7. July 2014

Architecture
Earthquake
Risk Reduction and
Preparedness in Nepal
text Ms. Hima Shrestha
An earthquake does not cause death or injury by itself. People are
hurt by falling objects and collapsing walls. Collapsing buildings
and vibrations can cause short circuits and electric fires. Lighted
gas or stoves may also cause fires. All this leads to panic and
confusion. With precaution it is possible to avoid such confusion.
Introduction
Disasters disrupt hundreds of thousands
of lives every year which has lasting effects,
both to people and property. Most
of the losses of lives in past earthquakes
have occurred due to the collapse of
buildings. Those buildings are generally
non-engineered which are constructed
informally in the traditional manner without
any or little intervention by engineers
or built without following building standard.
The safety of the non-engineered
buildings from the fury of earthquakes
is a subject of highest priority in view of
the fact that in the moderate to severe
seismic zones of the world more than
90 percent of the population is still living
and working in such buildings, and that
most losses of lives during earthquakes
have occurred due to their collapse. The
risk to life is further increasing due to rising
population particularly in the developing
countries.
On average about 1,000 earthquakes
with intensities of 5.0 or greater are
recorded each year. Great earthquakes
(intensity 8.0 or higher) occur once
a year. Damage and loss of life sustained
during an earthquake result from
falling structures and flying glass and
objects. Hence every individual should
be involved in disaster risk reduction activities
to mitigate human and property
loss. The effort should be made at right
time well before disaster strikes so that
we can save life and property considerably
which is well proven by two recent
earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.
Damage due to Recent
Earthquakes
The information on the behavior of nonengineered
or substandard designed
existing structures under seismic loads
has been further emphasized by the catastrophic
effects of recent earthquake
events (Turkey 1999, India 2001, Iran
2003, Pakistan 2005,China 2008, Haiti
2010).The recent event in Haiti reminds
us about the colossal death and destruction
that earthquakes can bring to a
community which lagged behind in its
preparations to avert the likely disaster.
The January 12, 2010 earthquake in
Haiti caused a massive loss of life and
a great number of injuries occurred.
According to official estimates, 222,570
people killed, 300,000 injured, 1.3 million
displaced, 97,294 houses destroyed
and 188,383 damaged in the Port-au-
Prince area and in much of southern
Haiti. Most of Port-au-Prince’s major
landmarks were significantly damaged
or destroyed in the earthquake, including
the Presidential Palace, the National
Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince
Cathedral, and the main jail. It measured
7.0 in magnitude.
On the afternoon of May 12, 2008, a
7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan
Province, a mountainous region in
Western China, killing about 70,000
people and leaving over 18,000 missing.
Many school buildings collapsed killing
more than 5300 students. Almost 7,000
classrooms crumbled because of slipshod
construction methods or because
building codes were ignored.
A powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake
struck in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
known as Azad Kashmir, near the city of
38 / SPACESNEPAL.COM