Rwanda: Disaster resilient houses handed over to Ngororero residents

Eleven families in Kabaya Sector, Ngororero District, have been relocated from high risk zones to the model village in Kimiramba. The Hon. Mukantabana Seraphine, Minister of Disaster Management and Refugees and Mr. Lamin M. Manneh, UN Resident Coordinator, officially handed over the disaster resilient houses built under the One UN joint programme dubbed “Strengthening human security by enhancing resilience to natural disasters and climate-related threats in Ngororero District”. The construction of the houses was implemented by UN-HABITAT.

Sekabanza Francois, one of the eleven owners of the new houses, said he was deeply moved by the decision to construct him and others, new houses aimed at relocating them from high risk zones. “I thank the Government of Rwanda for always improving our lives. Although I am an old man, I know my family has a safe future with this house and they will also enjoy watching the television that was given to us. “

Honorable Mukantabana encouraged the residents to involve themselves in profit generating programs and properly maintain the houses built for them. “The modern houses constructed for you are disaster resilient and I encourage you to handle them with care and use this opportunity to concentrate on working hard to improve your lives and your families,” she said.

“This project is part of the bigger 1.9 million US dollar project that is funded by our partners through building disaster resilient communities under the Human security approach” she added.

The selection of Ngororero as the beneficiary District for this Project was based on various factors such as the climate and disaster Risk profiling among other indices, with a focus on promoting health amenities, water, livelihood support and capacity building for disaster management and mitigation to include activities such as flood mitigation, land slide resilience; and retro-fitting and strengthening roofs and houses that were found to be prone to disaster, the latter activity targeting 200 houses.

The Government of Rwanda is committed to embarking on Disaster Risk prevention as the best solution to combat disaster risks not only in Ngororero but also in other Disaster Risk prone Districts of the country.