Kurt Rhyner  (sofonias@compuserve.com)

This project concentrated on the Department of Baja Verapaz, a hard hit area in the centre of the country, somewhat off the beaten track, where no other agency was supporting reconstruction projects.

Based on the social work of the church (as liberation theology had created popular organisations), we started a practical education program to demonstrate that possibilities do exist to improve the security of adobe houses while keeping costs within the reach of the poor majorities. A team of adobe-builders was trained and we built a total of 150 houses (through guided self-help) in dozens of outlying villages as well as in the neighbourhoods of the small towns. In a nutshell, it was reconstruction in a sustainable manner, concentrating on setting examples of earthquake resistant houses that are affordable to the general public. The project was mobilised and totally financed by Caritas Switzerland. The major beneficiaries were the 150 poor families who had lost their homes in the earthquake. However, 18 masons who learnt a new trade also benefited, with several of them later working as village masons, benefiting more poor families with affordable and safe construction.

The project was based entirely upon popular participation. The "new" ideas about building with adobe, but improving the technique and workmanship did not find much enthusiasm at the beginning and, therefore, a careful and slow build-up of confidence was needed. Through this process, a deep commitment to the project developed with many of the beneficiaries and all organisational decisions were taken in the management group that composed of beneficiaries and masons with the project manager being the only outside person included in the team.

The project as such was finished in 1979. However, a follow-up evaluation in 2001 has revealed positive results, for which we have obtained co-financing through Caritas Switzerland and Basin network partners to publish the results. We are currently seeking funding to further divulge the results, especially in El Salvador after the earthquakes of recent months, for which activities two small Swiss organisations have expressed interest.

The preliminary report of the interdisciplinary team from the Guatemalan National University is very encouraging. No technical problems have been detected and the social organisation has yielded other results in several villages (drinking water, community buildings, etc.).

This evaluation is very important, as in neighbouring El Salvador a series of earthquakes has caused much destruction and the heated discussions on the safety of clay buildings is again under way. We plan to propagate the results of this investigation in Salvador and organise reciprocal visits of some of the Baja Verapaz community leaders and decision makers in Salvador.

Most publications about "earthquake resistant buildings" propagate "improvements" that are either not proven, or are costly, or both. The fact remains that for many poor people in the Third World, clay is their only chance of building a decent house. This project has been based upon the findings of a UN-funded analysis ¹  of the devastating Peruvian earthquake of 1970 and has made empirical checks on those findings prior to starting the construction process. The thesis is that it is deficient workmanship and disregard of basic construction principles that have caused the majority of failures in adobe buildings. Therefore, the project concentrated on improving those deficiencies through practical and theoretical education as well as the construction of houses that are replicable (affordable) by the majority of locals without outside financing. Until 1980, three more housing projects were built using the same technology and since then an unspecified number of houses have been constructed by the people themselves or by hiring a village mason using some or most of the improvements taught. The printed manual produced within this project ²  has become a standard of adobe-literature and its drawings have been copied into dozens of publications, lamentably in most cases without giving credit. At this moment, in the current adobe discussion in Salvador, it is being used prominently. In several countries, housing projects have been built (by NGOs) based directly on this manual (Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, Dominican Republic).³  q