'Let's build quake resistant structures by using local resources and technology'

 Kathmandu, Jan. 15

Nepal is observing the 26^th Earthquake Safety Day 2080 on Tuesday with various awareness and educational programmes across the country.

The main ceremony of the event is being organised in Chandragiri Municipality of Kathmandu district with the slogan 'Let's also use local resources and technology, let's build an earthquake resistant structure!!', according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

The country observes the Earthquake Safety Day on Magh 2 of Nepali calendar (which falls on January 16 this year) in the memory of the devastating earthquake of 1934 that killed more than 8,500 people and damaged more than 300,000 houses. Nepal started to commemorate this day since 1998.

According to Brahma Shumsher who wrote a book on the 1934 quake a year later, the quake hit central Nepal at 2:24 PM and tremors lasted for about 2 minutes. In a week following the quake, there were more than 28 aftershocks.

Since the country is said to be the 11^th in terms of the potential earthquake risks and has experienced powerful tremors in about every 100 years in the past several centuries, the Safety Day holds significance here.

Historian Mahesh Raj Pant has maintained that the oldest recorded earthquake that hit the nation was happened in 1280 BS (1223 AD).

The earthquake in 2015, which rocked the country about 81 years after the 1934 quake, killed 8,970 people and damaged about 800,000 houses, cultural heritages, education and health facilities as well as several development infrastructures.

A recent earthquake on November 13 last year killed 154 people in Jajarkot and Rukum West and damaged more than 26,000 houses.

Meanwhile, a three-year long risk assessment project undertaken by the government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that concluded in February 2018, has estimated that if a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits central Nepal in the south, about 22,000 people would die, and 44.7 per cent of the residential buildings would be damaged in the Kathmandu Valley alone.

This projection was based on the ground shaking behaviour in the Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. The estimates are made for the next one and a half decades. It also projected that about 86,860 people would be injured if a 7.8 Richter scale quake hits the nation, and 1,196,080 people would be in the need of evacuation.

Meanwhile, the federal ministries, provincial governments, district administration offices, district coordination committees, local governments and National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) are collaborating to mark the day with various events.

It is also decided to provide posters with the slogan of Earthquake Safety Day to schools across the country through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and to conduct awareness programmes related to earthquakes.

In addition, classes on earthquake safety as well as conduct artificial event practice (simulation) will be conducted at every school on that day in partnership with the concerned local government.

There have been projections of the possibility of a powerful earthquake in the western region of Nepal as this region has not received a major jolt in the last four or five centuries.

Speaking a programme in Lalitpur a couple of weeks ago, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said that the earthquakes in Jajarkot, Bajhang and Doti within a year have foreshadowed this.

Even a year ago, 6 people died and hundreds of houses were damaged due to Doti-Bajura earthquake.

PM Prachanda said that there is indifference in the pre-disaster risk assessment and the corresponding structures and preparations. "Therefore, the series of earthquakes this time has forced us to have risk-resistant structures and continuous preparations accordingly. Now my emphasis is on making rapid preparations for reconstruction, preparing earthquake resistant designs, making strong structures and arranging sufficient budget," he had said, "This work should not be delayed."

The government has also maintained that it will not create another reconstruction body to carry out the post-quake rebuilding in Jajarkot and Rukum West but amend the laws to further empower the NDRRMA by equipping it with resources and by strengthening its organisational structure of this authority.

PM Prachanda had already instructed the Authority to make an action plan for adequate preparations for search and rescue equipment, tents for relief and other materials to be made in all provincial godowns, district godowns and local levels.

Similarly, the Cabinet has already decided that the Chief Secretary of the government will study and submit a report regarding the insurance of all buildings and structures including personal residences and government offices. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 January 2024.   

Dabur donates Rs. 2.5 million to PMDRF

Kathmandu, Nov. 24

Dabur Nepal has donated Rs. 2.5 million to the Prime Minster Disaster Relief Fund for the relief of the earthquake victims in Jajarkot and Rukum West districts.

Ishori Rana, Chairperson of the company, and Harkirat Singh Bedi, Business Head, along with senior officials of the company handed the cheque bearing the amount to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on Friday.

