BUILDING BACK BETTER AND SAFER:Ensuring sustainability through people-based development

Philippine Press Institute (PPI)Seminar-Workshop on Sustainable Construction Reporting in Partnership with Holcim Philippines

Presentation based on the experiences of Bohol Local Development Foundation, Inc. (BLDF) 25 May 2016 | Metrocentre Hotel, Tagbilaran City

Extent of Damage - 15 October EarthquakeSource: PPDO, 1st Week, November 2013

Areas Dead Missing InjuredTotally

Damaged Houses

Partially Damaged Houses

Bohol Province 211 8 877 13,402 65,815

Antequera 15 1 28 1,123 2,160

Angilan, Antequera 0 0 0 109 121Pangangan 0 0 0 204 582

Lawis, Pangangan 2 0 2 94 63

How the House Build Project Started

Our NGO, Bohol Local Development Foundation (BLDF), saw the need to move from relief work to rehabilitation, and to get into this phase as quickly as possible.

For rehabilitation to begin, families must move out of tents into more secure housing, which may be temporary or transitional, to keep family members safe, especially the children, the elderly, women and the differently-abled.

BLDF’s Key Objectives

To help homeless families build for

themselves a transition core house or temporary

shelter.

To work with target families on the idea of a core

house that is expandable, flexible and possibly transferrable to safer ground if need be.

BLDF focused on relatively remote communities hard hit by the earthquake in the province

Key Profile Data

Angilan, Antequera Angilan in Antequera is one of the off-the-

main-road barangays of the town with rugged terrain and very few flat lands.

Many houses are built along mountain slopes, if not in narrow valleys. Houses

were totally damaged either by land cracks, sinkholes or landslides caused by the

October 15 quake.

Profile Data - Angilan, Antequera

4.2• Average household size (smaller compared to the Lauis partner family beneficiaries)

2• Smallest household size

8• Biggest household size

52.2• Average age of household head

36• Youngest

78• Oldest

Profile Data - Angilan, Antequera

1/3

of the population has farming as a

means of livelihood

6 or 40%

Carpenters

1

Driver

1

Laundrywoman (household

head)

2 out of 15

Housewives

Profile Data – Angilan, Antequera

All of their houses were totally damaged by the quake and most of them did not want to return to the area where their damaged houses were located.

All of them wanted to relocate to a safer place. They wanted to contribute construction materials, mostly salvaged from their damaged houses; six carpenters were among the homeless.

Majority of the families , 12 of the 15, indicated Php 6,000.00 as likely in-kind contribution from each affected family in terms of labor or materials .

Key Profile Data

Barangay Lauis, Calape Pangangan is an island of eight barangays located off the coast of its mother

town, the Municipality of Calape.

It is connected to the mainland by a land bridge.

Barangay Lauis is one of those eight barangays in the island.

As in many small islands, the terrain is almost uniformly flat; after the quake, one can see cracks and sinkholes almost anywhere one looks.

Profile Data – Lauis, Calape • Fishers24 or 54%

• Icemaker1

• Security guard1

• Retiree1

• Housewives3 out of 24

• Carpenters3

• have no stable job3

• youngest household head is32

• oldest80

• working age group (belonging to the 32-60 age bracket)79%

• ages 60 years old and above21%

Profile Data – Lauis, Calape

Average household size5.4

Smallest household2

Biggest household10

households have 6 members5

households have seven members each5

All of the 24 houses were totally damaged by the quake and no longer livable.

All 24 household heads expressed desire to return to where their damaged houses were or somewhere near these houses.

Only two out of 24 each manifested desire to build in an area that is far from a sinkhole and at the back of the chapel.

Most them or 87% are owners of the lot on which they plan to build a core house build.

The rest (13%) would like build on the lot owned by a relative.

