Resilient homes: Bhoomika Trust built 105 houses for those whose huts/ thatched roof houses were damaged during Chennai Floods 2015

As part of the Rehabilitation of the flood affected and creating disaster resilient homes, Bhoomika worked in a few locations to build houses. Bhoomika worked with a team of young Architects to create housing models to be adapted on a standardised basis. The models were developed by the architect team in consultation with the community.

Community Participation was considered to be the key to restoration and Bhoomika’s team built extensive community rapport to identify common issues in all the areas that were taken up for infrastructure creation. The community participated in the building activity.

Manamathy Village, Kancheepuram district

Manamathy is a village located in Thiruporur Block of Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu. Manamathy is located 14kms away from Thirupporur towards Thirukkazhukundram. Bhoomika Trust had provided relief materials to one of the affected clusters during Chennai floods 2015.

As part of its rehabilitation efforts, Bhoomika built houses in place of those severely damaged in the floods and an abandoned well was completely restored. A total of 26 houses each of about 240 sq ft with RCC slab roofing and 4 houses of 150 sq ft with sheet roofing were constructed and handed over.

RCC Slab roof – 26 houses

Sheet Roof –  4 houses

Manjankaranai Village, Thiruvallur district

Manjankaranai in Uthukkottai of Thiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu has a total of 296 families residing. This is from 3 clusters consisting of Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Class and Backward class. Manjankaranai village has lower literacy rate compared to Tamil Nadu. There were about 20 houses all of which are thatched houses with mud walls. During the floods in 2015 the huts got badly damaged.

To provide shelter to those whose homes were damaged, we built 16 houses each measuring 150 sq ft with sheet roof and handed them over to the beneficiaries. The land allocation and construction approvals were obtained from the local government bodies before the commencement of the project.

Arumbakkam Village, Thiruvallur district

Arumbakkam village is a small hamlet in Poondi taluk of Thiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu. This village which is one of the affected areas in the floods of December 2015, is about 65 kms away from Chennai and situated near the Poondi reservoir. The main occupation of the villagers is fishing in the Poondi reservoir. There are around 138 families living in three clusters in this village.

During the floods in 2015 several thatched huts with mud walls were badly damaged. We completed the construction of 12 houses each measuring 150 sq ft with sheet roof and handed them over to the beneficiaries.

Melkanagampattu Village, Kancheepuram district

Melkanagampattu is a village placed in Thiruporur block of Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu. Located in rural region of Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu, it is one of the 90 villages of Thiruporur block of Kanchipuram district.  Melkanagampattu’s population is around 483.  Bhoomika Trust had provided relief materials to one of the affected clusters in this village during Chennai floods 2015. This cluster which was badly affected consists of 13 mud wall, thatched houses.

Bhoomika Trust built 11 houses each measuring 150 sq ft with sheet roof and handed them over to the beneficiaries.

Saeniyarmedu Village, Kancheepuram district

Saeniyarmedu is a small hamlet in Acharapakkam,  a panchayat town in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu. Twenty Five families reside in this hamlet having a population estimated at about 90. Bhoomika Trust had provided relief materials to this hamlet affected during Chennai floods 2015.This hamlet had 16 mud-walled and thatched houses all of which were completely damaged.

We completed the construction of 16 houses each measuring 150 sq ft with sheet roof and handed them over to the beneficiaries.

Samathuvapuram Nagar, Mudichur, Tambaram

Bhoomika visited this Periyar Samathuvapuram nagar, Mudichur, Tambaram in 2016 after the Chennai floods where several families became homeless overnight. Most of these residents were resettled to this area two decades ago from near Ramapuram with a small piece of paper as proof of their entitlement to live here. They were living in thatched huts, when water rose upto 8 ft in this area during the floods. They came back and built temporary structures fashioned with tins, flex banners and old sarees tied around poles. A concrete structure seemed like a dream to them.

We completed the construction of 20 houses each measuring 150 sq ft with sheet roof and handed them over to the beneficiaries.