The construction of housing for flood-prone rural areas of Bangladesh by Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  As the result of annual floods, a significant number of houses in the countryside as well as in urban areas are being destroyed annually. In recent floods during the year 2004, we have seen a total or partial destruction to a significant number of rural houses making about 1 million people homeless. To a large extent, the patterns and causes of destruction seem to result from poor technical knowledge and wrong perceptions. There is no adequate support for housing projects for low-income, flood-vulnerable communities through development projects undertaken by NGOs and the government, and dwelling houses in rural areas and urban slums are mostly owner-built without proper technical guidance.

A large proportion of the countryside as well as the majority of urban areas in Bangladesh is flood-prone. During heavy floods, more than 60% of the land is inundated. Recent floods in 2004 has destroyed many houses and about 1 million people became homeless. To a large extent, the patterns and causes of destruction seem to result from poor technical knowledge and wrong perceptions. Technocrats do not adequately support housing projects for low-income, flood-vulnerable communities undertaken by NGOs and the government, and houses are mostly owner-built without proper technical guidance. One of the AUDMP findings of post-disaster losses of the housing stock in Bangladesh after 2004 floods is that most of these designs are prepared by people who are not trained as building professionals, so when implemented, many problems emerge. The usual tendency is to apply the same model irrespective of context – for example, the same house design is built on highland and low-lying flood-prone areas. In most cases, the cost is significantly prohibitive in terms of microcredit recovery from poor people and this high cost prevents providing subsidized housing to a large number of people who need them. There is thus a need for developing housing that is appropriate for flood-prone areas, where the suggested solutions are ‘cost-effective’ – that is, rationalization of the economy without compromising quality. Those who work in the low-income housing sector in Bangladesh, in general, are still to adopt such techniques.