Sheltering communities facing natural disasters in India

Region: Asia and the Pacific
Country: India
Year: 2021
Shelter: Structure
Project size: 0-50
Modality: Temporary shelter
Sector: Shelter
Partner: SEEDS
Support: Design & Planning, Capacity Building, Assurance, Communications, Logistics

Since its inception in 1994, SEEDS has been working throughout India to provide communities affected by natural disasters with emergency relief to save lives and with capacity building to improve livelihoods.

However, the events of 2021 posed an even greater challenge to the communities of Kerala, due to the flash floods and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of homes were severely damaged or altogether washed away by the flood streams, evacuating thousands of people from the impacted and risk areas.

In late 2021, SEEDS responded to the appeal for emergency humanitarian assistance by working with the local communities to build Structures in temporary camps in order to shelter the displaced population. While intended as temporary, transitional housing, the resident families of the Structures brought the belongings which they could salvage from the floods in order to personalise the Structures according to their cultural and traditional preferences.

To learn more about SEEDS’s work in Kerala since 2018, click here.