BAM COMMUNITY REHABILITATION AND SAFE BUILDING AND TRAINING PROGRAM

Project Summary: The program assisted over 5000 earthquake victims in Bam / Iran through activities targeting the rehabilitation of a challenging neighborhood (marginal, with high rate of drug addiction and unemployment), through community-driven clean-up and repair activities; also through raising community awareness of the health and environmental hazards arising from the inadequate housing and sanitation and the debris removal. A third section of the program consisted of the promotion of safe earth building technologies (Hollow Compressed Interlocking Earthen Blocks – using local material), through blocks production, hands-on-training for construction artisans and the construction of 2 pilot core housing units. The core houses were exhibited in Bam and constitute options for reconstruction for the victims of the earthquake. After official tests and mitigations, IBC has also received from the Iranian Government, the Approval Certificate for the earthen reinforced technology.

Project Goal: Supporting the victims of the earthquake to restore their lives, through neighborhood rehabilitation initiatives, promotion of safe building knowledge and health & environmental awareness.

Project Beneficiaries: The program addressed a number of almost 5.000 earthquake - affected persons in Bam / Iran.

Implemented Activities:

Rehabilitation of a marginal neighborhood, through community-driven activities:

3 NICs (Neighborhood Initiatives Committees) were established in the community;

The neighborhood (with 250 families) was cleared of debris and the regular garbage collection was ensured (garbage boxes were placed in the neighborhood);

A safe place was created (kindergarten type) for the children of the neighborhood, dealing with 150 children (between 4 and 12 years old);

A small vocational training center was sat-up for income generating activities for women (sewing & tailoring), with 30 women active;

A sewage drainage well and an washing place was established in a central place of the neighborhood;

In the winter period, 185 families in the neighborhood received electrical heaters and 100 school children received winter jackets;

Raising community awareness on health and environmental hazards arising from the inadequate housing and sanitation etc.:

4 One-day Workshops have been organized in Fajr Student Summer Camp - Dehbakri village – Bam with 140 students;

3 Mobile workshops about waste management for children, held in Park Seyed Tahir Aldin in Bam, in Imam Reza camp, with 150 children; 3 mobile workshops on water, in the same locations, with around 200 children and also 3 workshops on personal health care, with over 250 children via a comic play;

“ROTAB Regional Newsletter” was published in two volumes with 1000 copies, about environmental and health issues, news of the neighborhood etc.;

33 Football Matches were organized in Seyed Taher Aldin Zone – part of Ramadhan Cup;

More than 500 Class Schedule Cards with Environmental paintings were distributed;

The “Analyzing Bam Environmental Situation- Problems and Solutions” workshop was held in Mahdiye high school in Seyed Taher Adlin, at the end of the Project;

Promotion of safe earth building technologies through the training of construction artisans and the construction of pilot core housing units:

2 demonstration houses were built & exhibited in Bam with Hollow Interlocking Compressed Stabilized Earthen Blocks;

29 peoplefrom Bam were trained in blocks production and construction with interlocking earthen blocks, by using the Aureka machines;

1000 issues of the User’s Manual on Safe Building with Interlocking Blocks were published and disseminated to the related bodies involved in reconstruction in Bam / Iran (the Manual was elaborated by the architects Mehul Savla - IBC coordinator in Bam and Satprem Maini – UNESCO Chair and manager of Earth - Institute in India);

The Hollow Interlocking Stabilized Earthen Blocks technology, introduced by IBC, was tested by the Standards Institute in Iran and officially approved by the Iranian Government, through the Certificate issued by the BHRC (Building and Housing Research Centre of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development) in Teheran.