A Decade After 2015 Gorkha Earthquake: Damaged Structures Still Await Reconstruction
The “2015 Gorkha Earthquake” occurred ten years ago, yet its effects are still being felt. The terrible day, 12 Baisakh 2072 (25 April 2015), which resulted in a significant loss of life and property in Nepal, will never be forgotten. Nepalis are constantly reminded of their terror by the eerie recollections of the 2015 earthquake. In the center of the federal capital, homes fell, and other areas have not yet been rebuilt. The Nepali people are still looking forward to restoration ten years later. Private homes, educational institutions, archaeological monuments, and other government structures that were devastated by the earthquake are currently being rebuilt.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Barpak, Gorkha, on Saturday, April 12, 2015, at 11:56 a.m., killing 8,979 people.22,309 persons were hurt in the same earthquake. About a million private homes, 7,553 schools, 49,681 classrooms, 544 medical facilities, and 653 medical facilities sustained partial damage as a result of the earthquake. In a similar vein, 383 security agency facilities, 920 cultural heritage sites, including 170 World Heritage sites, and 415 government buildings suffered damage. In addition, 299 human settlements, 53 roadways, and 3,212 water supply structures were impacted. Details of the projects completed have also been made public by the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction through its Implementation Unit (Buildings and Housing) and its subordinate agencies.
Kishor Bikram Shahi, the unit’s engineer, reports that 834,267 of the 835,185 clients designated for private housing reconstruction have received the initial payment. Of those who received the first instalment, 744,045 (89.2%) accessed the third instalment, while 770,774 (92.4%) received the second. According to the Office of the Auditor General’s 62nd Annual Report, the project’s work areas comprised 31 districts, of which 17 were less damaged, and 14 were badly affected by the 2015 earthquake. The initiatives are for the rehabilitation and relocation of displaced people and families as well as the planned and sustainable restoration of structures damaged by earthquakes.
The research noted that efforts to rehabilitate and relocate displaced persons, as well as to rebuild earthquake-damaged structures in a sustainable and planned manner, were ineffective. According to the report, “agreements were made with 834,821 people, spending NPR 231.61 billion in private housing reconstruction, and agreements were made with 33,905 people, spending NPR 1.7431 billion in retrofitting, totaling NPR 233.35 billion.” A payment of NPR 29.25 million was still outstanding for reconstruction and retrofitting as of the end of Asar 2081 BS (mid-July 2024). The monitoring of beneficiaries who did not receive the first, second, or final installments following the grant agreements was also emphasized in the study.
