Pakistan - IOM Pakistan’s One Room Shelter (ORS) initiative, which has helped communities to rebuild over 22,000 disaster-resilient shelters in the aftermath of repeated floods, has been documented in a new book: Building Back Stronger.

Families in Pakistan’s Sindh province have repeatedly seen their homes destroyed by flood waters since 2010.  Heavy seasonal rains and poor construction practices fueled a cycle of displacement and continuous rebuilding, which heightened vulnerabilities and impeded development.

“Our hope is that the work IOM has done over the past three years will help to break this cycle, introducing shelters that can better withstand flooding and allowing people to rebuild their lives,” said IOM Pakistan Chief of Mission Enrico Ponziani.

ORS programming integrates Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures into local construction practices to promote sustainable and appropriate shelter solutions in disaster-prone areas. 

Building Back Stronger highlights the experiences of the ORS team, local partner organizations and beneficiaries in working together to build better and safer shelters.  It provides an illustrated overview of the ORS process, which is founded on active community engagement and ownership of recovery and reconstruction efforts.

“It was a great opportunity for us to learn techniques that actually make our shelters safer. We realized the value of these trainings as our shelters withstood later rains much better,” said Sikander, a villager from Mirpurkhas district in Sindh.  

IOM Pakistan’s ORS programme was supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), Finland, the Organization for Social Development Institute (OSDI) and Mahvish & Jahangir Siddiqui Foundation (MJSF).

To download Building Back Stronger please click here.

For more information please contact

Ammarah Mubarak
IOM Islamabad
Email: amubarak@iom.int