Housing Technology & Its Impact : Latur Earthquake Rehabilitation Maharashtra State, India

A Case Study

Prepared By Rajendra Desai & Rupal Desai NCPDP, 204 Santoor Apartment, Near Parimal Crossing, C.G. Road Ahmedabad 380009 INDIA Tel: 91 79 550 7841 Fax: 91 79 550 7842 e-mail RAJRUPA@hotmail.com

For Workshop on Low Cost Housing and Community Participation in Construction At Cebu City, Philippines. Organized By A.C.H.R. October 5, 1997.

Impact Of Inappropriate Housing Technology

Housing Technology & Its Impact : Latur Earthquake Rehabilitation, A Case Study
Background
Today for a literate Indian, almost anywhere in the country, baring a rare exception, if the word house reminds him or her of cement, steel and bricks then that would be only natural. This is so since, more than likely, that person belongs to an urban area of the country. There for the past few decades now, an overwhelming majority of buildings, houses and other, are getting built out of these materials. It does not matter if it is a single story house or a skyscraper. It does not matter if it is in Srinagar in North or Trivendrum in South. The common denominator is a construction technology based on cement, steel and possibly bricks. In the same urban area there are the poor, living in the slums, who build just like their counterparts in the villages out of any thing that they can lay their hands on in the surrounding environment. It is the urban waste such as wooden crates, metal drums, tin sheets, cardboard boxes, plastic sheets, woven polypropylene sacks etc. That they salvage since that is what their resources permit. But they all aspire to build using cement and bricks, and, if possible, steel. This has little to do with the availability of these materials in urban areas. On the other hand the housing scene is markedly different in the rural locales of the country. Most house owners, barring a few ve ry rich, and that too those who have come under much external influence, will think of what is naturally found in the surrounding environment such as stone, mud, timber, bamboo, leaves, grasses and bricks (which is nothing but transformed mud). This is a natural reflex since traditions, including that of house building, have been little disturbed in these areas of the country, even as the 20th century is coming to a close. This does not imply that the people do not aspire to build using cement and steel. The information flow through improved communication has also begun to affect their aspirations. But the resource limitation leaves most them little choice. In fact, most every one does aspire for cement and steel mainly because they are considered as the most visible signs of modernity and prosperity. Also wrongly or rightly these materials are seen as sign of permanence.

Vernacular Building Technology

The Vernacular building technology is essentially the technology that has evolved in a particular area over hundreds of years. In rural areas of our country and of other developing countries the house building technologies that one sees are the vernacular technologies. They have nothing to do with engineers and architects, and the modern sciences. But generations of wisdom and experience have gone in to them. They conform to the environment of their respective areas and, hence, depend entirely upon the resources available in each locale. They provide the most optimum solution towards meeting the building needs of a given area. Using todays clich, these technologies are Eco friendly since virtually all the materials used can be and are routinely recycled. The production of these materials cause, if at all, limited local environmental damage
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that can be repaired. Lastly, vernacular building technology is very much interwoven with the local culture. India with its diversity provides a wide variety of vernacular technologies. To name a few, these range from round Bunga (round mud house) of Kutchh region made of mud and scraggly Babul (Acacia) wood, to stone houses with stone slab roofs of arid Jodhpur in Rajasthan State, to elegant mud and thatch houses of Santhals in Orissa State, to earth quake and wind resisting bamboo houses in Arunachal Pradesh in NE India etc.

Cost Factor
The greatest advantage of the vernacular building technology is that it is within an easy reach of the masses and tends to remain within their easy reach over a long period of time. The cost of cement and steel based technologies rises faster than the vernacular ones since they are energy intensive. Energy is a scarce resource in our country. Its cost rises faster than the household income of an average Indian family. So a large number of households which can afford the cement/steel based technology today very likely will not be able to some time from now. On the other hand the cost of traditional materials and skills do not go up any where nearly as fast as those of energy, transportation and special skilled labour. The local materials entail little transportation cost if any. Often, the technologies are simple enough to utilise the self-labour of the house owners. The costs of local technologies are generally related to the cost of labour since the material preparation predominantly uses human power. The local transportation involves little use of fossil fuel such as petrol or diesel. Hence, from a long-term perspective the local technologies tend to remain within ones reach over a relatively longer period of time than those based on cement and steel. Propagation of these technologies would certainly help improve the housing scene. The houses made of the vernacular technologies do require more frequent maintenance than those of cement, bricks and steel. But the maintenance is easy and within the reach of the masses since it requires neither material nor skill which is not found locally. And it is cheap, and more so if one is putting in ones own labour.

Sustainability
The vernacular construction technologies are significantly more sustainable than the cement and steel based technologies because they.... make significant use of renewable resources, use materials that pollute little in their procurement and/or preparation, permit recycling of almost all the materials, do not lead to large scale exploitation of natural resources due their decentralised mode of application.

Hence, use of these technologies would ensure housing for the most number of people for a long time to come.
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Vernacular Marathawada Construction Technology

Marathawada is no exception when it comes to vernacular construction. With basalt stone being most easily available the stone masonry has been the preferred medium of wall construction. One finds most exquisite examples of stone construction in the villages. The roofs consist of a thick layer of soil laid on a timber platform. Timber is obtained from the locally found neem and babul (acacia) trees.

Marathwada settlement Traditional and stone mud timber houses.

Interior view of an introverted traditional house.

