A market-based programme to improve housing in the mountains of northern Pakistan: Addressing seismic vulnerability

The Building and Construction Improvement Programme (BACIP) has been working with the high mountain communities of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan since 1997. Alongside its contribution to the general built environment and housing improvement of the area, the programme is engaged in the development and promotion of solutions for making the buildings seismically resistant. Gilgit-Baltistan falls in a high seismic zone and the earthquake of 2005 caused the death of nearly 90,000 people in the neighbouring state of Azad Kashmir and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, which share long borders with Gilgit-Baltistan. BACIP believes that investment in making communities safer will minimize the chance of loss of life and assets and reduce the cost of reconstruction. BACIP works with local communities in a participatory manner to improve the local housing by improving safety and comfort without changing the local culture and way of living. For the sustainability of its approach, it has made efforts to make its solutions part of the local market so that entrepreneurs and artisans are available to manufacture, sell or construct these solutions. A number of profitable enterprises have been established. Alongside handson training and demonstration, BACIP uses media such as radio for the promotion of its solutions and awareness of communities. In December 2013 with the support of the Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF), BACIP revisited a number of houses that were constructed using seismic-resistant technologies and it was found that the solutions applied to these houses had greatly contributed to the safety and comfort of the users. 100 per cent of the houses were in use and were occupied by the original owners