Project Bhoomika Brings Hope to God’s Own Country

Project Bhoomika brings a new lease of life to families in a village in Alappuzha, Kerala, after the devastating floods of 2018. Sajini Sahadevan tells us the story behind this disaster-resistant technology that is cost-effective as well.

Rohini Madhu’s face lights up as she looks out of the window of her new house at Pandy Thuruthu, a strip of land that extends into the river. The house, a modest structure constructed using ferrous cement technology, stands on stilts. At the entrance from the waters, tethered before every house in the area, is a canoe.

Long-time inhabitants of Pandy Thuruthu say the region is slowly sinking, given its fragile environment, surrounded by the national waterways, and the Achankovil and Pamba rivers.

Located in Cheruthana village of Alappuzha, a district in Kerala, South India, famous for its agrarian economy, Rohini’s is one of ten houses under Project Bhoomika that have provided a new lease of life to families in the district after the devastating floods of 2018. Project Bhoomika was awarded the HUDCO award, winning first place in the 2023-24 disaster resistant/ cost effective technology category.

Used to regaling in its ‘God’s Own Country’ tagline which Kerala’s tourism department promotes in their alluring campaigns, the state is bearing the brunt of climate change in unprecedented ways.

The floods of 2018, the biggest in Kerala’s history in over 90 years, were just the beginning. According to the National Institute of Disaster Management, 433 human lives were lost, 1 lakh houses damaged in urban areas alone and 6 lakh in the villages of districts across Wayanad, Thrissur, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. The last most catastrophic floods to affect the state till then was in 1924.

What began as a seasonal monsoon downpour quickly turned grave as the rains which began on August 14, 2018 continued unabated till the 19th. Thirteen of the 14 districts became flooded, leading to the shutters of dams in several districts being raised.

Despite the scale of this unprecedented disaster, the state won hearts for the way in which people from all walks of life came together to volunteer for relief and rescue operations. Apart from the Indian Air Force, rescue personnel comprised fisherfolk from neighbouring districts who came of their own accord, fibre glass boats in tow, to navigate the long winding lanes to people who were waiting on rooftops or stuck indoors watching as the water levels rose. The state’s large expatriate population sent relief supplies as well as GPS co-ordinates to helpline centres. From private agencies to non-profits, help poured in from all quarters. A movie inspired by the floods, ‘2018: Everyone is a Hero’ was India’s official entry to the 96th Academy Awards.

Many Minds Unite

One of several such non-profits, Trivandrum Runners Club (TRaCS), was a part of rescue and relief operations from the start. NS Abhayakumar, a senior architect and founder of TRaCs, was also on the core committee of the volunteering community Anbodu Trivandrum (in Tamil it means ‘With Love, from Trivandrum’) that was formed overnight for relief support.

It comprised several well-known personalities including social entrepreneur Shoba Vishwanath, government officials and leaders of private sector companies. Together with the 1992 alumni architecture batch from his alma mater College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET), based across India and abroad, Abhayakumar turned his attention to providing a permanent solution for the flood-affected. They chose Alappuzha which was as severely affected as Wayanad and Idukki.

“Alappuzha is highly disaster-prone but poses far more challenges because of its low-lying terrain, unlike the other two which are in mountainous territory,” he says from his studio AAA Creatives in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, which formed the central hub for executing the project.

After the waters receded in September, Abhayakumar and a group of volunteers visited the same areas where they had arranged for relief supplies the previous month through a local volunteer group at the height of the floods. The objective was to interact with residents and take samples of the soil for testing. “Residents in Cheruthana village told us how flooding is a perennial problem as it is below the mean sea level. The area is surrounded by four rivers and flooding is a recurring event. We wanted the residents to have access to flood-resistant houses,” he says.

A team comprising social workers and architects surveyed the region over the course of a week, where they met 125 families, understanding the extent of damage, documenting affected sites and collecting information about them. He sought the expertise of senior structural engineers such as UC Ahmed Kutty, retired HOD of TKM College of Engineering, Kollam to conduct a thorough assessment. The project called for a disaster-resistant technology that was also cost-effective.

Meanwhile, Shobha ran the plan by social innovator Verghese K Jacob, CEO, Byrraju Foundation, who roped in Indian private company Godrej & Boyce. Employees of the conglomerate had raised funds to the tune of INR 42 lakhs by setting aside a day’s wages exclusively for the flood-affected. The company was keen on supporting an initiative like Project Bhoomika.

A Cost-Effective Solution

Each house for the Project Bhoomika was to be built on the plots belonging to the chosen beneficiaries. Unlike other housing projects, the beneficiaries were not expected to relocate from the place they called home for the entirety of their lives and start afresh elsewhere.

“We did not want to uproot them. This is where they earn their livelihoods from,” Abhayakumar adds.

It was decided to adopt a technology used for the construction of ferrocement water storage tanks. Made of cement mortar, ferrocement is reinforced with layers of woven or welded wire mesh. On occasions, an additional wire hoop reinforcement is included for extra strength. With cost-effectiveness an important factor, the 400 sq ft plan with two bedrooms, erected on nine one-metre-high pillars cost INR 5 lakhs per house. All the wall panels, pillars and well rings were pre-fabricated and transported by boat to the sites where it would then be erected. The individual preferences of the families were also included in planning the layouts of the houses.

The given budget would accommodate 10 houses. Another round of selection ensued, preference being given to families with single women breadwinners, physically or mentally challenged individuals and the like. A 12-member team comprising architects and civil engineers came together for Project Bhoomika making Haripad the local base for the project. More sponsors such as Ramco, Kajaria and CERA came onboard, providing cement, tiles and sanitaryware respectively.

With paperwork for permits and accompanying hurdles overcome, a target was set to complete the houses in 11 months. A foundation-stone laying ceremony was held on November 4, 2019. Miniature models made at the Thiruvananthapuram office were presented to each family after they were briefed on the details of the house. Engineering colleges in the district were invited to send students for a hands-on experience during their semester breaks. “We wanted the local community to be a part of the project,” Abhayakumar says.

As construction picked up pace, COVID hit in March 2020, with a lockdown in place soon after. When work resumed in September the scenario had changed – two lockdowns, site after site becoming containment zones, a large population of migrant labourers in the region having headed home and the increase in cost of construction materials.

The project team at Haripad, however, stayed on, reaching the sites on scooters and canoes, and rescheduling work depending on what surprise each day held. There was also the monsoon season to brace for with each passing year. The team kept note of the average mean sea level each time.

By November 2022, the houses were finally handed over to all ten beneficiaries.

“The hope is that the same model can be replicated in other places that have been affected by floods so that people don’t have to relocate or start over every year,” Abhayakumar shares.

Photographs Courtesy Project Bhoomika.