Building back safer: Local, sustainable solutions needed
By Dipendra Gautam
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In every nook and cranny of the country,’earthquake-resistant construction technology’ were the buzz words after the cataclysmic Gorkha Earthquake rattled the central, eastern and parts of western Nepal.
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A recent research paper entitled ‘Speed and quality of recovery after the Gorkha Earthquake 2015 Nepal’, published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, dissects the pros and cons of the endorsed technology- ,quoting the voices of the public and experts. Based on a spatially covered survey, the paper concludes that the biggest little missing aspect of the post-earthquake reconstruction was the missed opportunity to build back safer. The conventional build back better concept may not fundamentally address the dynamics of reconstruction and the rehabilitation landscape. Thus, researchers, today are concerned more with building back safer rather than flat endorsement and prototypic execution of housing construction.
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Interestingly, the research highlights that public awareness in terms of housing construction and changing landscape of earthquake-resistant construction was rooted even in the remote locations, and most of the beneficiaries felt safe in the newly constructed houses.
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However, the bright side of the reconstruction is that people have started to believe in structural engineering practices probably due to their experience with an earthquake as well as mandatory regulations required to get financial benefits offered by the government.
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