Visual Assessment of more than 3,000 Houses in All Five Upa-Zilas of Barguna District

 The Assessment visited close to 3,500 houses in Barguna, covering all the residents of five wards (one from each Upa-Zila in Barguna District)

 Compare the government's damage assessment in the shelter sector at the ward level with the realities in the field.  Assess the levels of recovery in the shelter sector already visible in affected communities.  Determine the rough accuracy of government population information.  Determine the remaining need for emergency shelter.

 40 data collectors coming from seven local NGOs regularly working in the selected wards  5 supervisors that conduct regular spot checks of the data  Chalk marks on all surveyed houses to confirm the complete- ness and non-dupli- cation of the survey

 To ensure that the data was being correctly collected a two-person team from the Dhaka SCG was sent to Barguna to visit the field and cross-check individual forms with houses from the randomly selected Betagi Upa-Zila.  The results confirmed the accuracy of the damage information, but cast doubt on the accuracy of recovery information.

 The Barguna Ward Level Shelter Assessment did not collect accuracte recovery information.  Contributing Factors / Lessons Learned Use of data collectors from assessed area creates a large social pressure not to report recovery. Recovery is often highly subjective at the household level, but might be easier to come to a general village-wide consensus in a focus group discussion

 Although a full comparison with MoFDM data is not yet available, it seems as if a lot of houses counted as “partially damaged” only suffered fairly superficially roofing damage.  Significant levels of self-recovery have been observed, but nearly no housing has improved its resistance to Cyclones

 Extremely low levels (<10%) damage to tube wells  Remaining emergency shelter need translated into host family populations (living with neighbours) 5-10% of surveyed households.

 No longer a widespread need for tarpaulin, plastic sheeting and other emergency shelter distributions  Strong need for core shelter programming, as well as general training and awareness raising on improved building techniques to improve cyclone- resistance of housing.