A 6.4 magnitude quake jolted two districts on November 3, killing 153 people and destroying thousands of houses.

"Dabur Nepal expresses sorrow for those who lost their lives in the devastating earthquake and wishes speedy recovery of the injured. Dabur Nepal stands in solidarity with the people of the earthquake affected districts in this time of crisis," the company said in a statement on Friday. 

  Published in The Rising Nepal on 25 November 2023.

FNCCI, Casino Association support quake victims

 Kathmandu, Nov. 8

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has sent additional relief materials worth Rs. 2.2 million to Jajarkot and Rukum West, two districts most affected by the quake that rocked the mid-western hills last week.

The materials were distributed through the Disaster Management Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the FNCCI said in a statement on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the business body had handed over the first lot of relief materials on Friday through its Karnali chapter. Second batch of relief materials were distributed in the presence of President Ramchandra Paudel.

It is sending materials including mattresses, tents, foods, rags, medicines and water to the affected areas. Also, the federation is facilitating the transportation of relief materials collected through other organisations at the request of the government.

Likewise, Casino Association of Nepal has provided Rs. 3.5 million to the government for quake relief.

Chairman of the association, Binod Shrestha handed over a cheque bearing the amount to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on Wednesday.

Deltin Casino, Casino Mahjong, Mahjong Nepalgunj, Casino Palace Nepal, Casino Pride, Casino Bally’s and Casino Vegas stepped forward and each made a donation of Rs. 500,000. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal on 9 November 2023.

President says disaster awareness should be created at community level

 Kathmandu, Apr. 24

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has pointed  out to the need to raise awareness at the community level about the disaster preparedness and precautionary measures.

In a message issued by the President on the Earthquake Memorial Day on Sunday, she said that the federal and state governments and the local levels have an important role to play in this endeavour.

Nepal observes the Earthquake Memorial Day on Baisakh 12, in Nepali calendar which falls on Monday, marking the day a powerful quake of 6.9 magnitude hit the country seven years ago on 25 April 2015.

Nepal is one of the most seismically risky countries in the world. President Bhandari maintained that the main reason for the country's seismic risk is geographical location and structure, but also the weak man-made physical infrastructure is equally responsible.

“Therefore, while learning lessons from past experiences, it is very important to build earthquake-resistant physical infrastructure to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes,” she said.

In her message for the Seventh Earthquake Memorial Day, the president expressed heartfelt condolences to those who lost their lives in the catastrophic earthquake that struck Barpak in Gorkha district on April 25 seven years ago and the aftershocks that followed.

Nepal has almost completed the reconstruction work of the archaeological and historical heritage, government and public buildings, educational and health institutions, private housing, roads and bridges and other physical structures destroyed by the quake. National Reconstruction Authority was established for the post-quake reconstruction which was active for six years and dissolved after completing the major rebuilding of the damaged structures.

The responsibility of completing the remaining works has also been handed over from the NRA to the concerned agencies.

“On this occasion, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the allies, national and international organizations and volunteers who have been assisting in the post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation work, including the NRA,” President Bhandari said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 April 2022. 

Earthquake Safety Day event to be held in Patan

Kathmandu, Dec. 29

This year's National Earthquake Safety Day programme's main ceremony will be organised at the Patan Durbar Square.

A meeting of the Main Organising Committee of the ESD, 2021 held at the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday decided to organise the programme in the historical city in Lalitpur district.

The meeting was chaired by Minister for Home Affairs, Bal Krishna Khand. The meeting decided to request Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to be the chief guest of the programme.

Minister Khand said that the day should be organised in a way that it would transmit awareness messages to people. "It should be organised to inform especially the youth and students," he said.

An organisation sub-committee will be formed under the chairmanship of the Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City while a publicity committee will be formed under the leadership of the Director General of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction.

According to the ministry, posters bearing the slogan of the 24^th Earthquake Safety Day will be sent to all government, community and private schools and arrangements will be made to mark the day with the participation of teachers and students. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 December 2021. 

