Page 40 - Demo

WHEN NATURALDISASTER CREATESOPPORTUNITYA P R O J E C T O F F U N D A C I O N R A I ZOn April 16, 2016, a massive earthquake hit Ecuador, mainly thecoastal provinces of Manab%u00ed and Esmeraldas. Thousands of rural andurban households became homeless due to the impact of this naturaldisaster. Many people were forced to seek shelter from the rain, the coldweather of the night, insects and other threats.The week after the earthquake, many Ecuadorians spontaneously becamevolunteers that helped in different fields, such as collecting food, water,and viands in general for the most needed people. Many people who hadnot any previous experience in volunteering and providing humanitarianaid began to act and helped thousands of people that were affected intheir local communities, mainly in Manab%u00ed and Esmeraldas.The response from Fundaci%u00f3n Ra%u00edz and its project CAEMBA wasimmediate. The aid consisted of producing prefabricated bamboostructures with cheap lightweight roofs, that reflected the heat from thesun. This is how the concept of the project CAEMBA -Emergency bamboohouses- was born.After the response to the emergency, the vision of the project was to be along-term solution for the problem of precarious housing in Ecuador,which affects thousands of people, mainly in deprived urban-rural andrural areas.According to the Ministry of Housing, more than 2 million householdssuffer from housing shortfall. Among them, 1.2 million are in urban areas(21% of shortfall) and 850.000 in rural areas (38% of shortfall). From aprevious report from the Ministry in 2009, approximately 70% of housesand apartments are built in an informal way (self-construction)disregarding architectural and engineering parameters. Also, householdsthat are in a context of extreme poverty do not respect the urban planningguidelines and the constructive norms of their cities. Ecuador will havemore data regarding housing and the conditions of the population afterthe 2020 national census on population and housing.I A M . M A G A Z I N E - 4 0I A M . M A G A Z I N E - C A E M B A