To assist and encourage people to return to their homes after the January 12th 2010 earthquake, USAID funded Rubble Removal Programs including demolition of condemned buildings and the removal of rubble from streets and drainage canals. Between February 2010 and February of this year USAID also supported the Ministry of Public Works Transport and Communications (MTPTC) habitability assessments program in which buildings were structurally evaluated and color-coded green (for safe to return), yellow (one vertex compromised = could collapse in foul weather), and red (both vertices compromised = could collapse at any moment). The precise impact of rubble removal and the assessments on IDP returns was, prior to the current study, unknown.
To determine the contribution the programs made, USAID contracted LTL Strategies to conduct the Building Assessments and Rubble Removal (BARR) surveys. The principal objective was to calculate, to a relatively high degree of accuracy and with a reasonably high degree of statistical probability, the impact on rate of re-occupancy of: a) MTPTC assessments on IDP returns, b) rubble removal.
