Located in the lowland of Quang Nam province, Tam Dan commune is visited by typhoons and floods four to eight times annually. This community house (Nhà văn hóa thôn) is the safest place in the area for people to evacuate. There are up to 100 people that call this community house their temporary home during typhoon seasons every year. Most of them are older people and children. “Our existing latrine in the community house does not have enough capacity for all evacuees,” says Ho Van Tri, the Tam Dan commune People’s Committee chairman.
During the two-year project, funded by DFAT through Habitat for Humanity Australia, the Tam Dan commune gained stronger and increased knowledge on disaster and climate change mitigation. Through PASSA group facilitation, the community decided to build a new adequate latrine in the community house as part of their defined plan and priorities for disaster preparedness. This plan received the attention of the local authority and, together with Habitat Vietnam, the PASSA groups and the community, successfully mobilized funding contribution from the government. The newly built latrine ensures people’s hygiene and sanitation conditions that will temporarily stay here during disasters. The latrine is designed to be accessible for everyone, including persons with disabilities, children, the elderly and those who are sick. “This October, 37 people stayed in this community house due to high flooding in the commune. The people who evacuated felt safe and happy seeing this new latrine. I observed that the older people could manage to go to the toilet by themselves without help from others,” Tri shared.
