"Parma System" supports thrive reconstruction in Nepal

Ram Krishna Sharma

Communications Officer

NSET-Baliyo Ghar Program

At a time when there are loud-heard criticism regarding the post-earthquake reconstruction in Nepal, the stories of some communities in the quake-hard-hit districts are quite opposite though; they show the graph of successful reconstruction ascended. Significantly the quake hit areas have witnessed seismic resilient communities with the quake affected families drawn back to their normal life; the routine before Gorkha Earthquake 2015.

Mr. Akkal Bahadur Magar, resident of Gyalbasingh - Bigu, Dolakha is a trained mason; carpenter and bar bender in Dolakha, engages himself in reconstruction activities in his locality. He is one of the members of 15 masons who had formed a group to reconstruct Bigu in Oct 2016. Mr. Magar says, "Following the Parma system, we have already finished reconstructing Gyalbasing and other areas of Bigu. There are several other group of masons like us in Bigu Rural Municipality who have been contributing their best not only to expedite reconstruction but also to set a model in northern Dolakha." 

Mrs. Antari magar with her co-villagers harvesting millet after finishing rebuilding her home

Many of the families in Bigu have already resumed their normal life; involving themselves in their respective works that had run out of routine after earthquake that devastated central Nepal in 2015. Mrs. Antari Magar, neighbor of Mr. Akkal, was found harvesting millet with her co-villagers. She said, "Males are reconstructing our village through Parma System which our culture of doing agricultural works that we are doing right now is the real foundation. Without doubt, the collective work of masons has led to speedy and successful reconstruction of our village."

Parma System

Parma System is a social practice of exchanging labor or services (Alopalo) while carrying out major social, cultural and agricultural activities. The practice of Parma is a culture of performing each other’s work turn by turn collectively. This is mostly prevalent in rural and agrarian societies of Nepal. This system is firmly prevailing in the remote areas of Dolakha, Dhading and Nuwakot; some of the hardest hit districts by Earthquake 2015.

While reconstructing houses masons form a group and start constructing houses of beneficiaries within the team. The cycle of one 'Parma' is accomplished after building the houses of all the members of group or working the man-days equal to the man days the people have contributed. On an average around 10 masons including labors work in the Parma System for around 20 days to complete a typical two roomed stone masonry house i.e. around 200 men are employed in constructing a house and hence the house owner has to contribute this very number while constructing the houses of the people who were involved earlier. This very system of Parma is contributing a lot to the earthquake affected people in different areas of Dolakha, Dhading and Nuwakot to not only accelerate the reconstruction process but also for better and safer reconstruction.

Thami Brothers transformed their village to resist earthquake

Dampha is a small settlement belonging to Thami; marginalized community group of Babare Village, ward 03 of Kalinchok Rural Municipality, Dolakha. Twenty six Thami families are happily living in the village. The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake and subsequent aftershocks had devastated the entire settlement where one elderly man lost his life too. Around three years’ period after the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake was quite a forgetful for them as they had to go through a turret time under the temporary shelters. However, three years after the earthquake, the reconstruction of all the 26 houses have been completed. The village not only raised out from the rubbles but also turned resilient as the engineers employed in the area say all the houses rebuilt now resist future earthquakes. The labor exchanging system that they applied in the village, the continuous technical support and timely disbursement of government grant eased the villagers to finish the reconstruction works on time. It took them almost one year to complete the reconstruction of the settlement.

Dampha Village in Babare Dolakha

“We divided the male members of each household into three groups and divided the role for house reconstruction as per their skills. One group was assigned to prepare foundation, second group was group of carpenters and assigned for preparing wooden materials required for new house and carrying out the tasks of roofing while third group was a group of masons and assigned to build the wall of the house”, local mason Mr. Manbahadur Thami said.

Baliyo Ghar Program, a technical assistance program implemented by National Society for Earthquake Technology – Nepal (NSET) helped to overcome the human resource crunch for earthquake resistant construction as it provided trainings to existing masons. It paved the way to go ahead with the reconstruction. The strong bond among the Dampha community members directed a successful reconstruction in the Dampha.

Tipling witnesses Safer and Better reconstruction

Dhading is another one of the hardest hit districts by Gorkha Earthquake. Tipling, the northern most village in Dhading lies in Ruby Valley Rural Municipality of the district, one of the tourist trail in Nepal. A village with historical and religious significance was severely damaged by 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. With no road access, no electricity and lack of awareness with low literacy but with mind blowing natural beauty, Tipling has woken up with seismic resilient houses built in.

