D.2 India - 1971 - Conflict - Refugees - First camp planning guidelines Historic

D.2 India - 1971 - Conflict - Refugees Case study: First camp planning guidelines Project type: Distribution of building materials with training support Disaster: Civil war in (then East ) No. of people displaced: 10 million people

Project target population: Seven camps, each with 15,000 to 20,000 people,

with one camp designed to be extended India Bangladesh for up to 300,000 people Occupancy rate on handover: 100% West Bengal Shelter size Various

Summary Refugee camps were designed in decentralised ‘village’ groupings. Construction and upgrading was undertaken in three phases: meeting basic needs, sustainable upgrading and maintenance of the camps. Emphasis was given first to sanitation and public health issues, and then to the emotional and social well-being of the inhabitants. From the lessons learned in this response, the first-ever humani- tarian camp planning guidelines were developed.

Project timeline

Conflict 3 months 7 months 9 months I I I

26 March Independence 1971Bangladesh starts War of projectCamp starts .planning Project closed 16 DecemberWar ends 1971

Strengths and weaknesses 99 Camp construction is a process. Life-and-death issues of ‘phases’ allowed the camps to be planned for an should be addressed first, but other issues should not be indeterminate and potentially long-term existence. ignored in later phases of construction or upgrading. -- The majority of sanitation and public health issues were 99 Standardisation of shelter types in later phases of camp caused by the poor choice of land for the camp in the development facilitated the development of the land grids beginning. and road systems. 88 Poorly supervised construction contractors created an 99 The decentralised ‘villages’ design allowed for the exploitative (and illegal) black market for refugee labour. provision of services with less effort by staff, as well as 88 In open camps near large cities, it was sometimes adaptation to land contours, organisation of refugee impossible to stop local non-refugees from posing as adminstrative groups, protection of minorities and use of refugees in order to receive shelter and food that was more areas between villages for agricultural activities. than they could have expected to receive as members of 99 Describing the construction of camps over a timeline the homeless population back in Calcutta.

Case study credits: Cuny Center 86 86 Historic Shelter Projects 2008 D.2 Before the war Smaller refugee flows into West guidelines of basic camp planning prin- upgrading of shelters and the need for Bengal from what was then called ciples was written later that year. more space and sanitation facilities. had been continuous • Phase II: These were camps with Because of the continuous influx since the initial partition period of more stable populations. They had of refugees over a number of months 1948-49. Many of the refugees were more rational designs. Shelter materials and the sheer size of the displacement, of the Hindu minority in East Pakistan. were distributed, basic drainage and many of the camps quickly became However, from 1949 to 1970, resent- sanitation were constructed, and overcrowded. Matters were made ments over discrimination by the West roadways and public facilities were worse by cholera outbreaks and the Pakistan government continued to rise. improved. Attention was also given major flooding of many of the camps They came to a head in the aftermath to providing opportunities for both during the rainy season in September. of the Bhola Cyclone of 12 November livelihoods and social activities. Repatriation of the majority of the 1970, where the West Pakistan gov- • Phase III: With well laid-out roads refugees started after the end of the ernment was accused of mismanag- and better drainage, focus moved to war. ing the relief effort and neglecting higher-standard public facilities and the affected populations, despite the Selection of beneficiaries the considerations of creating more fact that an estimated 500,000 people (and assessment) permanent settlements, if required. were killed. This resulted in an East In the larger camps, the ‘villages’ With a more stable camp population, Pakistan political party (the Awami layout was used to advocate the sepa- different village areas could be used for League) gaining a landslide majority in ration of Hindu and Muslim groups cooperative experiments on different . within the same camp. There were types of shelter or shelter groupings, concerns about ensuring equal support Demonstrations for independence to best adapt to the residents’ needs. for both groups. were met with a severe crackdown by In all phases, the design aimed to West Pakistan military forces, leading The inhabitants of some of the have the shelters grouped into small to the declaration of independence on smaller and more basic Phase I and decentralised villages in order to 26 and the resulting war. Phase II camps were selected to be support the refugees’ self-adminis- The war only ended once India, fearing moved to the larger Phase III camps tration, as well as to aid drainage and further destabilisation from mass when the first camps were closed construction over uneven land. The influxes of refugees, intervened on the down. decentralisation of services also meant that the refugees had greater access to side of East Pakistan between 3 and 16 Land rights / ownership December 1971. those services, resulting in less unrest Later reports stated that the Indian and greater health benefits. After war breaks out government had been at pains to insist An estimated 10 million families, at upon the non-permanent nature of the This was also the first time that the a peak rate of tens of thousands per camps, and had restricted the use of clustering of shelter layouts in this way day, fled into West Bengal in India. ‘permanent’ construction materials in had been advocated. Many arrived in self-settled camps in the camps. After the end of the war, Implementation the vicinity of Calcutta. The Govern- and the establishment of independence The camp construction and admin- ment of India and the Corporation of by Bangladesh, the great majority of istration was undertaken by the Indian the City of Calcutta assigned land for the refugees were repatriated volun- authorities and much of the work was camps, and the Indian Army provided tarily. However, more than 1 million done by Indian Army engineers. basic supplies and administration. refugees (mainly Hindus) chose to remain in India. A few of the old camps A process was eventually initiated A number of the camps were spon- have since been incorporated into the to close down smaller Phase I and taneously self-settled. Both catego- expanding local cities, although the in- Phase II camps in flooded areas. ries of camps were often on marginal habitants’ housing rights are unclear. lands and in low-lying areas prone to In the Phase III camps, workshops flooding. Technical solutions were set up to make bamboo matting for use in shelter construction – The construction, upgrading and The NGO had been involved in enough for 8,000 shelters in less than maintenance of the camps were divided public health and water and sanitation one month in one camp. Some of the into three phases, with the following projects in the camps, and had asked works were done by paid contractors, emphases: a consultant team to develop a more but much of the local construction and comprehensive strategy for camp • Phase I: These were described as upgrading was done by labour teams planning and camp development. The being the first emergency camps built organised around the villages. consultancy worked directly on the at the start of the influx, with little implementation of various projects in prior thought given to siting or facilities. Materials the camps, ranging from the setting up Sanitation was often poor, shelters The first shelters were made of materials workshops to drainage ex- were very basic and facilities were from thatch, bamboo and recovered cavation. They also implemented camp inadequate. The most pressing issues materials. Later phases of shelters layout strategies from which a set of were the construction of drainage, the included polythene sheeting and some corrugated tin roofing sheets, as well as

87 D.2 India - 1971 - Conflict - Refugees - First camp planning guidelines Historic Cuny Center Clustered camp plan

the bamboo matting. These were used Phase III camp benefited from its army engineers. Imported materials for roofing, partitions and flooring in proximity to Calcutta in terms of were later augmented by the bamboo the shelters and latrines, and for the the procurement of its construction matting made in the camp workshops. lining of drainage canals. materials. The ability of that camp to develop rapidly was attributed to the Logistics authorities’ willingness to commit The construction of the larger full-time professional technicians and 88 88