The project goal is to rebuild the houses in the village with an earthquake resistant technique.

The materials (sand and cement), the material transport, as well as specialized Nepalese workers for the stone cutting work (from the District Okhaldhunga) will be provided. The houses are going to be rebuilt in cooperation with the villagers. The interior decoration of the houses as well as the provision of natural stone and wood is in own performance of the villagers.

On 29^th of May 2015 we visited the village to evaluate the destruction of the houses. The village counts 31 households with total 117 inhabitants. 87 % of the private houses are completely destroyed. Further two common buildings (monastery and former school building) are collapsed. The shower house which Sunaulo Sansar built in 2014 is intact.

At the end of September 2015, the detailed building plans with documentation of various possibilities to stabilize the houses (seismic belts / corner reinforcements), layout planning as well as important information and recommendations by the project group is completed. The project group who supports Sunaulo Sansar NGO consists of 13 volunteers (civil engineers, architects, carpenters, geologists, environmental scientists and marketing specialists) from Switzerland, as well as the engineers without Borders Switzerland (INGOG).

In the period from 23^rd of September to 6^th of November 2015 the demolition of the collapsed houses has started. The inhabitants of the village were included in the respective processes. The first training for the villagers regarding the earthquake safer design was given in October on spot. The measurement of ground and detailed documentation took place. The ground for the modal house is prepared for foundation.

We had to stop the volunteer service on 6^th of November 2015 due to the border blockade to India (for a total of 4 ½ months from the end of September 2015 to 05^th of February 2016) and poor supply situation in Nepal (lack of fuels and cooking gas, closure of cement factories in the Terai region). At this time the reconstruction works were at a standstill. The necessary materials such as cement and sand could not be transported to the remote Langtang Area due to the lack of fuel. In addition exorbitant black market prices and overpriced material costs led to this decision.

In December 2015 the government published the new Building Code, which is the basis for getting the building permission for earthquake resistant houses: http://www.dudbc.gov.np/uploads/default/files/0ef9f3598df115407ae9ed4e7bfab24a.pdf

In January / February 2016 the inhabitants of the village completed the necessary training (organized by GIZ – www.giz.de  Society for International Cooperation, Nepal) on earthquake restistant construction in own responsibility and received the respective certificates.

At the end of February 2016, the oral agreement for the construction of two model houses in Brabal was issued by the chief district Officer (CDO) and national reconstruction Authority (NRA) office in Dhunche.

Since end of March 2016 specialists from Okhaldhunga District support the villagers in stone cutting work. The District headquarter in Dhunche gave the permission to cut wood (per household on tree) in the Langtang national park for the housing construction.

After the construction of the model houses, the total cost for the completion of a house as well as the time frame for the construction phase will be evaluated.

Expected Results and Sustainability of the project

Start of the project: September 2015
Restart of the project: March 2016

Estimated end of the project: December 2017 / 2018