in Mayotte, architects warn of the urgency of rebuilding decent housing

In addition to the lack of water and power cuts, in Mayotte, victims have sometimes completely lost their homes. Faced with the urgency of the situation, the Prime Minister announced a call for projects to build “immediately erectable” housing. An error consider Camille Cozon Abdourazak and Patrick Coulombel, both architects.

The President of the Republic arrived in Mayotte in the morning on Thursday December 19. One of the emergencies with which he will first be confronted is that of the reconstruction of housing and public buildings. On Tuesday, François Bayrou on France 2 was already talking about a commando operation: “We are going to launch a call for projects so that architects, architecture students and large companies can propose models that can be assembled immediately. It took us five years for Notre-Dame, I think we need to aim to go much faster.”.

A call of course heard by two architects: Camille Cozon Abdourazak, in Mayotte, and Patrick Coulombel, co-founder of Architectes de l’Urgence, in mainland France. On site, however, Camille Cozon Abdourazak first warns about the state of the land. A lot of clearing seems necessary before even considering reconstruction. “The landscape does not at all resemble what we normally know. Everything is razed in fact, there is nothing left, no more homes, no more vegetation.n, she insists. For his part, Patrick Coulombel considers that the first thing to do, “it will be about providing security, which we want to start quickly with people who are already there, like Camille and others“.

Camille Cozon Abdourazak and Patrick Coulombel both disapprove of François Bayrou’s vision which evokes “immediately mountable models” : “For permanent housing, it’s quite easy, you have to redo the covers. As regards precarious housing, on the other hand, we must not repeat what has already been done for years“, warns the Mahoraise architect. And in fact, while the emergency services are still searching for the missing in the rubble, many observe the unsanitary conditions of the buildings, weakened by the cyclone. Without housing, some victims are already rebuilding in the shantytowns, makeshift shelters with the same concrete blocks and the same sheet metal as the collapsed houses, especially since the weather is not good at the moment: “it’s the flood. Today, I don’t know how people do it“, she adds.

“I would compare the situation to those in developing countries where the problems are approximately the same, that is to say, real precariousness among people.”

Patrick Colombel

franceinfo

For Patrick Colombel, the urgency of the situation also requires exceptions to certain standards. “We will have to work differently, we will be forced to evade all the standards and the entire French system, because otherwise it will cost a fortune“, explains the co-founder of Architectes de l’Urgence. The architect also insists on the need to work”as much as possible with local people, and with local resources, such as compressed brick which is made on site, which will cost less.” “We have to bring as few things as possible, because we don’t have much of time”, shares Camille Cozon Abdourazak, while being aware that “the majority of materials will be imported”.