President Bhandari stresses on resilient structures

President Bidya Devi Bhandari said that Nepal will develop all physical structures and infrastructures strong enough to endure any disaster. "The quake has taught us an important lesson in terms of disaster preparedness and resilience, so we must not forget the lessons it taught us," she said while speaking at the inaugural session of the ICNR 2021.

According to her, the damage and loss in the quake was primarily because of the weak infrastructure, and creating resilient infrastructure can lower the risk during the disasters.

President Bhandari appreciated the courage of Nepali people and their support in the rescue, relief and reconstruction drive.

 "The reconstruction work was a massive task amidst limited resources, complex geographical condition and state restructuring process. However, meaningful cooperation among the national and international agencies and support of people led the reconstruction campaign to success," she said.

She appreciated all national and international partners, donors and agencies which extended their support to the reconstruction process.

The first ICNR in 2015 had drawn the pledges of Rs. 425 billion for post-quake relief and reconstruction. However, actual pledge stood only at Rs. 325 billion.

"We can now proudly say that the people at the epicentre, Barpak, and all affected areas have returned to their own houses while the historical structures like Dharhara, Ranipokhari and Durbar High School have been resurrected with more beauty and resilience," stated President Bhandari.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Narayan Khadka thanked all donors and supporters. "About US$ 4.9 billion was estimated for the post-quake reconstruction which was beyond the capacity of the government. International community came forth to offer us the much-required support for the reconstruction and rehabilitation," he said.

Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma said that the government had moved ahead with the policy of integrated settlements in safer locations.

The government had established the NRA on 25 December 2015 and the national reconstruction campaign was launched in January 2016.

The NRA has completed the basic reconstruction and rehabilitation works of infrastructures damaged on April 25, 2015 earthquake during almost six years of its establishment and has already handed over the responsibility of remaining works to concerned ministries, departments and agencies, read a statement issued by it in October.

I has handed over the remaining works to the concerned government agencies.

The three-day conference is being organised to share Nepal’s learning and experiences with national and international communities and is being organised with the slogan of – “From Reconstruction to Resilience".

The conference also aims at strengthening relationship between government and multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies and civil society considering the way forward on resilient Nepal, and inform the government about the disaster-related laws and policies.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 9 November 2021.     

'Nepal's post-quake reconstruction unprecedented'

Kathmandu, Dec. 8

The international community has termed Nepal's post-quake reconstruction campaign successful and 'unprecedented event' in post-disaster management.

Speaking at the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction (ICNR) 2021 organised by National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) and inaugurated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Wednesday in the Capital, they expressed satisfaction over the timely completion of the reconstruction of private houses, heritages and infrastructures damaged in the 2015 earthquake.

Meanwhile, through the conference, Nepal has sent appreciation to the supporters, donors and collaborators of the reconstruction.

Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, congratulated Nepal government and people, and said that the northern neighbour would continue support to Nepal in rehabilitating livelihood. He also pledged to enhance vaccine cooperation. However, he maintained that there would not be any political conditions for any Chinese cooperation to Nepal.

Expressing happiness over the near-completion of the reconstruction in a video message, Minister Wang said that China supported Nepal in the reconstruction of the projects like Nine-Storey Palace, Arniko Highway and Durbar High School.

Indian Minister for External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, also remembered in his video message that India started supporting Nepal government six hours after the quake struck the country.

"India will always come forward to support Nepal and its people in need. India has supported the reconstruction of about 50,000 quake-damaged houses in Nuwakot and Gorkha districts," he said. 

 

Remarkable success

Speaking at the conference, Ambassador of the United States of America to Nepal, Randy Berry, said that his country has been helping Nepal in combating disasters and climate change. "The USA has provided support of US$240 million to Nepal after the 2015 quake," he said. According to him, Nepal has achieved a remarkable success in the post-quake reconstruction.

Neil Buhne, Regional Director for the UN Development Coordination Office, said that Nepal is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change as well as floods and landslides and expressed concerns that vulnerable people experience the major setbacks during the hard times.

Japanese Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Honda Taro, congratulated Nepal over the success of the reconstruction campaign. "This is not a small feat. Japan knows what it takes to recover and the hardships that accompany the process of reconstruction," he said.

According to him, Japan had pledged the support of US$260 million at the first edition of ICNR in June 2015. Japan has long been supporting Nepal in the field of disaster reduction and risk mitigation.

