Restoring appropriate sanitation services in Bam

Following a powerful earthquake in Bam, Iran in December 2003, local authorities coordinated the many agencies providing emergency sanitation services. The dilemma for all agencies in such situations is to balance providing assistance quickly with working to accepted international standards while involving the beneficiaries themselves. Difficult decisions need to be made fast.

One of the agencies involved, Oxfam GB, was assigned an area on the urban periphery, consisting of 13 villages in Zone 12, where 20 to 50 percent of houses had been destroyed. Although local authorities and some other agencies decided to order and install prefabricated toilet cubicles, Oxfam opted to rebuild or renovate brick structures using local materials and human resources. This was a viable option because of the conditions in Zone 12 – including that some toilets were still working (although only one for every three to five families).

Even so, around 3,000 people in Zone 12 were living in very precarious conditions – no home, shower, toilet (shared or private) and often no livelihood. The lack of toilets and showers was among the most common complaints from the affected population, particularly women, for whom privacy was a particular concern. Plans for reconstruction prioritised poor families – whose toilets were more likely to have been destroyed – particularly those headed by women and households with disabled or elderly members. The objective was one toilet for each family, while up to five families could share a shower.

Many factors affected this strategy choice:

• The government had learned from previous earthquakes, and promised to grant affected families loans to allow them to rebuild their houses. Many families were already planning and starting reconstruction of their homes, so offering to reconstruct private toilets and bathrooms was of valuable assistance.
• Local resources (building materials and labour) were available and the community and authorities expected to be involved.
• There was no reason to rush into installing prefabricated structures as there were a sufficient number of usable toilets and some showers were still intact.

It is easy to forget lessons learned when under pressure to deliver fast results. The importance of building on local capacities in disaster response is well known, but top-down strategies are often preferred in order to save time. This time experience informed the activities of both the local authorities and Oxfam:

• The general co-ordination scheme organised by the authorities had a very strong influence on the efficiency of the assistance provided. It allowed for better sharing of resources, the establishment of clear responsibilities, and the avoidance of duplication.
• Relying as much as possible on resources that could be found within the community was the appropriate choice for Oxfam’s sanitation programme. The role of community leaders was reinforced and professionals had a source of income.
• Repairing or rebuilding toilets and showers could have occurred in some other areas of Bam, but was rarely considered because the process was believed to be too slow. Yet, in the end, Oxfam’s programme was executed as fast as programmes that sourced and installed prefabricated units.

Source(s):
‘Restoring sanitation services after an earthquake: Field experience in Bam, Iran’, by Jean-François Pinera, Robert A. Reed, and Cyrus Njiru, Disasters, 29(3), pp222–36

Funded by: Oxfam/WEDC

id21 Research Highlight: 17 March 2006

Further Information:
Jean-François Pinera
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Loughborough University
Loughborough, LE11 3TU
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1509 223748
Fax: +44 (0)1509 211079
Contact the contributor: j.pinera@lboro.ac.uk

Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), Loughborough University, UK

Robert A Reed
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Loughborough University
Loughborough, LE11 3TU
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1509 223748
Fax: +44 (0)1509 211079
Contact the contributor: r.a.reed@lboro.ac.uk

Other related links:
'Putting disaster risk reduction at the heart of development'

'Stopping crises from becoming catastrophes'

'Coping with catastrophe: enhancing community capacity to respond'

Benfield Hazard Research Centre

'Disaster mitigation and preparedness: too important to be left to governments?'