Request floated by founder of INTBAU Pakistan, Prof. Yasmeen Lari urging people to contribute to her Shelter Program for flood-hit families in Sindh, INTBAU Pakistan decided to take up the challenge of raising funds for 1000 shelters. Architect Yasmeen Lari’s video message laid out the specifics and technicalities of this initiative. Those interested in contributing to these ‘Prefab Bamboo Shelters’ (Rs: 25,000/- per unit), could review this self-explanatory video and proceed directly to donate – or send an email to any Trustee, indicating their interest, which many people bagan to do almost immediately.
Areas were earmarked mostly in Sindh and a few in Balochistan, based on accessibility, need, and requests pouring in from the flood victims. By Sept 16, two production lines were in operation – one in Punno Village (Chambar) Mirpur Khas and the other in Makli (Architect Yasmeen Lari’s Z3C centre) which had already been functioning for some time now. 1000 donor-funded Emergency Bamboo Shelters began to be rolled out, initially with the target of completing them by December, but within a month it was decided to speed up the process of construction and delivery to meet the immediate emergency needs of the people. Hence, more labour and machinery intensive efforts were made so as to complete the deliveries by October latest, a target that was achieved on October 31. Regular visits were made by the Relief Committee members to oversee the progress and to ensure that the deliveries of the shelters were as per the specifications of the two over-seeing bodies – HF and INTBAU Pakistan. Two people were also hired specifically for the purpose of ensuring that the promised number of shelters were delivered Continued from to the respective villages and a focal person identified in each village to liase with the INTBAU team in case of any issues being faced by the villagers with regard to the erection of the emergency shelters. It may be noted that though these shelters were meant to be make-shift arrangements to cope with the immediate emergency situation, they have the potential of becoming permanent structures at very little additional cost and time, and in fact, many families opted to convert them into permanent homes at their own initiative.
After receiving the funds required to construct the 1000 committed shelters, INTBAU Pakistan announced that it was no longer accepting funds, but found that there was still a long line of donors who wanted them to use their funds for flood relief work regardless of how it was being spent. So, after a recce to see where else the incoming funding could best be utilized it was decided that the next focus would be on providing toilets, seeds/water/blankets, etc. to facilitate the flood-affectees, and all donors after the completion of 1000 shelters were informed prior to receiving their contributions that the funds would be used for these purposes.
The following is the list of villages that were provided shelters with their allocations.
INTBAU PK Trustees:
Ar. Yasmeen Lari, Founder INTBAU & Co- Founder Heritage Foundation
Ar. Murad Jamil, Chairperson
Ar. Khadija Jamal, Vice Chairperson
Shanaz Ramzi – Hon. Secretary
Hadi Ali Rizvi – Treasurer
Ar. Asad I.A. Khan – Member
Ar. Tariq A. Qaiser – Member
Ar. Sadia Fazli – Member
