Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

ity to floods within the participating provinces, support
their contingency plans, strengthen flood protection in
economically important areas, issue regulations for carrying
out the land management law, devise urban environmental
management plans, and conduct educational
awareness campaigns. The program also has a housing
component complementing the structural works for
families living in flood-risk areas.
Our history was very harsh. My husband used to work on
a ship, and all of a sudden he lost his job. So, we had to
go live on the island, where we spent four years, until the
flood came and toppled down what little we had been able
to build. In that time I had two kids and was pregnant with
Milagros. Luckily, this plan gave me the opportunity of having
a home.
Lucía Andrea Sosa, Concepción del Uruguay, Entre Ríos
B. Case Study: Resettlement of Inhabitants of Flood-prone Areas
1. The Housing Subprogram
(Subprograma de Vivienda,
SPV)
Three of the federal government’s flood risk-reduction
programs included a housing subprogram and a fourth
is currently being executed. As Table 3.3 illustrates, almost
10 percent of the US$536.2 million invested in
these programs was allocated to housing. Although
this case study focuses on the flood protection program
(PPI), it also reviews the 15-year experience of a threestage
housing program for the low-income population
exposed to recurrent floods.
Table 3.3. Flood Risk-reduction Programs and Housing Subprograms
Characteristics
Flood Emergency
Rehabilitation
Program – REI
Flood Protection
Program – PPI
El Niño floods
Emergency Program
Total
Duration 1993 - 1998 1997 - 2006 1998 - 2004 15 years
Total cost
270 224.2 42 536.2
(US$ millions)
Cost of housing component
21.9 29.2 2.2 53.3
(US$ millions)
Housing component
percentage
8.1 13 5.2 9.9
Source of financing for
housing component
Federal government:
15 percent
Provinces:
15 percent
World Bank loan:
70 percent
Number of houses: Planned: 5,000
Built: 5,820
Size and cost of
construction materials for
houses (US$)
Average size: 38m 2
Cost of materials:
US$3,900
Source: Based on PREI, PPI and El Niño program reports.
Provinces:
10 percent
World Bank loan:
90 percent
Planned: 5,000
Built: 5,636
Provinces:
10 percent
World Bank loan:
90 percent
Planned: 300
Built: 455
Minimum size: 42m 2
Minimum size: 42m 2
US$6,200. 5 US$6,200
Cost of materials: Cost of materials:
Planned: 10,300
Built: 11,911
5
Until December 2001, the US$/Argentine peso exchange rate was 1:1. Subsequently, it was 1:3.
30 Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster: Experiences from Latin America