In a big relief for people belonging to poor people who lost their only dwellings during the recent floods in Kerala, members of Bengaluru-based organization Project Vision have arrived in the state with prefabricated houses which can be assembled in just three hours. The construction materials are Trafford sheets, steel pipes and plywood sheets.
The first such house was handed over to Kanakadas and Shiji, a couple living at Parakkal beside the Alappuzha–Changanassery (AC) Road. The structure was set up with the cooperation of Charity World, an organisation based in Changanassery.
Malayala Manorama had earlier reported on the plight of the family which had lost everything during the floods. When the news report came to the notice of Project Vision and Charity World, they offered to provide a new house for Kanakadas and Shiji.
Archbishop of Changanassery Mar Joseph Perumthottam has also announced that the family would be given three cents of land and a house free of cost.
The prefabricated house has an area of 150 sq. ft. and is built with Trafford sheets having a length of 15 ft. Bent steel pipes are fixed on the ground and the sheets attached to them. The house is in the shape of a semicircular cylinder and closed on both sides with plywood sheets.
The doors are also made of plywood. The Trafford sheets are transparent to allow light into the house. When a permanent house is built at the site, the prefab structure can be dismantled and its sections used for other purposes. There are also facilities for building wash rooms attached to the prefab house.
The house can be installed by two persons within two hours. The cost would be less than Rs 25,000. Others who supported the initiative included Association of Engineers Kerala and Santhi Charitable Society, Kozhikode.
Project Vision had built 450 temporary houses in Nepal after an earthquake hit that country in 2015. It had built similar dwellings for the tsunami victims. Now, the organization is setting up 530 such houses in Wayanad also, the construction of which will start on September 10.