Tipling dwellers have entitled one of the settlement as Baliyo Tole (Strong Tole). All of the houses flattened by Gorkha Earthquake have now been rebuilt to resist earthquakes, hence villagers have coined the name Baliyo Tole. "At first, we were not aware of making quake safe houses, neither we had idea nor access to technology, but when we were provided with 7-days mason training we have been successful to make our village seismic resilient," Bikash Ghale, a leading mason of Baliyo Tole said.

Tipling Village, northern most area of Dhading has witnessed reconstruction completion

"We have our sons, son-in-laws and brother-in-laws as trained masons in our family, they have worked together as Parma, so we need not had to worry about the availability and wages for masons!" Syu Tamang, a local from Baliyo Tole expressed his happiness, "We all are very happy. We have not only restored our houses but also got granted with three hundred thousand rupees which means a lot for us."

Gurje rebuilt by Tamang Group

Just 20-22 kilometers north from the capital city-Kathmandu, there lies an inclined settlement, Gurje; one of the village of Shivapuri Rural Municipality-Nuwakot with full of natural beauty and mesmerizing landscape. It got rattled during Gorkha Earthquake. Rebuilding village following the Parma system and collective learning about the resilient community are the characteristics of Gurje after Gorkha Earthquake. Soon after they received the first tranche of government grant and mason training, mason leaders like Mr. Santa Bahadur Tamang initiated to form masons group who were to work turn by turn. "We used to lay the DPC / foundation of one house and leave it for curing and start foundation on other house. Likewise, when walls were to be laid in one house the other house was left for curing. In one way it stopped masons from being leisure and in the other the houses were rebuilt simultaneously. Indeed is supported for speedy reconstruction," mason Santa said. Santa leads the group of 7 Tamang masons. Tamangs are under-privileged community people in Nepal.

Group of masons led by Mr. Santa Tamang (White stripe t-shirt) at Gurje, Nuwakot

Like the group of Santa there are other 3 groups had been formulated to finish the reconstruction of Gurje all together. The local authorities are pleased to witness the successful reconstruction of Gurje within short period of time. Mr. Ram Krishna Thapa, Chair of Shivapuri Rural Municipality, Nuwakot extends his pleasing and says, "Earlier we had the scarcity of masons as they used to leave their village for either to Kathmandu or other areas for better wages, but after the mason training when the labor exchanging groups were formed they were morally bound to leave and employ their skills in the village which resulted in better reconstruction. The continuous technical support from some organizations in making the village resilient served as catalyst."

Experts say, Parma System has built a culture for long term safety

Dr. Ramesh Guragain, earthquake expert and researcher of load bearing masonry says Parma System in Nepal has directed communities towards long term safety. "Due to the access to resources and culture of urbanization, Parma system in Nepal was on the way to fade but after the earthquake 2015, the social cohesion and mutual cooperation has been revitalized. In one way, it has strengthened the solidity among people and in the other it has helped build a culture of safety. While working on group, the trained ones can teach and convince the untrained ones about the technology very easily. Hence, uniformity in understanding the technology regarding earthquake safety and acceptance as well as consensus built among the masons has absolutely directed towards resilience and long term safety. The skills and knowledge would be transferred to the generation without a doubt," Dr. Guragain said.

Government appreciates the initiations of masons

As it has been three and half years since the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015 hit the nation and caused a heavy loss of lives and properties, there has been significant progress in rebuilding of the private houses. As per the statistics of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), by the end of October 2018, reconstruction of approximately 310,000 houses is completed while more than 500,000 houses are being rebuilt in the quake-hit 31 districts.

The NRA has been saying that its top priority was to complete the reconstruction of the private houses in the 5-year tenure of the reconstruction body. Spokesperson of NRA, Mr. Pitambar Ghimire says, "House reconstruction is significant in terms of shelter, security, social prestige and wellbeing of the family members. Hence we have prioritized reconstruction of flattened houses within the set deadline." He appreciated the initiations of masons to form "collective working group" to gear up the reconstruction. "This really is the culture and beautiful characteristics of Nepalese to unite in any social works; it's been utilized after the disasters too," he says.