Transit shelters vis- a -vis temporary shelters - Annie George

"Spend adequate time in designing and developing transit shelters that are locally appropriate, technically safe and add to the sense of well-being of the family." -Annie George, BEDROC, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India

The only blot on how Tamil Nadu responded to the post-tsunami rehablilitation was the temporary shelters created. Given an impossibly short time frame, of 14 days, to move affected communities from the relief camps, the Administration was forced to go in for shelters that could be built fast with readily available material. The result? Bitumen sheds which was impossibly hot during the summers and fragile enough to tear during the monsoons. The initial cost of Rs. 8000/- per unit then had to be repaired twice at an incremental cost of Rs. 4000 - 6000/- each monsoon, apart from raising of the floors, rebuilding of the toilets etc. bring up the cost to Rs 24,000/-, which would have been enough to build a sound transit shelter. This would have been safer, healthier and certainly more conducive in giving the affected communities a sense of dignity after the harrowing trauma that they had just faced and were struggling to cope with.

Given the fact that shelter reconstruction, as has been seen after many such disasters, takes four to five years for completion, it is only fitting that we spend adequate time in designing and developing transit shelters that are locally appropriate, technically safe and adding to the sense of well-being of the family. In the long run, this is also cheaper as the communities can themselves handle the small repairs and maintenance work. Involving the communities in the construction of their own shelters will also contribute to their temporary income generation as well as build up their capacities on maintenance and future works required if they want to make changes in their own shelter.