The Raise The Roof project has spanned over two years. With the support of generous donors and supporters, Operation Hope Foundation (OHF) has built 115 rice bag houses. Moving forward, OHF will focus on training villagers on the earthbag building method as the Nepal Government has approved the design of the house, and affected villagers will be granted 300,000 rupees (S$4,000) to rebuild their own houses.
Read or download our Donor’s Report on the project.
It has been four years since that morning on 25 April 2015, when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal and northern India. The earthquake was the worst disaster recorded in Nepal since the 1934 earthquake.
According to the UNDP, an estimated 9,000 people lost their lives while another 23,000 were injured. Damages and losses came to a total of almost US$7 billion.
8 million people were affected, with some 500,000 buildings and homes destroyed, and more than 250,000 structures partially damaged across 31 of Nepal’s 75 districts.
Yet, help still has not reached many of those affected. Reports from the BBC, Telegraph and others reveal that especially in rural villages, many families and people remain homeless and helpless.
About Raise the Roof
What is a rice-bag house?
The only materials needed for building rice-bag houses are rice bags, barbed wires and zinc sheets for the roof. Gravel and soil are used to fill the rice bags.
The materials used to make rice-bag houses keep a house cool when it gets warm, and vice versa. We made a simple test by noting the temperature outdoors, and when inside a rice-bag house.
Temperature outdoors
Temperature inside a rice-bag house.
Where is the location of this project?
Some of our work over the past two years
Meet the beneficiaries
Asmita was living in an old house which was wrecked by the earthquake. She describes her joy and sense of security given to her and her family at having a rice-bag house.
In the News
The Straits Times featured OHF and the earthquake rebuilding project in February 2016.
How you can help?
OHF intends to expand this project to become a sustainable Community Development project in Nepal. The Rice Bag house is truly a low-cost, sustainable solution for victims of the earthquake who still face the grim reality of last year’s damage and continue to live under the constant threat of another similar disaster.
We have seen the tangible benefits and rewards of the Rice Bag house:
- Earthquake-proof
- Constructed with cheap and readily available materials
- Fast and easy to build
- Can be customised and expanded outwards and upwards
- Interior remains cool in summer and warm in winter
These factors combined make it a sustainable solution: properly maintained, the Rice Bag house will last a lifetime; repairs and replacements can be easily made with locally found materials; most importantly, skills and expertise gained by individuals from building the Rice Bag house may be passed on to others and down generations to come!
All we need to do is to get the ball rolling, and this is where we need your help to MAKE HOPE REAL. For every S$1,500, we will be able to provide a displaced family with the materials to build a 200 square-feet Rice Bag house.
I want to help
Please select your preferred mode of donation:
CREDIT CARD
To sponsor a house at $1,500 per house, please click the thumbnail below.
To make a donation of any amount to support the Raise The Roof Project, please click the thumbnail below and specify “Raise The Roof” in the Remarks field.
CHEQUE
Please address your cheque to : The Operation Hope Foundation Ltd Our mailing address is: The Operation Hope Foundation Ltd, 352, Tanglin Road, #02-04/05, Singapore 247671 Please include your mailing address at the back of the cheque so that we can send your receipt with our gratitude to you. Please email admin@ohf.org.sg to inform us of your donation.
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