European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, said that the European Union had supported Nepal in training the human resources for building back better and provided engineering support to the government.

 

Meaningful partnership

World Bank's Country Director for Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, Faris H. Hadad-Zervos, said that there was a remarkable progress in reconstruction in private houses, schools, health facilities.

"This was possible through the effective partnership among the government agencies and international organisations," he said.

Vice President of the Asian Development Bank, Shixin Chen, UNICEF's Regional Director for South Asia George Laryea-Adjei, and Director General of SDC, Patricia Danzi congratulated Nepal and suggested to promote resilience in public and private construction.

The international delegates said that resilience has been built in the past six years since the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015. They also suggested to strengthen the local governments in terms of disaster management and relief operations.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 9 November 2021.     

Preparations for ICNR 2021 at final stage

Kathmandu, Oct. 22

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) said that preparations for the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction (ICNR), 2021 has reached the final stage.

On Friday, it launched a webpage (www.icnr.nra.gov.np) dedicated for the conference.

Dr. Chandra Bahadur Shrestha, Member of the NRA's Steering Committee and Coordinator of the ICNR 2021, said that it was challenging to carry out the reconstruction at a mega scale in a country like Nepal.

"We would like to tell the success story to the world as well as the future generations. Objectives of the conference are to record and disseminate learned lessons and best practices for Nepal's future generations and international community," he said.

The conference also aims at strengthening relationship between government and multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies and civil society considering way forward on resilient Nepal, and inform the government about the disaster-related laws and policies.

Chief Executive Officer of the NRA Sushil Gyawali said that the reconstruction body had handed over the responsibilities of the remaining rebuilding works to the other concerned government agencies.

International community and stakeholders had suggested us to organise an event to share the experiences and learning in the post-quake reconstruction, he shared.

He said that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority would act as the successor of the reconstruction body. "By 2030, Nepal has aimed to create disaster-resilient Nepal. Planning and programmes are being devised for the same," said Gyawali.

However, he said that the greatest achievement made in the past six years was the awareness about the quake-resilient construction on the part of people.

Meanwhile, integrated settlement programmes in core city areas in the Kathmandu Valley could not be implemented as planned.  

"We had selected some areas for urban revival programmes – Khokana, Bungmati and Sankhu. Changes are visible in Bungmati, the city is gradually having the traditional look," said Gyawali.

However, house pooling could not be materialised as planned. A programme for the traditional city revival is decided by the Steering Committee of the NRA.

 

Three-day conference

The international conference is slated for December 7-9. Delegates will arrive on December 7 and there will be site visits and welcome dinner for the VVIP guests, said Dr. Shrestha.

The conference will begin on December 8. There will be separate sessions for political parties, journalists, non-government organisations, private sector and other stakeholders.

Leaders from the reconstruction bodies in New Zealand, Pakistan, India, France, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom will participate in the deliberations during the conference. It will be attended by the representatives of the bilateral and multilateral agencies.

It has been a year since the NRA began preparations for the ICNR and it has organised seminars, workshops, published research articles in international journals, created a mobile app, and managed the logistics for the conference.

 

Second edition

This conference is the continuation or conclusion of the first ICNR organised in the immediate aftermath of the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015. The first conference had been instrumental in managing resources needed for the post-quake reconstruction, primarily the rebuilding of the private houses.

Donors and friendly countries had expressed commitment of Rs. 410 billion for the rebuilding, of which Rs. 89 billion was spent on rescue and relief operations and other development activities.

According to the NRA, it had signed agreement for Rs. 313 billion with the donors which is 97.5 per cent of the actual commitment for the support. "The support we received during the difficult times following the earthquake is significant even in comparison with the other countries facing the same difficulties," said Gyawali.

The tremors had killed 8,970 people and damaged more than 800,000 houses across 32 districts in mid and eastern hills and mountains.

The government had enacted the NRA as an agency to carry out reconstruction of the private houses, health and education facilities and other infrastructure with a five-year term. Its tenure was extended by a year through a Cabinet decision last year.

