Marathwada Trail Day 1

I do  not want books, toys, clothes; I only want a toilet in my house!

“I forced my parents to build a toilet in home.  I told them that toilet is my first demand and then the school, books, dresses and toys. It was difficult to convince my parents, initially they ignored me but when I came to demand and stuck on it ,my mother supported me and requested my father to fulfill my demand and now we have a toilet at our home” shares Puja.

Puja is a 10 years old girl, living in the Malumbra village of Latur district. It is a relocated village in the aftermath of the major earthquake of 1993. In the rehabilitation process people did not construct toilets with the housing unit. Maximum people still go outside in the open to defecate. One day Puja heard a RADIO program about importance of toilet and hygiene and how these could be constructed with minimum cost using alternate technologies. She felt motivated by the programme and convinced her parents to build a toilet unit at home. She proudly says this my toilet!

Reconstruction initiatives

Malumbra village is a good example of participatory housing reconstruction work. With the support of Sahyog Nirmitee a local NGO, community members took the initiative to rebuild their village on their own after they were reduced to rubble in the earthquake in 1993..

Malumbra village is situated in Ausa taluka of Latur district, appro. 55 km from the Latur. Due to the earthquake, it was totally destructed. Up to 90% houses were completely damaged.  Sahyog Nirmitee has been working in Latur district since then and after earthquake it came forward in the support of Malumbra village community.

Community decided to relocate themselves from the existing village to a new site. With the help of initial grant from the government, community purchased land with the help of Sahyog Nirmitee. Financial support was mobilized through PLAN International. It was found that, the support was insufficient to build a house planned by the community, hence it was decided by the community to reuse the existing building material, and contribute labor to manage the funding gap.

Site planning and house design were done in a participatory manner, incorporating the existing and emerging needs of the people. Seismic safety was considered as an important consideration for design and construction. The new settlements have wider roads for disaster evacuation. For construction of houses, heavy materials like stone were used up to sill level and light materials like lighter materials such as bricks for walls and tin sheets for roof were used in upper part of the building to ensure safety of individuals at the time of earthquakes.