REBUILDING: HOUSING
Padre Nuestro, La Altagracia
Padre Nuestro (Our Father) is a poor squatter community located about 12 miles from the eastern town of La Romana, one of the most beautiful tourist areas in the Dominican Republic.
Hurricane Georges devastated 185 families that live in this community - destroying most of their ramshackle houses. Padre Nuestro lacks all basic services. Residents work for minimum wage in nearby hotels, while the majority survive on what they can grow with infertile, marginal soil.
USAID's Housing Reconstruction Program consisted of repairing and retrofitting damaged houses and constructing new units.
A total of 3,123 houses were repaired and retrofitted (1,568 with salvaged wood).
A total of 4,026 new houses were built, of which 1,778 were constructed with salvaged lumber immediately after the hurricane and 2,248 were constructed with concrete block by the Cooperative Housing Foundation. Of these, 1,219 were constructed in-situ in 10 provinces and 1,029 were constructed in five new urban sites, benefiting approximately 34,000 people.
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The community is located in an area recently declared part of a national park, and sits on a fragile limestone aquifer that serves as the only source of water supply for the town of Bayahibe and many nearby resort hotels. After the hurricane, USAID partnered with the local hotel association and other Dominican organizations to relocate the entire community to the nearby town of Benedicto. Now the residents of Padre Nuestro have newly constructed concrete blockhouses with all modern services. Beneficiaries decided to name their new community the "Nuevo Padre Nuestro", (New Our Father).
San Carlos, La Romana
La Romana is the largest town in the eastern region of the Dominican Republic, known for its sugar industry and the world famous resort Casa de Campo. In the aftermath of Hurricane Georges, thousands of the poorest families in the region found "temporary shelter" in this community. They had been living for the last three years in extreme conditions in wooden barracks and shacks with no water or sanitation service.
The majority of people are either unemployed or earn meager wages. Most lost all that they owned to the hurricane.
| The construction techniques used by CHF to build houses have proven to be more efficient (lower cost per unit) than traditional construction systems. The Dominican government is adopting the modular technology used to construct these houses to construct additional units in other locations. |
USAID partnered with the Dominican government and several U.S. non-profit organizations to respond to these abysmal living conditions by creating a model urban site with 330 low-cost houses that include all basic services (water, bathroom, electricity). The Dominican government plans to replicate this model in the near future for additional low-income victims of the hurricane.
"USAID and CHF helped us understand the importance of being united to overcome the tragedy of Hurricane Georges. Each family contributed 120 hours carrying blocks, cement and other construction materials. We helped build these houses. They are 'our' houses."
- San Carlos community leader
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