More than 700,000 earthquake-resilient houses have been built since then. Cultural and historical heritages like Ranipokhari, Dharhara, palaces, temples and monasteries have been rebuilt.

The NRA will cease to exist from 24 January, 2022. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 October 2021. 

Reconstruction work gathers pace

Kathmandu, Dec. 5

As the tenure of the National Reconstruction Authority nears its end, house reconstruction has started gaining momentum.

In the first four months of the current fiscal year 2020/21, 46,270 private houses, 27 school buildings and 12 historic and cultural heritages have been reconstructed.

“Additional 6,600 beneficiaries have received the second tranche of the housing grant while 5,114 have received the final installment. The NRA signed retrofitting agreement with 685 families,” said the reconstruction body in a statement.

In the four-month period, 110 new beneficiaries were added and 1,350 have signed the house reconstruction agreement with the NRA.

A month ago, the NRA had announced the new and last deadline for families whose house was partially or completely damaged in the 2015 earthquake, asking them to obtain the housing grant. The new announcement extended the deadline for signing the grant agreement to mid-December and for obtaining the first installment of the grant to January 2021.

It also said that the families who received the first installment of the grant must start rebuilding their house and get it certified by the respective local body by mid-February 2021.

Meanwhile, the reconstruction of Durbar High School and Ranipokhari alongside Balgopaleshwor has been completed and they have been opened for the public. In addition to that, 22-storey Dharhara tower, which is under-construction, has got its 19^th storey done.

NRA Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyawali said that about Rs. 7.84 billion was spent in the reconstruction sector in the four-month period.

Stating that the reconstruction body has about 7 months’ period to achieve the reconstruction target, he said that all efforts must be made to complete the remaining works.

“We need to motivate the beneficiaries to rebuild their homes as soon as possible and promote building back better,” he said.

Likewise, the reconstruction body has approved the request of 1,448 landless families to build their houses in places where they have been residing.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 6 December 2020. 

NRA sets new deadline to obtain housing grant

Kathmandu, Nov. 6

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has announced a new and last deadline for the families affected by the devastating 2015 earthquake to obtain the housing reconstruction grant.

A meeting of the NRA’s executive committee had decided to extend the window to sign the grant agreement with the beneficiaries by mid-December 2020 and secure the first tranche of the grant by the end of January 2021.

Likewise, the beneficiaries who have received the first instalment of the grant must start the reconstruction of their house and apply for the certification at the respective local bodies by mid-February 2021.

According to the NRA, all reconstruction and retrofitting beneficiaries must apply to their respective local body for the third or last installation of the grant by mid-May next year.

Since the tenure of the reconstruction body is going to end by January 2021, this would be the last deadline regarding the grant, said Deputy spokesperson of the NRA Manohar Ghimire.

“Therefore, we request to all reconstruction beneficiaries to sign the grant agreement with the government at the earliest and apply at the local bodies if they are yet to receive the instalment,” he said.

Retrofitting beneficiaries should apply at the District Project Implementation Unit (Building).

The house reconstruction beneficiaries are entitled of Rs. 300,000 which are distributed in three installments – Rs. 50,000, 150,000 and 100,000.

There are about 834,911 housing grant beneficiaries and 77,325 retrofitting beneficiaries. The NRA has signed grant agreement with 791,767 families.

Reconstruction of 507,623 houses has completed. Similarly, 784,950 families received the first tranche, 677,094 second and 605,083 the third tranche.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 7 November 2020. 

Safety Awareness should reach people

Kathmandu, Jan. 15: The nation is celebrating the 21^st Earthquke Safety Day 2019 on Wednesday amidst the reconstruction efforts to rebuild the private houses, cultural and historical monuments, health and education facilities and infrastructure.

The day is marked to comemortae the devastating earthqauke of 1934 that jolted Nepal and northern India.

However, the celebration has become a ritual and failed to reach the people who need information and awareness on quake safety.

The country that is at the epicenter of high-magnitude earthquake, still lacks strong institutional arrangements for the eqrthquake preparedness and post-disaster management. Many experts say the country has not moved much ahead in terms of disaster preparedness.