All necessary skills such of stone quarrying and shaping, carpentry and soil preparation are easily available locally. With the exception of the door and window hinges and latches, and little cement used for sealing the open joints in the masonry, all materials are locally found. As a result it is easy and affordable to maintain or repair the houses. Since the wall and roof, both, are thick, they insulate the interior very well, thus keeping it cool on a hot summer afternoon and warm on a cold winter night. Windows are tiny, if at all, to keep the heat out. Generally in every room a small 6X6 opening is provided in the roof for ventilation and diffused lighting.

Impact Of Inappropriate Housing Technology

The rainwater drains off the soil-covered roof since the soil layer is impervious. It is necessary to remove the weeds a couple of times every year to prevent water from seeping down. Any leak is tackled by simply placing a few inches of impervious soil. The stone walls are finished with mud plaster, at times followed by lime wash. Annual maintenance of these walls is very easy and entails little or no cost. In cooking area the walls are devoid of lime wash. Hence, the soot-covered walls are frequently finished in mud and cattle dung slurry to give a new appearance all the time.

Mud timber roof tilted by the quake.

Earthquake Rehabilitation Programme Houses

The vernacular Latur houses were made to face heat, cold, rain robbers and invaders, but not earthquake. As a result they succumbed to just a moderate earthquake. What is now required is to bring in features that would simply improve the seismic strength in these houses so that they can continue taking care of all other needs of the people while remaining within their easy reach. These features have been identified and well demonstrated by Ahmedabad Study Action Group, a non-profit organisation that has been working in Latur region for the past three years with the affected communities.
De-lamination in thick stone walls.

Unfortunately the massive rehabilitation programme which has essentially become a reconstruction programme has brought in construction technologies which tackle only the need for safety while sacrificing all other needs that the vernacular housing technology satisfies.
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With a wide variety of groups at work there is a broad range of technologies at work. The technologies could be listed as....

Geodesic domes Rehabilitation?

Corrugated Galvanised Iron sheet roof with false ceiling supported on hollow cement block masonry walls. RCC slab on hollow cement block masonry walls RCC slab on brick masonry walls RCC slab on RCC columns with brick or hollow cement block walls RCC slab on RCC walls
Sophisticated pre-cast concrete technology Going over board with safety?

RCC slab on Cast in-situ hollow core RCC walls RCC slab on walls made of pre-cast hollow core RCC panels Ferro-cement Geodesic dome These technologies are significantly more expensive than that based on local materials. As compared to US$26 ( July, 1994) per sq. m. as demonstrated by A.S.A.G. these cost US$70 to US$110 per sq. m. The problems posed by these alien technologies are as follows... High cost results in to very small, inadequate dwelling. Leaky RCC roofs require expensive water proofing. Todays CGI roofing degrades in five years. False ceiling invites rats and is difficult to maintain. Leaky RCC roof results in to rusting of steel bars which leads to breaking off of concrete from underside.
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 RCC roof causes hot interior temperature in summer nights. In is impossible for the villagers to drive nails in to RCC walls. Thus storage on walls including hanging is not feasible. In hollow core walls nails or screws simply do not hold. Thus storage on walls is not feasible
Quake resistant stone mud house - Appropriate option.

Hollow core slabs are already showing signs of rusting reinforcement. Geodesic domes have little sound and heat insulation. It is difficult to create partition under geodesic domes for privacy for the occupants. Geodesic domes often develop temperature cracks which results in to rain leaks. Complicated and expensive tar felting is required to make them water proof. All the above options make the construction of seismically safe extension to the house difficult and expensive. The geodesic dome permits no possibility of expansion at rural level. The plastered whitewashed walls and ceilings darkened by soot from wood burning stoves are difficult and expensive to maintain.
Adobe construction with enhanced seismic resistance - Even poor can have safety.

Large windows will bring in a lot of heat in summer and a lot of cold in winter

Impact Of Inappropriate Housing Technology

Proud owner of retrofitted house knee braces for added seismic safety.

Preparation for roof level RCC band on stone mud wall.

Taking care of all of the above problems is beyond the rural skills and resources. They will result into long term hardships that the people will have to simply bear. The houses that can not be maintained will degrade rather rapidly.

Retrofitted stone wall with RC bond elements to prevent delamination

One more drawback of these modern technologies is that they contribute very little, if at all, to the rural economy since the money invested in cement, steel and special skills end up some where far away. The house construction is an economic activity that simultaneously creates employment. By resorting to technologies that depend upon distant resources the activity contributes little to the local employment scene. In other words large-scale construction as in Latur area had resulted into large scale unemployment of the traditional artisans.
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Expensive technologies use up scarce national resources for the benefit of far too few households. Technologies more efficient in Indian context could benefit many more households. Yet another critical issue is the water requirement of these technologies. In area like Latur which is almost always water starved, being in the rain shadow of Western Ghats mountain range, has little water to spare for cement based construction. Hence, the water available is rarely adequate for curing needs. This leaves the structures significantly less strong than they are expected to be. Such weaker structures degrade rapidly with time and may not be able to withstand the elements such as rain, wind and earthquake. In short the wrong choice of construction technology results into.... Long term hardship to the occupants, shorter than th designed life of the structure, Reduced safety of the occupants, Drain of local resources, Local unemployment Uncertainty about future housing, Inefficient use of scarce resources.

Rajendra Desai, Consultant for Housing & Disaster Mitigation Ahmedabad Study Action Group Ahmedabad, Guj, India. May 1997.

Impact Of Inappropriate Housing Technology