The 22-day Israeli offensive that ended last January destroyed countless homes, the majority of which have not been rebuilt, as the siege keeps out vital building materials like useful quantities of cement.
Photo: Gloucester2gaza - flickr
In the face of such hardship, the UNRWA has begun building homes with mud bricks, UN news agency IRIN reports. The houses are meant to be temporary installations (much like the UNRWA itself). For those who have been forced to live in tents alongside their destroyed homes for over a year, the mud-brick structures are a vast improvement, but Gazans know they are not a "real solution."
Excerpt:
“The UN hopes to build around 120 mud brick houses for dozens of homeless families in the next few months in the Strip. Each house costs about US$10,000 and takes three months to build,” said Adnan Abu Hasna’a, an UNRWA spokesman.
While these houses were not a long-term solution for homeless families, he said, they offered better conditions than tents or partially destroyed buildings. They also provided employment for people UNRWA is training to make mud bricks and homes.
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8 Feb 2010 6:15 AM
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