flooding & drainage and the ground water balance for site planning and infrastructure provisioning.

Hunnarshala reports recommended inclusion of more materials and technologies that were in use in the region traditionally so that people have wider options to build safer habitats with their own resources and skills. An independent monitoring and support mechanism was also proposed to strengthen coordination by district administration and achieve desired objectives. Issues of plot allotment and infrastructure provision needed to be addressed to enhance community participation and ensure satisfactory occupation of new houses. With regards to basic services, it was important to focus on community managed solutions that take geographic and climatic factors in consideration. These assessment reports provided specific suggestions on technical guidelines, site selection and planning, house design, construction management and monitoring, social involvement, provisioning of basic services, etc. for making the reconstruction process in Tamilnadu more participatory and sensitive to local communities and culture. The detailed assessment reports can be downloaded from the following links