Flood-affected families: Lari plans to build emergency shelters for 1m households

KARACHI: Pakistan’s first female architect, and CEO of UN-recognized Heritage Foundation Pakistan Professor Yasmeen Lari on Monday said she has launched an ambitious housing project – Lari Octa Green (LOG) Emergency Shelters for the immediate recovery and rehabilitation of 1 million households affected by the recent catastrophic floods across the country.

Talking to Business Recorder on the sidelines of a media briefing event titled ‘How to build resilient communities, immediate recovery and rehabilitation of 1 million households’ at a local hotel, Lari said the project is cost-effective and environment-friendly, spotlighting traditional and vernacular architecture.

To a query, she said that for a unit for one family it would need only Rs 40,000. This unit includes bamboo shelter, with eco-toilet, water, solar power, and stove, plantation etc.

“The project has already been executed. We will have one million houses erected by the end of 2024, if the funding provided.”

She said she believes that funding is available with NOGs; they can come up, and work on our model.

“I have divided the whole flood affected area in different hubs, and every hub would have five thousand houses. We have trained workforce. We are providing them (NGOs and those interested in relief work) every information, and telling them where and how should they build such emergency shelters,” she said.

The LOG shelters are cost-effective and they can easily be built with local environment-friendly material, by engaging the affected people, as they are being trained on the model project.

Earlier addressing the media briefing organized by her Foundation, she said that ‘the 2022 floods’ have wrecked havoc with the country as a vast area of land turned into water pools. Some 33 million people were displaced with 5 million families without shelter, and over 10 million children exposed to diseases.

Lari said she has worked for flood relief in the past too. In 2010, and 2014, during similar circumstances, she assisted in constructing thousands of these bamboo huts and they withstood by flooding.

“No to handout, yes to self reliance,” Lari said adding she has been making efforts to empower communities for post-disaster development with women in the lead. Empowerment instead of handouts, self reliance instead of dependence, partners instead of victims, and above all skill training and capacity building is the need of hour to take the country out of the existing socioeconomic quagmire, she said.

Zafar Masud CEO Bank of Punjab, on this occasion, said Yasmeen Lari’s motto is to keep intact the self-respect of the flood affectees. He said the PoB is also engaged in the project. He said the BoP has a proper funding plan including a small component of microfinance.

He said funding is a secondary issue, the primary issue to skill development, and the commitment on the ground with people. He said the BoP has also built some model LOG houses in Sindh after taking inspiration from Lari’s model housing project.

He said the BoP built some 75 houses before the 2022 floods; all these houses withstood the flooding. It was phenomenal. Our teams went there and witnessed the situation by themselves. We launched ‘BoP Madadgar program’.

He said flood devastation is huge, even the government has no capacity to cope with it. We all have to come forward and play our due role, he said. Other banks and corporate sector should also come forward and work for welfare of people in the need of hour. The BoP remains committed to such non-commercial projects. Our team is committed to serve the people in need, he said.

The BoP believes in women empowerment. “Without empowering 50 percent of the population, our country can’t progress. We have launched a number of women specific initiatives,” said Zafar Masud.

Safeeyah Moosa, CEO of Spiritual Chords, who has came all the way from South Africa to contribute her part to heal the plight of flood-hit fellow Pakistanis, also expressed her commitment towards humanitarian work. She also pledged to build the LOG shelters in the country.

Dani and Ramu two guests from Punho Colony village, Mirpurkhas also attended the event.