"We Will Not Let You Lose Your Home Again in the Next Flood" - NPO Musubi-Te Launches House Reinforcement Support in Flood-Affected Areas of Bihar, India

NPO Musubi-Te (Musubi-Te Foundation, Representative Director: Kotaro Fukuoka) is launching a house reinforcement support program in flood-affected areas of Bihar, India, to prepare for future flood damage.

In the target area, multiple floods occurred in 2025, causing significant damage to livelihoods, including house collapses, loss of livestock, damage to farmland, and destruction of roads. While conducting food aid and damage surveys in the affected areas, Musubi-Te confirmed house collapses and flood damage, and recognized that people living in particularly fragile homes are at high risk of suffering severe damage again in the future.

After continuing dialogue and situation monitoring with the local community following the emergency relief, the organization determined that, in addition to post-disaster aid, house reinforcement to reduce the damage itself is necessary. Subsequently, through interviews with villagers, they created a list of 32 people living in vulnerable homes. Going forward, they will proceed with house reinforcement one house at a time, starting with the most dangerous ones, as funding becomes available.

■ Background: The Reality of Losing Homes, Livestock, Farmland, and Livelihoods to Floods

In some areas of Bihar, India, heavy monsoon rains cause repeated flood damage. During the 2025 floods, multiple villages where Musubi-Te is active experienced house collapses and flooding, livestock deaths, damage to farmland, and road destruction.

In a flood that occurred on August 22, sudden heavy rain caused rivers to overflow, destroying homes and roads, and causing severe damage to livestock and farmland. In the affected villages, people lost their homes, livestock, and farmland, severely undermining their means of rebuilding their lives.

In response to this situation, Musubi-Te has been providing food aid in villages such as Bataspur, Ghongaria, and Kewal. The aid primarily consists of food items like rice and beans to ensure minimum nutrition for the affected people.

For example, on July 19, 2025, they provided food aid to 100 people in Bataspur village and surveyed the damage in TuriBuzurg village on the same day. On August 21, they aided 400 people in Kewal village; on August 23, another 400 in the same region; and on September 3 and September 24, they aided 400 people in Bataspur and Ghongaria villages.

Losing a home to a flood is not just about losing a place to live. Losing livestock and farmland means losing one's livelihood. If roads are destroyed, access to towns and jobs becomes difficult. Without adequate food, people lose the physical strength to work under the scorching sun, making recovery even harder.

■ Reasons for Starting House Reinforcement Support

Through past support, it became clear that in flood-affected areas, not only post-disaster food aid but also preparedness to prevent damage is necessary.

Especially for people living in fragile houses made of earth or simple materials, reinforcing homes is a crucial effort to protect lives and livelihoods. In last year's floods, some houses were completely destroyed. With the possibility of similar floods recurring, people living in vulnerable homes live in fear of the next disaster.

Initially, Musubi-Te considered using locally available materials such as naturally growing grass, bamboo, plants, and earth to reinforce houses. They also studied feasible local reinforcement methods, referencing the traditional Japanese house-building technique "Takekomai" (bamboo lathing), and held repeated discussions with villagers.

However, when they tried to start the work, they faced the reality that even locally available bamboo and grass could not be freely used due to local ownership relations and social issues like caste discrimination. Materials may be nearby but unusable. Purchasing materials requires money, which the people living in fragile houses cannot afford. In this situation, external support for material purchase costs is necessary to proceed with house reinforcement.

On the other hand, the villagers are not just waiting for aid. Through discussions, they agreed to take on tasks they could manage themselves, such as creating a list of people living in vulnerable homes and participating in the work once materials are prepared.

Currently, based on interviews with villagers, a list of 32 people living in fragile homes has been created. Going forward, they will proceed with house reinforcement one house at a time, starting with the most dangerous, as funding becomes available.

The estimated cost per house is approximately 15,000 yen. Musubi-Te aims to proceed with preparations to prevent people from losing their homes again in the next flood, with villagers taking on what they can, rather than the organization unilaterally delivering aid.

■ Support Content: Reinforcement Implemented One House at a Time, Starting from the Most Dangerous

In this support program, among the individuals identified through interviews with villagers, priority will be given to those in the most dangerous houses, and reinforcement will proceed one house at a time.

After preparing the necessary materials, the work will be carried out in collaboration with local residents. The goal is not for Musubi-Te to unilaterally deliver aid, but for villagers to participate in the work themselves, thereby building local capacity to prepare for future floods.

Representative Fukuoka is scheduled to give a lecture in Japan in June, so some work management will be done online. They will connect remotely with the local site to check progress and make necessary adjustments, proceeding with support in close cooperation with residents as much as possible.

■ Request for Support

This house reinforcement support program estimates a cost of approximately 15,000 yen per house.

Donations received will be used for purchasing materials necessary for house reinforcement. Reinforcement work will begin on houses for which funding has been secured.

Losing a home to a flood means losing the foundation of one's life. To prevent the same damage from recurring in the next flood, we ask for your support.

● Bank Transfer

Rakuten Bank, Third Business Branch (253)

Account Number: 7310378, Ordinary Account

NPO Musubi-Te

● Credit Card

https://syncable.biz/associate/musubite/donate

■ Representative Comment

In the flood-affected areas of Bihar, every flood destroys homes, livestock, farmland, and roads, severely undermining the very foundation of people's lives.

We have been providing food aid, but through seeing the damage firsthand and talking with villagers, we felt that in addition to post-disaster aid, preparedness to prevent damage is necessary.

This house reinforcement support is an effort to reinforce homes one by one, starting with those living in the most fragile houses. Protecting one house means protecting the lives and livelihoods of the family living there.

The villagers are also stepping up to do what they can, such as creating a list of beneficiaries and participating in the work. Musubi-Te