The 6.9 magnitude Gorkha Earthquake 2015 had devasted 14 districts, killed 9,000 people and damaged almost a million houses in 32 districts across the country. In the subsequent reconstruction efforts, the government tried to regulate the construction and public infrastructure – building codes were amended and a new legal instrument was executed for the quake-resilient reconstruction.

But the villages in the hills of central and western Nepal are full of two-room single storey houses – an irony to the entire reconstruction process.

A family of five in Phuyalgaun in Okhaldhunga has built a two-room house at the cost of Rs. 900,000. But the house is too small for the family so they are building other two rooms structure nearby without following the quake-resilient building code. The house-owner said that the building code was cumbersome and expensive so the new house would be built in a traditional way.

Jhilka Bahadur Majhi of Manthali in Ramechhap district has also built a two-room house which cannot offer the space required for his family. More than three dozen houses in the locality are following the same structure.

The post-quake reconstruction campaign failed to pursuade people that the quake-resilient house was for their own safety and it was not just a mean to obtain the Rs. 300,000 government grant.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has at times complained that the political leaders and mass media communited in such a way that the houses damaged in the 2015 quake should be, and of course would be, rebuilt by the government.

Scientists have been saying that the western part of Nepal would be hit by a major earthquake in near future, but there has been poor preparations to conduct rescue, relief and reconstruction operations in case of disaster.

But spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs Ram Krishna Subedi said that Disaster Disaster Relief Committees were active in every district and budget for the disaster management had been sent to the districts.

However, such committees lack technical expertise and need to coordinate with the army, police and other governmetn agencies during disasters.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 January 2019. 

GIETS Raman wins Dharhara reconstruction bid

Kathmandu, Sept. 2: GIETC-Raman JV has proposed to reconstruct the Dharahara – the iconic structure in the capital which was destroyed in the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015 – at a cost of Rs. 3.45 billion.

This is the lowest bid proposed to the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) among the six construction companies that submitted their economic proposals to it.

“The proposed budget is for the 22-storey and extended infrastructure of the tower that will stand at Sundhara, Kathmandu. The government has already prepared the design of the new structure,” said Manohar Ghimire, NRA spokesperson.

The NRA said that it opened the economic proposals of the bidding companies on Sunday.

Other companies in the Dharhara-construction run were CICO Kalika Rasuwa JV, ZIEC Lama JV, CR5CEC Swachchhand JV, Ashish Construction and Kumar CFEC.

CICO Kalika Rasuwa had proposed Rs. 4.39 billion, ZIEC Lama Rs. 4.50 billion, CR5CEC Swachchhand Rs. 4.52 billon and Kumar CFEC Rs. 4.49 billion to rebuild the Dharhara. Ashish was ousted from the technical evaluation, said NRA.

Joint-Secretary of the NRA Raju Man Manandhar said that the reconstruction body was studying the economic proposal of GIETC Raman. The company will be given seven days to submit a Letter of Intent (LoI), and the agreement will be signed in a couple of weeks after that.

The NRA had asked for the bid to reconstruct the Dharhara on May 14. The opening of the financial proposals of the five qualified companies was delayed by a month after Kalika Rasuwa filed a complaint at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking authenticity of the Chinese firms partnering with other Nepali contractors to rebuild the monument.

After the compliant, the PMO directed the NRA to halt the opening of the proposals and initiate investigation into the Chinese firms. The reconstruction body through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sought information about them from the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu.

Although Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had laid the foundation stone of Dharhara during his first premiership in 2016, there has been no significant progress in its reconstruction.

The state-owned Nepal Telecommunication Company (NT) had shown interest to rebuild it at a cost of about Rs. 8 billion on condition that it would be allowed to manage the property for the next 30 years. But it backtracked from the project due to some disagreement with the NRA as the latter refused to allow the NT to use it for commercial purpose.

The government has collected about Rs. 80 million under the ‘I will rebuild my Dharhara’ campaign.

Bhimsen Thapa, the first Prime Minister of modern Nepal, had built the tower in 1832. The 9-storey structure had 213 steps in its spiral staircase to the top and a balcony on the seventh storey.

About 180 people were killed when the Dharhara collapsed after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake brought the tower down. The Dharahara is also known as Bhimsen Stambha.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 September 2018. 

