Quick Scan: La Paz, Paraíso de Osorio
Quick Scan Report: La Paz, paraíso de osorio
Accompanied by: Manuel and Alejandra (Fundasal)
Date: 10/03/09
Time: 13:00 – 16:00
Introduction:
La Paz is a rural area situated in the southwest of San Salvador, its main economy is agricultural and it contains villages populated by 1000 to 4500 people. Paraíso de Osorio is situated in the north of the La Paz region, a 35 km drive from San Salvador. The La Paz region was badly hit by two earthquakes, within a month, in 2001. 13th of January the first earthquake of 7.6 on the scale of Richter struck with the epicenter just out of the coast. The second on 13th of February an earthquake of 6.6 on the scale of Richter had the epicenter in the north of the La Paz region.
The village exists out of 500 to 600 families. It is mainly build around two parallel streets ending at the church and the village square.
Fundasal
Fundasal has four different development programs; one of these programs is focusing on ‘rural settlements’. The program has three important aspects. The first is to improve houses, the second to stimulate the economy by implementing ‘secome’ (economical development seed): a program where an education and micro credit is given to start up a small business, and third, setting up a social network.
Paraíso de Osorio was damaged severely by the earthquake; over 90 percent of the houses were destroyed. Fundasal took this opportunity to reconstruct, and implement their development program at the same time. Next to building new houses, they initiated a sanitation project. A new technology was implemented for the latrines, which helps the disposal water from getting contaminated.
The ‘secome’ project gave the opportunity start new businesses. For the reconstruction after the earthquake Fundasal added an extra rule within this project. In order to create a base for social networks, the application for the micro credit or building materials, had to be done by a group of at least 8 people. This rule played a very important role in contributing to the appearance of the social networks.
Nowadays the people have the feeling that they are a community that is helping each other. This is instigated by the social program but maybe by the size of the village and the way it’s connected to the outside world as well. The only road which connects this village with the ongoing road network has a big entrance portal which gives the sign of a communal feeling within this village.
Three organizations, FISDL, USAID and FUNDASAL, helped with the reconstruction of the houses in PdO. We get an insight of the changes after the reconstruction by having an interview with Rosi Diaz, who is the head of the cultural department, and Ilda, who lives just by school and offers the children free Paturnas at lunch.
At Ilda’s house we can see the different stages of the reconstruction. She tells us that she lived a few blocks away, but had to move after the earthquake because her old plot was to risky to rebuild. She was provided with shelter materials, sheets of steel and plastics, from which she build a temporary house. The materials still seem to be in use within the construction that creates shadow in front of the house. After eight months the construction of the definite houses started. The house was build with the block panel method. The method is easy to learn and makes it easy for the beneficiaries to participate in the building process. Women are involved by rebuilding the houses. Fundasal targets to include women in all the rehabilitation progresses and educate people about equal rights between men and women.
The quality of live did increase after the disaster the two women tell us. Especially the block houses give more comfort and a safer environment relating to future disaster Before the earthquake struck parts of the families were living in ‘mesones’, tenant houses where multiple families live together. The destruction of the houses by the earthquake gave the opportunity to build back an own house for every family (Rosi Diaz, head of culture department).
Old sand roads are hardened by using old floors and other cement blocks. They are protected against flooding; by little cement canals next to it.
Education
The government had built an extra primary school after the disaster. The school is situated just outside the central part of the village and attracts more people to start up a living in this area. Furthermore there is just one other primary school in the area. For the secondary school the children have to travel to another municipality.
After school children can play on the formal streets, introduced by the program of Fundasal, it’s healthier for them to play on a hardened underground.
Potentiality
After the revision we wanted to summarize the experience in pro’s and cons for the possibilities of the definitive choice of the case study location(s).
Pro:
- The location is rural and the situation is isolated, there is some kilometers distance to the nearby villages, so we can see very clear all the effects of one response.
- The government and various NGO’s have had responses with a long term effect, we can research (the effect on) sustainability of the responses.
Con:
- We have not seen yet a lot of responses by the affected people, it seems to be organized mostly by NGO’s, could have been in a earlier stage of the response.
- It’s a rural village and connected with one road to the ongoing road, so we can’t do a lot of research about the effects on higher scale (the urban scale).
