Case Study November Ketsana Relief and Rehabilitation in Kampong Thom and Ratanakiri, Kingdom of Cambodia

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1 Case Study November 2012 Ketsana Relief and Rehabilitation in Kampong Thom and Ratanakiri, Kingdom of Cambodia

2 PROJECT INFORMATION front page: Typical housing unit in Kampong Thom Province top: the KETSANA cyclone and its deadly path The country The disaster The response The objective Cambodia is a country located in the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula in SE-Asia. It has a landmass of 181,035 km 2 and a population of 14.8 million. The official religion is Buddhism. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes.[6] The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural centre of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. Rebuilding from decades of civil war, Cambodia has seen rapid progress with economic growth of 6.0% for the last 10 years. Typhoon Ketsana made landfall in Cambodia on September 29 th, At its peak intensity it reached wind speeds up to 165 km/h. The weakening typhoon struck northeastern Cambodia as one of the most severe storms ever to lash the country, with the worst damage in the provinces of Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, Siem Reap and Oddor Mean Chey, Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri. Death tolls reached 43 people. More than 66,000 families were forced from their homes by floodwaters. This is an area where, even before the disaster, most communities lived below the poverty line. The Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) requested the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) to support their reconstruction initiatives in Ketsana affected villages. SRC decided to assist in the rehabilitation of housing in Kampong Thom and Ratanakiri. This decision was made following first relief activities carried out by the CRC and an inter-agency assessment led by the Government of Cambodia and the official request for assistance of the CRC. The project aimed at re-constructing 111 family homes in the above stated provinces with local constructors labour and active follow up and monitoring by CRC and SRC. The overall goal of the project was to re-install/ improve the living conditions and reduce vulnerability of the Ketsana affected families. The specific focus was directed to the provision of affordable, cyclone resistant, sustainable, socially and environmentally friendly homes for 67 families in Kampong Thom Province and 44 families in Rattanakiri Province. Water supplies and separate toilets were provided by partner NGO s. The beneficiaries were carefully selected with a clear criteria and an endorsement of local governmental authority in regards of their land title, their status to poverty as they could hardly generate sufficient income to re-build dwelling.

3 BUILDING DESIGN top and left: save, cost efficient and attractive design background: Housing unit in Ratanakiri Province Learning from tradition Complete homes Working approach Economic performance Vernacular architecture was not seen as a style, but as a system of knowledge. The lessons learnt from it are based on the sophisticated structural frame of the traditional wooden houses in rural Cambodia. Due attention was given by the architect to design housing units that are suitable for the climate, social and cultural aspects and the sustainability of the environment. Design and planning consider safety (cyclone proof structure), sustainability (environmentally-friendly) and social responsibility (saving the community) as inseparable. It incorporates the construction of autonomous and appropriate houses built with locally available materials which can be easily replicated. Each housing unit is provided with access to a drinking water supply and a toilet, thus creating a complete homes. Most of the beneficiaries had no experience of a hygienic sanitation system. The provision of WatSan infrastructure goes hand in hand with knowledge dissemination to the villagers with respect to maintenance, health and disaster mitigation programs to enhance ownership. The funding for these WASH components was done by partner organizations facilitated through Cambodian Red Cross. The operational management was done by CRC, closely monitored by SRC. Technical support was provided by Skat through regular monitoring visits before, during and after the construction. For the construction implementation a mixed owner/ contractor built approach was applied. The structural frame including roof was built by contractors, while the doors, windows and other fittings were done by the beneficiaries. The key parts of this mixed approach include people s participation in the construction process; customization of houses to accommodate beneficiary aspirations; meeting stringent technical safety standards; beneficiary satisfaction and ownership. Access to the remote villages was often difficult and increased construction costs. In response, well known, field proven technologies with low maintenance requirements were applied. The expected lifespan of the buildings is 30 years. The new houses fit very well into the existing village architecture. Beneficiary satisfaction is very high. Also, local authorities are very pleased with the support to the most vulnerable population. Against this background the provision of cyclone proof houses at around US$ 2000 per unit is seen as exceptional compared with common reconstruction projects.

4 Contact addresses: Swiss Red Cross Rainmattstrasse 10 P.O. Box 3001 Berne Switzerland Tel (0) Cambodian Red Cross 16 A, street 652/271 O Bek Kaam, Sangkat Toek Laak 3 Khan Tuol Kork Phnom-Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia Tel: info@redcross.org.kh Skat Consulting Vadianstrasse St.Gallen Switzerland Tel (0) info@skat.ch

5 PROJECT DATA Function: Post Disaster Reconstruction Location: Provinces of Kampong Thom and Ratanakiri, Cambodia Funding: Swiss Solidarity and Swiss Red Cross Project implementation: Cambodian and Swiss Red Cross Architects/Engineers: Skat, Switzerland Construction implementation: Contractor built Water / Sanitation: Contractor/Owner built Years of construction: 2010 / 2011 PROJECT INFORMATION Plan Living Floor Plan Ground Floor Longitudinal Elevation Cross Elevation Longitudinal Section Cross Section PROJECT SCOPE Number of houses built: 114 Number of villages served: 5 Built-up house area, incl. veranda (in m 2 ): 47.8 BUILDING COST AND MATERIALS USED Cost / house, incl. veranda, excl. window shutters: US $ Cost / m 2, incl. veranda: US $ 40 Structural frame: local hardwood Foundations: reinforced concrete Walls / Floors: local hardwood Roof: cement fibre sheets

6 Disaster risk reduction through improved vernacular construction methods Traditional way of construction Improved cyclon proof solution UNIQUE FEATURES The stilts of traditional houses often lack solid cyclone and flood proof foundations. The improved solution includes wooden stilts fixed in a wind resistant manner on solid pre-fabricated footings made of reinforced concrete. Often the corner joints of traditional houses are poorly done. As a result the structural frame cannot resist strong winds. Much higher resistance can be achieved by introducing simple corner joints with grooved beams. In traditionally made joints single floor beams are penetrating the columns resulting in a low load bearing capacity. The improved solution shows twin floor beams grooved into the column without weakeing. King posts with simple jointed roof beams as introduced in the improved solution increase resistance against wind forces. At the same time they reduce wood consumption. Rafters of traditional roofs are often not properly fixed to the roof structure. By adding simple steel angles the roof becomes cyclone proof.