Recovering from disaster in Assam, India

Located at the foot of the Himalayan mountains in India’s northeast, the province of Assam is distinctly vulnerable to natural hazards, including heavy rainfall and flooding. The rainfall season in 2022 was devastating, that by July, hundreds perished in the flooding and one million were displaced.

SEEDS initiated a disaster relief response, providing critical aid to affected communities. Shelter quickly became one of the most urgent needs, for many people whose homes had been under water for weeks, and months. SEEDS provided RHU Structures as emergency shelters to accommodate displaced people in Assam, giving them the opportunity to lead and assist in the building of their Structures.

The Structures were upgraded with local materials, including bamboo, rammed earth and stone. And over time, the people living in their Structures committed to continued upgrades, ensuring that their Structures will provide them with the necessary support for a long period of time.

Nurul Hassan, 25, photographed with his daughter, outside his home in Mohanpur Part I neighborhood of Kalain region in Assam. Hassa and his family lost their home in the devastating floods in Assam last year. They now live in a relief housing unit (RHU), where the shelter frame is upgraded with local material, bamboo walls and stilts and tin roofing sheets.

Shiva Naik, 30, photographed with his wife Archana Naik photographed with their 4-year-old daughter Sonakshi and two-year-old son Sumit outside their home in Kalain region of Assam. They have upgraded the shelter frame with local material, bamboo walls and tin roofing sheets to make it weather resistant. The resilient family is in the process of overcoming loss and the trauma of displacement.

An external view of Jyotsana Bhumick's home. Local material used to shut the gaps between the bamboo walls to provide better protection against the weather.

Jyotsana Bhumick, 60, photographed outside her home in Kalain region of Assam. She works at a local tea garden and earns her daily wage for her family. She lives with her son and daughter. She has been displaced twice due to the unprecedented rainfall flooding the Brahmaputra river in Assam. Last year, she lost her home and took shelter in a local community school. She built her home with the RHU shelter frame and made incremental upgrades slowly.

Narad Bhomij, photographed outside his home in the Kalain region in Assam. A daily-wage labourer, Bhomij is in the process of overcoming trauma of displacement. He was among the first community members to upgrade the RHU shelter frame innovatively providing solutions from weather damage. He lives alone and works consistently to improve and upgrade the shelter frame and help other community members with the same.

An exterior view of the Bhomij home in Assam's Kalain region. Mangal Bhomij has upgraded the RHU shelter frame with local material, bamboo walls and tin roofing sheets.

An interior view of the Jyotsana Bhumick's home built with the RHU structure. The roofing of the structure is done with the tin material, or tin roofing sheets.