Accompanied by: Manuel and Alejandra (Fundasal)
Date: 10/03/09
Time: 13:00 – 16:00
Introduction:
La Paz is a rural area situated in the southwest of San Salvador, its main economy is agricultural and it contains villages populated by 1000 to 4500 people. Paraíso de Osorio is situated in the north of the La Paz region, a 35 km drive from San Salvador. The La Paz region was badly hit by two earthquakes, within a month, in 2001. 13th of January the first earthquake of 7.6 on the scale of Richter struck with the epicenter just out of the coast. The second on 13th of February an earthquake of 6.6 on the scale of Richter had the epicenter in the north of the La Paz region.
The village exists out of 500 to 600 families. It is mainly build around two parallel streets ending at the church and the village square.
Fundasal
Fundasal has four different development programs; one of these programs is focusing on ‘rural settlements’. The program has three important aspects. The first is to improve houses, the second to stimulate the economy by implementing ‘secome’ (economical development seed): a program where an education and micro credit is given to start up a small business, and third, setting up a social network.
Paraíso de Osorio was damaged severely by the earthquake; over 90 percent of the houses were destroyed. Fundasal took this opportunity to reconstruct, and implement their development program at the same time. Next to building new houses, they initiated a sanitation project. A new technology was implemented for the latrines, which helps the disposal water from getting contaminated.
The ‘secome’ project gave the opportunity start new businesses. For the reconstruction after the earthquake Fundasal added an extra rule within this project. In order to create a base for social networks, the application for the micro credit or building materials, had to be done by a group of at least 8 people. This rule played a very important role in contributing to the appearance of the social networks.
Nowadays the people have the feeling that they are a community that is helping each other. This is instigated by the social program but maybe by the size of the village and the way it’s connected to the outside world as well. The only road which connects this village with the ongoing road network has a big entrance portal which gives the sign of a communal feeling within this village.
Three organizations, FISDL, USAID and FUNDASAL, helped with the reconstruction of the houses in PdO. We get an insight of the changes after the reconstruction by having an interview with Rosi Diaz, who is the head of the cultural department, and Ilda, who lives just by school and offers the children free Paturnas at lunch.
At Ilda’s house we can see the different stages of the reconstruction. She tells us that she lived a few blocks away, but had to move after the earthquake because her old plot was to risky to rebuild. She was provided with shelter materials, sheets of steel and plastics, from which she build a temporary house. The materials still seem to be in use within the construction that creates shadow in front of the house. After eight months the construction of the definite houses started. The house was build with the block panel method. The method is easy to learn and makes it easy for the beneficiaries to participate in the building process. Women are involved by rebuilding the houses. Fundasal targets to include women in all the rehabilitation progresses and educate people about equal rights between men and women.
The quality of live did increase after the disaster the two women tell us. Especially the block houses give more comfort and a safer environment relating to future disaster Before the earthquake struck parts of the families were living in ‘mesones’, tenant houses where multiple families live together. The destruction of the houses by the earthquake gave the opportunity to build back an own house for every family (Rosi Diaz, head of culture department).
Old sand roads are hardened by using old floors and other cement blocks. They are protected against flooding; by little cement canals next to it.
Education
The government had built an extra primary school after the disaster. The school is situated just outside the central part of the village and attracts more people to start up a living in this area. Furthermore there is just one other primary school in the area. For the secondary school the children have to travel to another municipality.
After school children can play on the formal streets, introduced by the program of Fundasal, it’s healthier for them to play on a hardened underground.
Potentiality
After the revision we wanted to summarize the experience in pro’s and cons for the possibilities of the definitive choice of the case study location(s).
Pro:
- The location is rural and the situation is isolated, there is some kilometers distance to the nearby villages, so we can see very clear all the effects of one response.
- The government and various NGO’s have had responses with a long term effect, we can research (the effect on) sustainability of the responses.
Con:
- We have not seen yet a lot of responses by the affected people, it seems to be organized mostly by NGO’s, could have been in a earlier stage of the response.
- It’s a rural village and connected with one road to the ongoing road, so we can’t do a lot of research about the effects on higher scale (the urban scale).
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