Coping with disasters: The potential of traditional settlements of hill community of Uttarakhand

Abstract

Traditional settlements of the hill region are the outcome of multiple practices developed by generations from an advanced understanding of the natural settings. Over time, the hill communities know about the multiple challenges and risks that exist in the hill regions which compelled them to take preventive and mitigative measures to safeguard themselves. This paper highlights the potential of various practices exist in the traditional settlements of Uttarakhand’s hill region that enabled the communities to survive the impact of multiple disasters over the years. Extensive field studies were carried out in the Bhagirathi valley’s traditional settlements, to investigate the living traditional practices. The methods of data collection include observation, informative interviews, and discussion with the local populace. The study has a qualitative approach that has been interpretative and partly comparative, which demonstrates that the hill community has a settlement layout based on the understanding of natural geographical setting, and the socio-economic factor that limited their boundaries based on their belief system. It is also argued that ecological, political, and temporal factors have a significant bearing on the built expression and provide an identity to the hill community. Based on the study, the paper concludes that traditional knowledge gathered not only needs to be recognised, conserved and documented but also needs to be studied thoroughly to throw light upon the coping strategies, leading to reduced disaster risks in modern architectural practices.