A Case Study in Uttarakhand, Northern India - Geological & Mining ...

practices, private constructions, especially at the village level tend to ignore thesefeatures. Increased education and dissemination of information is thereforenecessary to keep homeowners and masons alike informed of practices.3.1.1f MonitoringIn the Almora region, ninety-two percent of untrained masons report that there isno monitoring of building and construction practices. In Rudraprayag forty-sevenpercent of masons recall having had their work monitored at some stage. It shouldbe noted that the overall quality of buildings is better in the trained region.However, responses were scattered and do not hold much merit as to who wasactually responsible for the monitoring process and why. In the same token,increased training not only of local masons but of the local community facilitatesparticipation in the monitoring process by means of an enhanced understanding of“best practices” for constructions and thereby better construction overall.3.1.1g Homeowner perceptionsWhen asked the reasoning behind homeowners not opting for earthquake-safefeatures seventy-six percent of trained masons suggest that this is attributed to: 1)poor economic condition (note: a common misconception is that earthquake-safefeatures are highly expensive) and 2) homeowners and community members notbeing provided with adequate information regarding earthquake-safe features andtheir costs. Among untrained masons, nineteen percent suggested lack offinances, thirty percent stated lack of knowledge, and twenty-two percent claimedto have no idea. Twenty-seven percent indicate that there are no reasons at allbehind homeowners not using earthquake-safe features insisting that they do, infact, already use earthquake features.3.1.1h Feedback on trainings from Study Area AAn interesting point to emerge from the study is that generally trained masons aremore familiar with both frame structures and load-bearing structures than untrainedmasons. A further dimension to this observation is discovered when comparing PSIThe Role of NGOs in Disaster Mitigation and Response – A Case Study in Uttarakhand, Northern India 47