Big quake in south-central Nepal could kill 22,000 people: Study

Kathmandu, Feb. 14: A three-year risk assessment project, carried out by the government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has estimated that should a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits central Nepal in the south, about 22,000 people would die and 44.7 per cent of the residential buildings would be damaged in the Kathmandu Valley alone.

The projection was made for the next 15 years and was based on the ground shaking behaviour in the Kathmandu Valley during the April 2015 earthquake. 

“No one needs to get panicked as we have presented just a scenario to estimate the human casualty and physical damage in the tremors. It’s not a forecast of any earthquake,” Suman Salike, Senior Divisional Engineer and Information Officer at the Ministry of Urban Development, said at the ‘Final seminar of the Project for Assessment of Earthquake Disaster Risk for the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal’. 

According to the assessment, about 86,860 people would be injured if a 7.8 Richter scale quake hits the nation, and 1,196,080 people will need to be evacuated. 

Other results are 4.7 per cent roads could be damaged due to liquefaction and 26.7 per cent (12 out of 45 RC structures) of the bridges may become non-functional. Water supply may be cut off at 3,496 points (total 1,167 km), 11.9 km (out of 1,192 km) sewage line may stop functioning, of the 190,851 power distribution poles, 9,156 may be damaged, and communication could be interrupted due to damage to 372 BTS towers, concluded the report. 

The government had collaborated with JICA to carry out the risk assessment and formulate a Local Disaster and Climate Resilience Plan (LDCRP). 

The project’s team leader Ryoji Takahashi said that the government together with the stakeholders should take proper and timely actions to reduce the possible huge damages. 

The project has formulated Technical Guidelines for the formulation of the LDCRP, which can be used as a manual by the local governments. 

Salike said that it would help the local governments make inclusive and detailed plan to reduce the risk and set the target for mitigation. 

He also said that based on the risk assessment result, the target level for disaster risk reduction was set in Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Bhaktapur Municipality and Budhanilkantha Municipality as 35 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. 

The main purpose of the risk assessment was to know the level of damage that might occur to the buildings, critical infrastructure and lifelines by the earthquakes and provide basic information to the government, line ministries, departments and local governments in order to formulate strategic plans, policies and laws to reduce and minimise the disaster risks. 

Inventories of buildings (schools and health facilities), roads, bridges, water supply, power distribution, telecommunication (mobile BTS towers) of the valley were collected through primary as well as secondary sources for the purpose of risk assessment, read a news release by the project. 

The project has prepared a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) as a manual for the municipalities, which has detailed activities to be performed both on-duty and off-duty by the elected municipal officials as well as government employees for three days after the occurrence of an earthquake, while the activities after three days are covered in the LDCRP. 

The three-year project was started in 2015, just a couple of months before the devastating earthquake, and will be completed this year. 

The Ministries of Urban Development, Home Affairs and Federal Affairs and Local Development and Department of Mines and Geology are involved in the activities from the government side. 

Secretary at the Ministry of Urban Development Deependra Nath Sharma said that the government was preparing to establish a centre for disaster preparedness in all the seven provinces. 

Published in The Rising Nepal on 15 February 2018. 

Saudi Arabia to provie $30 million for post-quake reconstruction

Kathmandu, Dec. 14: Saudi Arabia Thursday agreed to provide a loan assistance of US $ 30 million (Rs. 3.9 billion) to support Nepal’s post-quake reconstruction efforts.

A meeting of the Fund for Development of the Saudi government and the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) officials had inked the agreement for the loan support.

NRA deputy spokesperson Dr. Bhishma Kumar Bhusal said that the reconstruction body had proposed to utilise the amount in the reconstruction of private houses, schools and health institutions and had already written to the Ministry of Finance to hold further negotiations and finalise the loan.

The Saudi officials had requested the NRA to propose a list of projects where the loan would be utilised.

Joint secretaries Yam LalBhoosal and Krishna Dawadi and Under Secretaries Dr. Bhusal and Binu bBajracharya Kunwar represented the NRA in the meeting while the Saudi side included Chief Engineer Abdullah M. Al-Shoabi, Regional Manager of the Operation Department of the Fund for Development Nassir AlKasabi and Project Manager Saeed Al Mshaikhi.

