Nepalis Lead Recovery and Build Resilience
Five years after the Gorkha earthquake, Nepali experts are at the forefront of building a self-reliant Nepal
For Ramesh Guragain, April 25, 2015, began as a celebration. Ramesh’s village had planned a surprise picnic to celebrate his recent doctoral degree in earthquake engineering and his work as deputy executive director of the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), an organization supporting earthquake resilience.
A 1988 earthquake that gravely affected his small village in Taplejung district high in the foothills of Mount Kanchenjunga — the world’s third highest peak — started Ramesh on his life’s path to make Nepal a safer place. So it was more than appropriate that during the graduation ceremony 27 years later, Ramesh gave a speech highlighting Nepal’s earthquake vulnerability and promoting safe construction.
Just hours later, Nepal was hit by the first of two earthquakes, killing nearly 9,000 and injuring more than 22,300 people. These earthquakes destroyed more than 827,000 homes across 31 districts, many of which were built using the traditional method of stone masonry with mud mortar.
Immediately following the earthquake, Ramesh, NSET, and USAID sprang into action, building on a strong partnership forged over decades to lead a massive response and recovery effort. This included damage assessments, relief to particularly hard-hit communities and the launch of a National Reconstruction Authority, the Government of Nepal entity that would lead the recovery effort.
“NSET’s experience working with USAID in response to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and other responses we’ve done in the region allowed us to quickly design programs to help Nepal build back safer. The long term association paid off,” says Ramesh.
Through this enduring partnership, USAID has built the capacity of NSET to be a leader in earthquake reconstruction and resiliency in Nepal and in the broader region. With this experience, NSET has been able to play a leading role in reconstruction and resilience efforts in the five years since the earthquake.
NSET’s projects, including the USAID-funded Baliyo Ghar or “Strong House” activity, approach earthquake resiliency from multiple angles. Baliyo Ghar ensures that houses rebuilt after the 2015 earthquakes are resilient to future tremors, and enhanced the building permit system, ensuring improved seismic safety and promoting community resilience. NSET helped train the construction workforce of contractors and masons to employ safer construction techniques, sponsor informational events, and conduct door-to-door visits to increase community awareness of earthquake risks and the importance of seismically-safe construction.
Community members were not convinced at first that they needed to change the ways they built their homes.
Sabitri Kaki, 65, shared that, “before I started rebuilding my home, I used to believe that stone masonry could not resist earthquakes. However, after seeing how others have built their homes using techniques shared by Baliyo Ghar, I am now confident in my new home.”
Ramesh recognized that it was difficult for engineers to build community rapport. He and his team experimented with the idea of recruiting social mobilizers who could help rally homeowners around safe construction practices.
Quickly, these social mobilizers became a major success. With the support of the local community, more than 90 percent of reconstructed homes in areas with NSET programs became seismically-safe.
“If this project had gone without these mobilizers, the whole reconstruction process would have looked differently,” says Ramesh. To build on NSET’s successes, the Government of Nepal has also recruited social mobilizers to enhance its reconstruction efforts.
Today, as part of USAID’s nearly $200 million in earthquake assistance, more than 75 percent of all beneficiaries rebuilt their homes over the last five years and made them safer from future seismic events. “NSET recognized early that Nepal had to build better,” Ramesh says. “We recognized that there was something we could do to help the community.”
About the Authors
Kaitlyn Neuberger is an Information Officer in USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, Hung Vo is a Foreign Service Officer in USAID’s Land and Urban Office, and Andrew Golda is the Team Leader for Disaster Risk Management in the Disaster Risk Reduction, Reconstruction, and Resilience Office in USAID’s Mission in Nepal.
