Need to build back better

“Often the temporary solutions become permanent,” says Selmer-Olsen.

She stresses the need to start thinking about the long term solutions already now.

“The ambition should be to build back in a way which ensures that the infrastructure can handle another earthquake,” she adds.

She is deployed from NRC’s standby roster NORCAP to support the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) work with camps and temporary settlements. IOM works to reach out to the areas hardest hit by the earthquake April 25, like Gorkha and Sindhupalchok, where around 90% of the buildings have been destroyed.

Architect Tone Selmer-Olsen gets an update from NORCAP adviser Jørn-Casper Øwre before leaving for Nepal. Photo: NRC/Tiril Skarstein  

“Many people will settle in temporary camps. The immediate response is crucial to ensure that they get the best possible living conditions. We need to think about the technical issues, like water and sanitation systems, but we should also ensure a good social infrastructure, enabling people to get back to some kind of normality,” the architect explains.

“We will conduct assessments and suggest solutions that can ensure positive and sustainable long-term development,” she adds.

Chaotic

What are you prepared to encounter when you come to Nepal?

“It's hard to know exactly what to expect. It's a very chaotic and complex situation. Many villages have still not received any support at all,” Selmer-Olsen says.

During the past few days she has been reading up on Nepal, trying to get an understanding of Nepali culture, what is important for the Nepalese people and what they gather around.

Experience from Haiti

Håkon Valborgland, Tone Selmer-Olsen and Håvard Breivik from NORCAP meeting with Crown Prince Haakon in Nepal during a visited in October 2012. Both Selmer-Olsen and Breivik are now in Nepal to assist in the relief efforts there. Photo: NRC/Åshild Falch   

The young woman has extensive experience, both as an architect and from emergency situations.

“I was in Haiti in 2010, seven months after the earthquake. And I was back there in 2012. So I've been working in earthquake affected areas both in the emergency phase and the reconstruction phase,” she says.

In 2012 she worked on a community-upgrading project in Port-au-Prince’s townships, designed to increased resilience against new environmental hazards.

“What lessons do you take with you from Haiti?”

“We need to work interdisciplinarily. This is important to ensure a participatory process and cooperation across organisations and disciplines,” says Selmer-Olsen.