Profile Data – Lauis, Calape

Rehabilitation Process

Meeting with partner families

Planning and consultation

Relatively remote areas

Barangays with most number of

totally damaged houses

Purok-based

Target Beneficiaries: (1 Project Site) 27 families with totally destroyed houses

Children; 75

Women; 35

Other Group

(Elderly/Differently-abled); 15

ChildrenWomenOther Group (Elderly/Differently-abled)

Program Strategy

Help families build progressive core houses in support of the recovery efforts

Help them move out gradually to normal family and community life after living under tarps and tents

Help restore their confidence, encourage long-term planning and provide a more secure and healthier shelter option for vulnerable family members (children, women, elderly and differently-abled)

Help the families resume their normal ivelihood activities after the provision of better shelter

Consulting with Partner Families

Would you like to go back or be relocated?

What kind of house do you prefer to build?

What salvaged materials do you have?

What do you think should be done?

How do you intend to start it?

Planning with the community

Presentation of proposed house models Consultation with local carpenters

Calculation of costing; decision on the design per house

Building the initial houses to test strategy and boost confidence

Angilan, Antequera

15

Lauis, Pangangan Island

24

Identifying Priority Families

Criteria Households/families with elderliesHouseholds/families with childrenFemale-headed households/familiesWith salvaged materials

Preparation Inventory of skilled and semi-skilled carpenters

Maintenance of families of carpenters In Pangangan, parish priest took care of this; in Calape, the LGU paid for the salaries.

Angilan, Antequera (Implementation Strategy)

Families clustered into 5 for each group

Each cluster elects a

coordinator

Coordinator manages the building of the

houses

Each cluster plans for the

maintenance of families of

carpenters – rice

requirement

House Build Targets

Angilan, Antequera

•3 houses simultaneously built•5 carpenters for each house•15 days

Lauis, Pangangan

•5 houses for a 2-week •partnership: skilled and semi-skilled carpenters

Milestones

From 21 Nov. 2013 when the first house was built for an old couple, Bernardo and Expedita Morata, to 31 July 2014, the agreed cut-off date for the Bohol Quake Assistance fund drive, the

project was able to partner with 150 families in relatively remote families in:

Lauis, Calape -

54

Angilan, Antequer

a – 17

Viga, Antequer

a – 27

San Isidro,

Calape – 11

Talisay, Calape –

3

Magtongtong,

Calape – 9

Madangog, Calape

– 8

Bood, Maribojoc

– 17

Montana, Baclayon

- 4

Milestones

The Project was able to demonstrate that:

• a community-based approach to shelter assistance has the potential to get quake victims out of tents and other makeshift structures to avoid health risks and threats to security while waiting for permanent housing

• the significant involvement of families in the building of their homes strengthens self-esteem and helps overcome feelings of helplessness and despair

Milestones

• local assets (skills and resources) could be identified to promote informal employment and sustainable livelihood to further ensure sustainability of inputs at family and community levels;

individuals and groups respond to appeals for help if there is a transparent process in place that accounts for donations and shows concrete results based on stated goals;

Milestones

• committed local leadership is key to achieving community cooperation in addressing common problems;

Indeed the people and the people are the real heroes but it takes patience and perseverance to reach their heart and soul for development .

KE

Y P

AR

TNE

RS

Community-Based Shelter Assistant Project

Presented by: Nestor Maniebo PestelosPresidentBohol Local Development Foundation, Inc. Email: npestelos@gmail.comGraphics by: Ms. Daidee Padron, Secretariat, Bohol Rehabilitation and Rebuilding Program (BRRP)Diocese of Tagbilaran

THANK YOU!

For more information: Read: Old Warrior’s Poems and the Bohol Quake Assistance Story by Nestor Maniebo Pestelos and Milwida Sevilla-ReyesVisit: www.localdevbohol.orghttp://www.facebook.com/bohollocaldevelopmentfoundationhttp://www.facebook.com/oldwarriorandotherpoems https://www.facebook.com/boholquakeassistancehttp://www.nestormpestelos.blogspot.com/https://www.bldf.blogspot.com