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Only mud huts withstood quake

Traditional round 'bhungas' (mud huts) that stood firm when everything else collapsed around them could once again dot the quake-ravaged Kutch district in Gujarat.

The few magnificent 'bhungas' that remained in the marshy Banni area after its residents went in for ''modern'' houses are being looked upon as ''engineering wonders''.

''The villagers are convinced about going back to traditional housing,'' said architect Balakrishna Doshi.

What makes the 'bhungas' so strong? ''Their circular design and the steely mesh of mud plaster and twigs make them resist wind pressure and quakes,'' says Doshi, winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

The 'bhungas', which ''even a king would envy'' for elaborate design and artistic elegance, have a light dome-shaped bamboo and thatched roof and a circular wall plastered with mud, twigs and dung.

Their thick walls keep the interiors cool when the temperature rises to 46 degrees Celsius in the summer and warm when it drops to two degrees in winter.

Everything about the 'bhungas' is an art. Their outer walls are painted with mud colour motifs by womenfolk every year during Diwali and exquisitely carved wood lines inner walls that are inlaid with mirrors.

In Ludiya village, 75 km from here, near the Pakistan border, all 12 'bhungas' survived the January 26 temblor without a scratch, when every other house, including ''modern'' versions of the 'bhungas', collapsed.

The ''modern'' versions of the 'bhungas' had given a go-by to traditional architecture, replacing twigs of babul trees with stones.

Award-winning craftsman Seva Mayan Marwada's 'bhung', which even boasts of a ''mud fridge'', resembled a fortress among ruins.

Seva, who had exhibited his wooden carvings in the Surajkund and Delhi Haat melas, can't remember when his 'bhunga' was built. ''It was built by my great-grandfather,'' he says.

Doshi's team from his Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for studies and research in environmental design, which visited Bunni at the southern periphery of the Great Rann of Kutch, found every 'bhunga' safe.

Women of the area are known for embroidery work; sometimes, a piece of work takes up to a year to complete. The men do woodcarving.

''We have to save Kutchi culture, tradition and lifestyle in reconstruction,'' says Doshi, from his Ahmedabad residence. The Padma Shri awardee has proposed his plan to HUDCO, NGOs and the the state government, to rebuild traditional houses.

''We are ready to start work,'' says Doshi, who worked with architect Le Couribusier from 1951 to 1954. According to him, building homes for the quake victims in Bunni could take three months to a few years.

While he awaits the government's response, Doshi is going to work with Manav Sadhana Trust, an NGO, which has adopted Ludiya village, for building 'bhungas' for its people.

The Complete Coverage | List of earthquake sites

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