Lessons from Central America

1976 – 2013

revisiting post disaster projectin Guatemala

Kurt Rhyner

Central America is the subcontinent with most natural disasters

Earthquake in Guatemala

February 4, 197620,000 people killed

4 months after the earthquake, the project starts in a “forgotten” part of the country, Baja Verapaz.

Task: Permanent reconstruction with local materials Teach technical improvements to local buildersImplement recommendations from the Peruvian earthquake 1970

Adobe was highly questioned by authorities and people were afraid because of the damages suffered The project had to re-establish confidence in AdobeIt had to be embedded in a wide social movement

Results achieved :

150 houses built in 18 months, in 23 villages20 builders educatedInfrastructural and social improvementsIt became the base for similar projects in other places

After 1978 the human rights situation worsened, the social movement was threatened by government

repression and the project came to a standstill after a parish priest was killed and another exiled, some

beneficiaries went into hiding.

It was after 1993 and more than 100,000 people killed that Guatemala came to a situation of peace and

only a few years later people began to invest again in their future

A 2001 study found all houses lived in and all but one in good condition In 2013 we found most houses in good conditions and lived in, often by the second or third generation.In the urban context it is now impractical to build with AdobeIn the rural area Adobe is still a widely used material

Results and lessons after 36 years

User satisfaction

All visited houses are lived in and in good condition, maintenance is satisfactory (some painting needed), no structural problems have been encountered. About half the houses have been passed on to the next or overnext generation, several have been sold. They represent good value in the informal economy.

Results and lessons after 36 years

Beneficiary targeting

The task was to spread knowledge about safe Adobe construction to many places; 23 different villages participated, usually just one group of three to five families

They were all poor families who had lost their home and were prepared to work hard for a new one

Several of the self-builders later were included in the training program

Some families have made additions to their house

Results and lessons after 36 years

Replication

The project finished in the midst of an internal conflict with gross human rights violations, nobody dared to invest, many villagers went into hiding.

Some twenty years later the country came back to life.

In the rural areas Adobe still is a common option for construction. We have seen buildings where the improved technologies were used,like this rural school

Results and lessons after 36 years

Replication

In urban areas Adobe is not feasible any more, because :

Building codes do not accept Adobe as a load-bearing wall, they favour strongly reinforced concrete structure and masonry walls

No bank will grant credit for other types of construction, even the traditional burned clay bricks are marginalized

Land prices are soaring, multiple storey constructions are becoming the rule

Results and lessons after 36 years

Technical performance

The technology improvements were based on a UN-sponsored study after the 1970 Peruvian earthquake concentrating on :

● Solid foundations (rocks and concrete)● Square adobes for perfect bond● Corners reinforced with buttress● Good masonry work (thin joints)● Tie beam on top of the wall● Stable roof with good overhang

Those recommendations have been practised in several countries and have withstood sizable earthquakes

Results and lessons after 36 years

Livelihoods

Livelihood creation as such was not a goal, but the project concentrated on backing up existing trades

The project spent 67% of its funds on local production, 11% on national products (cement) and only 22% on imports (mainly steel, nails and fuel)

Clay tiles and timber were produced locally, often in the same village

Several of the trained masons made a living out of their newly acquired skills

Reflections

Small is beautiful

The project did not concentrate on efficiency or reaching high numbers, it was to create an impact in revitalizing local traditions......reassure people that they could to do it themselves

In the rural areas Adobe is still used and the150 houses of the direct intervention have stood well through almost 4 decades and still represent value.

The project has influenced several projects with hundreds of houses in Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Honduras

But times are changing.....urban growth and regulations are making self-sufficiency more difficult, mainly for the poor....Self-help has to take other forms !

Reflections

Modern communication has changed project management, 37 years ago most decisions were made locally, which allowed the project manager to listen to the “beneficiaries” and include them.

We could not ask headquarters for their opinion, they were simply informed of what was going on. This allowed for a dynamism that nowadays is not permitted.

It was easier to be in tone with the population than nowadays. We had to follow the philosophy of the project, but we took our own decisions, for good and for bad, but they were local !

Reflections

Today's communication facilities allows the funding organization to interfere in all decisions, local managers have almost no budgetary authority

Has those control mechanisms improved projects or have they simply created more bureaucracy concentrated in the donor countries ?

Today, in our organization we give project directors the decision power they need because it improves outcomes, And because our budgets do not allow for the extra staff