Natural calamity resistant houses

A research team from Brac University's Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) has perfected the design of a floating house that is flood-resistant and made of bamboo, wood and plastic barrels. The cost of the initial house was Tk 10 lakh because it had to be rebuilt a number of times to perfect the technique and three kathas (1 katha = 720 square feet) of land had been used. Now it's possible to build it on 1.5 kathas which brings down the cost to about Tk 5 lakh. The house is built to withstand flood waters, storms and earthquakes as strong as 8 on the Richter magnitude scale. The first example of this house allows for rearing 216 chickens, growing 4,500 vegetables using the hydroponics method and farming about 1,000 fish through aquaculture.

This facility is a most commendable effort, which is built with material that is widely available and environment-friendly. Our local government authorities should build this design in several char areas on a test basis to see if it lives up to the promise of being the floating dream house with income-generating potentials. And if the design is a success, we should go for nationwide building which will benefit our climate-vulnerable communities. The government should also provide monetary help, particularly to people living in the more vulnerable areas, to build the new type of weather resilient houses.