Meanwhile, the NRA statistics show that the number of earthquake victims receiving second installment of the grant to build their house destroyed in the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015 has reached 104,483.

Additional 24,307 households have been approved for the grant.

NRA had fixed the deadline of mid-January 2018 for the second tranche to the households that received the first installment of the grant by mid-January last year while mid-July 2018 has been set as the deadline for the third tranche.

“The number of beneficiaries has increased due to the deadlineset for mid-July. This data show that the rebuilding of private houses is now speeding up after the end of festivals and harvest season,” said Bhusal, spokesperson of the NRA.

The beneficiaries can claim the second tranche only after a technician approves the construction of Damp Proof Course (foundation) to ensure earthquake-resistant construction. Similarly, the beneficiaries are entitled to claim the third tranche after raising the pillars but before the roofing.

Similarly, the number of families receiving the third installment of the grant has reached 33,425.

Until now, 651,792 beneficiaries have received the first tranche out of 767,705 beneficiaries eligible for the government housing grants.

Construction of about 73,655 houses is completed and 174,622 are in under construction.

Surroundings of Nuwakot Palace to have ‘Heritage Look’

Nuwakot, Nov. 18: As the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) and the Department of Archaeology (DoA) are geared up to begin reconstruction works at the historic Nuwakot Durbar Square within a couple of months with the Chinese support, the local government of the Bidur Municipality has decided to regenerate the whole surroundings with ‘heritage look’.

The newly elected representative Shahi is hopeful of rebuilding the whole area, including the private residential houses, with historic look.

“We want to make ‘Heritage Village’ around the Durbar Square. Although we have scarcity of budget, the municipality has passed the agenda and has begun to create awareness as well as support the locals for the same,” said Birendra Kumar Shahi, chairman of Bidur Municipality Ward No. 2.

According to him, the local government wants to recreate the whole area in the line of Bhaktapur Durbar Square and the city around.

Following the decision of the municipality, households around and between the Durbar Square and Bhairavi Temple have begun to decorate their houses with Newari and historic architecture.

“We are happy recreate our village with heritage looks. It will certainly help us in attracting more tourists and boosting our income,” said Ram Krishna Budhathoki, a local.  

The Chinese side had completed the detailed project report (DPR) of the heritages at the Nuwakot Durbar Square that date back to Malla era.

“The seven-storey main durbar in the square was built by King Prithvi Narayan Shah about 250 years ago, a year before he annexed the kingdoms in the Kathmandu Valley to his Gorkha Empire,” said Shahi.

Tulaja, Kantipur, Patan palaces, Rangamahal, seven-storey palace and temples are the major attractions of the Durbar Square. All of them were damaged in the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015.

China will reconstruct seven structures in the square.

The government had allotted Rs. 10 million for the construction of museum near by the square. The erstwhile museum was badly damaged in the quake and is closed since then.

Likewise, the historic and famous Bhairavi Temple is being rebuilt by the Department of Archaeology at the cost of Rs. 50 million. So far, reconstruction of the first floor of the temple is completed.

The main palace is badly damaged in the quake and is on the support at two sides.

Prior to the quake the palace was open for the public and people could explore the multi-storey palace that was once the second capital of King Prithvi Narayan Shah before he finally made Kathmandu as the capital city of modern Nepal.

“As the palace was closed to the tourists and other public after the earthquake, we lost the revenue. More than 30,000 people used to visit the Durbar Square before the quake,” said Shahi.

NRA Spokesperson Yam Lal Bhoosal said that the reconstruction of the heritages at the Palace Area would be carried out by China, and during a meeting with the NRA a couple of weeks ago, Chinese officials had agreed to initiate the work at the earliest.

The government had signed agreements with China for the reconstruction of various heritage sites including the Basantapur Durbar Square and Nuwakot Durbar Square.

According to Deputy-Spokesperson of the reconstruction body Dr. Bhishma Kumar Bhusal, the reconstruction of the heritages will be as per the turn-key basis.

The DoA will monitor the reconstruction works.