Hurricane Mitch brought massive flooding to Condega. Most of the homes that got destroyed lay along the banks of the Rivers Pire and Estelí. While many of the more rural houses destroyed by Mitch had been made of wood or adobe, the raging floodwaters did not discriminate against brick and stone. In the urban center, hundreds of houses and whole neighborhoods were washed away.
The local government secured a large parcel of land and donated it to various reconstruction projects. This new terrain ("el terreno") is up on a hill, far from the river. Because it is a 15-minute walk from the city center, people refer to the new development as "alla arriba," something akin to "up over yonder."
In addition to their higher elevation and distance from the rivers, the new houses are designed to be earthquake-proof. More permanent than wood or adobe, they are made of concrete blocks with an iron-reinforced concrete frame. Their wooden shutters and doors, made by the Women's Construction Collective, add a personal touch. Women also made the "trasteros," the covered wooden dish drainers, which hang outside the kitchen window. Plastic skylights in the galvanized steel roofs ensure that the living areas are well lit.
The first step in the building process is setting out the foundation of the house. First we level the ground with shovels, picks, and digging bars. Then we mark the foundation with a system of "puentes," wooden structures that define the floor level and the placement of the columns. Finally, we dig holes and trenches to hold the concrete footings and beams.
Now that much earth has been removed from the foundation, it is time to fill it up again with concrete. We place ironwork for the columns in each hole and pour concrete into the footings, which serve to anchor the house. We also pour concrete into the trenches, which will support the seismic beam, which ties the columns together and aids the structural integrity of the house. If the house is on a slope, we lay concrete blocks up to the level of the beam. Finally, iron reinforcements for the seismic beam are tied on and surrounded with wooden form work, which will contain the poured concrete. Once we have poured the seismic beam, it is time to build the walls.
When laying the blocks for the walls, the building seems to proceed more quickly, because the progress is quite visible. We pour the columns and install the capping beam, which completes the earthquake-proof structure. The roof beams are fashioned out of wood, and we attach galvanized steel sheets and skylights. Now that there is protection from the elements, we can install the wooden shutters and doors. Ceramic tile floors and a wooden interior partition are the next addition With electric wiring and plumbing for a kitchen, the house is complete.