To read this content please select one of the options below:

$40.00 (excl. tax) 30 days to view and download

What did the 2015 earthquake tell us about what the state of earthquake resilience in Kathmandu metropolitan city was?

Tej Kumar Karki

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment

ISSN: 1759-5908

Article publication date: 30 August 2019

Issue publication date: 9 September 2019

171

Abstract

Purpose

This paper asks what was the state of building-code enforcement and citizen – government collaboration in disaster preparedness when an earthquake hit Kathmandu metropolitan city (KMC) in 2015? It reviewed government documents, analyzed media reports, interviewed building-code monitoring officers and carried out a detailed case study of the earthquake-damaged Park View Horizon Housing Apartment (PVHA) Complex. The research found several earthquake-resilience issues. They were enforcement-vulnerability (Building bylaws, planning permit and building code); institutional-coordination vulnerability; Apartment-regulation vulnerability; technological vulnerability; and citizen-government-collaboration vulnerability.

Design/methodology/approach

The study area of this research is KMC, and this research is based on content analysis, field observation and interview. It has reviewed all the newspapers and media reports that had covered earthquake issues during and after the 2015 disaster, as well as the articles published in Nepal, South Asia, the USA, New Zealand and Haiti. The literature on Nepal’s building code, seismic history and institutional arrangements for governing earthquake-related issues were reviewed. After field observation of some of the damaged apartments, a detailed case study of PVHA Complex was carried out.

Findings

The research found several earthquake-resilience issues. They were enforcement-vulnerability (Building bylaws, planning permit and building code); institutional-coordination vulnerability; Apartment-regulation vulnerability; technological vulnerability; and citizen-government-collaboration vulnerability

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of this study was its heavy reliance on content analysis, one case study and a few interviews and discussions with affected residents, local governments and developers.

Practical implications

This study would help enhance disaster governance in developing nations.

Social implications

The citizen–government collaborative approach to earthquake resilience would enhance human resilience to disaster at individual and community levels.

Originality/value

Since this is the first research carried out on the state of building code and institutional resilience at the time of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, it is original and provides policy insights for earthquake resilience in Nepal.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author thank all the anonymous reviewers who spent their many hours of time to review this paper and provide valuable inputs.

Citation

Karki, T.K. (2018), "What did the 2015 earthquake tell us about what the state of earthquake resilience in Kathmandu metropolitan city was?", International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 10 No. 2/3, pp. 188-202. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDRBE-12-2018-0052

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles