DHAKA, Aug 19: The United Nations Development Programme is considering building floating homes in Bangladesh following the worst flooding in years to strike this low-lying south Asian country, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Inspired by the floating dwellings of Vietnam, the houses would float permanently on a foundation raft made of bamboo, reducing the impact of floods that regularly hit Bangladesh.
The proposal is one of eight by French architects Patrick Coulombel and Christian Coombes, commissioned by the UN body to come up with simple cost-effective solutions to flood-proof homes.
The country was devastated by flooding that last month also hit India and Nepal, washing away homes, destroying crops and livelihoods and killing more than 1,950 people across South Asia, including at least 726 in Bangladesh.
"The architects have come up with some interesting ideas and we are currently considering them," UNDP spokeswoman Lisa Hiller told AFP. If adopted, the proposals would form part of a post-flood rehabilitation programme funded by money raised from a 210 million dollar appeal launched last week by the United Nations.
Other solutions suggested by the architects, who are representatives of the organisation Emergency Architects, include building homes on earth embankments and the construction of temporary floors above the level of the floodwater.
If approved, the flood-resistant principles outlined by the architects will be used to rebuild 42 destroyed homes and repair 150,000 damaged dwellings. It is hoped that using these homes as models, other villagers will construct their houses along similar lines to reduce the impact of future flooding.
At least 20 percent of Bangladesh, which is dominated by a network of 230 rivers, floods each year when rivers carrying melting slow from the Himalayas swell with monsoon rains before draining into the Bay of Bengal. But this year's floods - estimated to have inundated two-thirds of the country, affected 33 million people. -AFP
