The Pakistan floods of 2022 were unprecedented in their magnitude, and wreaked havoc in Sindh and Balochistan provinces in Pakistan’s south. More than 1,700 people died, with 33 million affected and more than 8 million displaced. Nearly 900,000 homes were razed.1
- 1. [Yasmeen] Lari, Pakista’s first woman architect, designed the bamboo homes in 2005 after an earthquake devastated Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Distribution of the house model was expanded to flood-hit areas of Sindh province, southeastern Pakistan, in 2011, where the foundation built at least 1,000 of the houses in Khairpur and Tando Allahyar districts as part of her housing programme she dubbed “green shelters for all”. Her work in humanitarian architecture led Lari to be awarded this year’s Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Lari’s housing model is based on the concepts of self-building using locally sourced materials and through teaching the community house-building skills. These allow the community to actively participate in building disaster-resilient homes and keep – and spread – the skills within the local community, rather than rely on outside help. To encourage self-reliance, HFP focuses on supplying skill and materials rather than financial aid. “The moment you start giving people a handout, that is the end of their own dignity,” Lari says. Disaster victims “are displaced, not handicapped; teach them the skills and they’ll do amazing things.”
As communities confront the gargantuan task of rebuilding, and amidst looming threats of more climate change-induced disasters battering the Hindu Kush Himalayan watershed, experts are emphasising the importance of climate-resilient, flood-proof structures in the region, which is home to 240 million people.
This is particularly important due to the poor state of the current housing stock and infrastructure. “Houses and infrastructure were built in areas with no-zoning laws, in low-lying areas and flood paths. Or, where the laws existed, they were ignored due to weak governance,” explains Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, an expert on climate change in Pakistan. He adds that construction standards “were all weak and poor… [They were the] same as in the colonial era, and had not been upgraded. That’s a primary source of vulnerability.” Sheikh notes that corruption is also to blame for inadequate housebuilding standards.
On top of the devastating loss of life, poorly constructed homes have had far-reaching economic impacts for Pakistan. Of the USD 30 billion in losses from the 2022 floods estimated by the government, USD 10 billion accounted for private losses that included housing, while around USD 7 billion was from damaged infrastructure like roads, bridges, power stations, educational buildings and hospitals, says Sheikh.1
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- 1. In Sindh, the government has established a not-for-profit company, the Sindh People’s Housing For Flood Affectees (SPHF), to build “resilient” houses made of cement and reinforced concrete. It disbursed USD 727 million allocated for reconstruction, USD 500 million of which was a loan from the World Bank. The funds are used by the beneficiaries to build their own houses with guidance from masons engaged by the company. Since February, “SPHF has successfully disbursed funds to 1.8 million out of 2.1 million beneficiaries. Construction is in progress for 100,000 houses at various stages across Sindh,” Khalid Shaikh, director of SPHF, told The Third Pole in September.
