Projects

Guana school Reconstruction

Reconstruction of Gauna Village Primary School, Uttarakhand

In the middle of Uttarakhand summer of 2015 the abandoned building of Gauna Prathamic Vidyalaya that was severely damaged in 1999 Chomoli Earthquake was demolished and rebuilt. Gauna Village is situated in remote Birahi Ganga Valley in Chomoli District of Uttarakhand State. It is known to outside world for collapse of an ancient lake called Gauna Taal back in 1970 which had wiped out the District Headquarter at Chomoli along the bank of Alaknanda River.

The remoteness of the village several posed several hurdles. The village is situated across the Birahi Ganga from an unpaved road that comes from Chomoli. It is about an hour’s walk from this road across a suspension bridge over the river. This means that all the outside material brought by road has to be carried to the site. Needless to say, that there are no hotels or lodges or guesthouses to stay in, nor are there any restaurants to eat in. This meant that the accommodation had to be arranged for in the village situated a couple of hundred feet above the school. The raw materials had to be brought from Chomoli and the food had to be cooked. Even the transportation between Gauna and Chomoli was rather limited, and very inconvenient.

The damaged building was totally demolished barring the foundation and plinth, and the new building was built using stone salvaged from it. Random rubble walls were built using that stone in cement mortar with the cement carried to the site on mules. Multiple bands of RC were installed at different levels. The steel too had to be carried on the mules from the road. For carrying the steel, the straight rods had to be folded several times so that they became small enough to be loaded on mules. The sand was carried on mules from the river bed. With the consideration of the safety of school children it was decided to make light roof using CGI sheets. The remoteness and uncertainty of the electric power it was decided to support the roofing on timber understructure. The timber was obtained from local forests through forest channels.

Local masons and roof carpenters were trained in earthquake resistant construction by the field team with the objective that they would use the improved skills for future construction to ensure the safety of the local people.

  • Disaster Resilient New Houses and Public Buildings Built by NCPDP