At the end of October and beginning of November, Marc Bechet and Jean-Claude Raimbault, members of ANUVAM, accompanied by Vincent Peña, the project manager who had already led the reconstruction of a house in Lapsibot (Nepal) in April 2016, travelled to the village of Rapcha to prepare the reconstruction of 6 houses, which will start in January 2017.
An illustrated account of the trip can be found in the downloadable document below.
A charity event organised by the EESC-CdR Staff Committees
Initially, our resources will not allow us to help more than 6 families. We will therefore choose them from the list provided by the MIC. Our friend Shokhal, who has been a competent and endearing cook for many of us on treks and who finds himself in this situation, will be one of them straight away, given his generosity (he donated his land for the construction of the dispensary). Marc Bechet and Jean Claude Raimbault will be visiting the area in October, accompanied by Vincent Pena, who has already worked as project manager on a similar project in Lapsibot for our friends from the MOINA Association. They will validate the families’ choices, introduce Vincent, explain our approach and prepare the worksite (demolition schedule, choice of site if it has to be modified from the old house, possibility of recovering materials, ordering wood, sheet metal for the roof, etc.). They will also decide on the purchase of good quality basic equipment (shovels, picks, trowels, etc.) and small power tools in Kathmandu.
This equipment will be left with the community for future rebuilding. They will donate half of the sum allocated to each family for these purchases, and the balance will be paid on completion of the work.
They will also study the arrangements for demolishing the first floor of the school building and the project to rebuild the Bodu school, which has not been abandoned but simply postponed.
In this way, the work will start at the beginning of 2017 (before the period of work in the fields, which requires a lot of manpower), under the supervision of Vincent Pena, from Asherman, and with the participation of the masons who trained at Lapsibot at our request.
We are continuing to meet with students, architects and engineers on a regular basis to validate a construction model so that local residents can adopt and reproduce this model of earthquake-resistant construction using local human and material resources.
We are also looking at ways of preserving water resources (recovery, storage, distribution). In line with our mission to improve health conditions, we will also be subsidising the construction of chimneys to evacuate smoke outside, in order to prevent eye and respiratory pathologies caused by smoke from the traditional central fireplace; these will be integrated into rebuilds or added to existing houses. Similarly, our initial exceptional effort to provide medicines following the earthquake and the resurgence of illnesses caused by precarious housing conditions has been extended. The 1,000-litre tank for the dispensary will be installed in the coming weeks, as soon as the state of the tracks allows it to be transported.
We are continuing to pay the salary of the science teacher at Basakhali Secondary School.
Next steps:
To achieve this, we need to remain mobilised and active in order to raise the funds needed for these actions.
B.Simonet on 04 September 2016
A concert to support our reconstruction work in the village of Rapcha – Basa.
20 June 2016, Opening of the exhibition
“Rebuilding in Nepal, an earthquake-resistant training site
created by students at ENSAL (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Lyon).
Supervised throughout the academic year by Philippe Garnier (from CRAterre) and François Fleury, they presented their research work, which focused on the use of local cultures (materials, techniques, know-how), to their teachers, members of the ENSAL administration and members of the associations with which they had worked.
A delegation from our association was present and presented the students with katas (light scarves given by the Nepalese as a sign of friendship and thanks).
“REBUILDING IN NEPAL: AN EARTHQUAKE-RESISTANT TRAINING SITE
EXHIBITION
FROM 20 JUNE TO 20 SEPTEMBER
AS PART OF THE “LYON 2016 CAPITALE DE LA TERRE” EVENT
The anti-seismic standards recommended by the architects and engineers with whom we have been working for the past year have been complied with to the letter.
Testimonies on the website: follow the link >
Philippe Mussot’s photo exhibition on the Himalayas from 4 February to 5 April.
Location:
CFDT building
Avenue Simon Bolivar, Paris 19ème
Opening on 4 February at 1.30 pm
With the participation of ANUVAM
Read the stories of the local people by clicking on their names.
Marc Béchet
