Chapter_Nepal earthquake

UNDERSTANDING NEPAL IN

CONTEMPORARY TIMES

....

UNDERSTANDING NEPAL IN

CONTEMPORARY TIMES

SYNERGY BOOKS INDIANew Delhi

SYNERGY

Editor

Pramod Jaiswal

Published in 2016

ISBN: 978-93-82059-47-9

© Author

Published by:Synergy Books India24/4800 Ansari Road, Darya GanjNew Delhi-110002Phone: 011-23268786, 23257264Fax: 011-23281315E-Mail: [email protected]: www.synergybooksindia.com

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DEDICATED

TO

AAHANA AND AAYAN

.

Foreword

Nepal, a small and land locked state in the southern slopesof the Great Himalayan ranges, has experienced a whole seriesof historical and path breaking developments ever since itsformation as a unified Kingdom of Nepal by King PrithviNarain Shah in 1769. Nepal’s military adventurism, the Cou’tMassacre of 1846, the anti – Rana movement of 1950 and thesubsequent Nepal’s journey to democracy, the Panchayatsystem of 1962 and the reversal of democracy, the democraticmovement of 1990 and the Maoist insurgency unleashing thecountry into a new era of democracy, the second democraticmovement of 2006; all have their share in the growth of modernNepal. Here is a country which has suffered at the hands oftheir own rulers; the years of tyranny, the facets of deprivationand persecution, the failures of democratic governments andthe shadows of insurgency. Yet the people of Nepal have showngreat resilience, tolerance and assimilative power and a faithon liberal democracy. It is because of this that the insurgentsagreed to join political main stream and the democratic path.Nepal has chosen a path to republican, federal and seculardemocracy. It is true that it has been a long and pains takingexercise yet Nepal has opted a new path to democracy. It stillremains in a transitional phase and some critical issues are stillto be settled and one may only hope that they will be settledamicably later or sooner.

What has gone wrong with Nepal in the whole exercise ofmodernization, development and democracy is that it nevergave a serious thought to social transformation and socialchange. There were compulsions to open the country to

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outside economic forces and minimal democratic governance.But it was not realized that it was not possible to keep peopleof Nepal away from the forces of change. It createdcontradictions within the Nepalese society. There wasresentment coming up against the hierarchical social order,the social discriminations and deprivations. This gave an edgeto the social fragmentation and movements and it also hadstrong political leverage. Nepal still needs to address to theissues of social transformation.

Nevertheless, there is awareness among the people of Nepalon the issues of strengthening democracy at grass root level,need for addressing gender issues and encouragingempowerment of women and the role of civil society, the issuesof ethnic and regional harmony.

Nepal has experienced a devastating earth quake in recentpast the social and psychological trauma of this natural calamityare a serious lesson for the country apart from other issues ofreconstruction and rehabilitation. Nepal is faced with seriousproblems of labour migration. Infect it has become a complexissue due to large scale out migration and the complications ofthe migrant communities. There are several such other issues inbuilding an integrated and developed Nepal.

The present book on Understanding Nepal inContemporary Times edited by Pramod Jaiswal is an excellentexercise in outlining the challenges and issues in building anew Nepal. One would hope that the book will provide a freshperspective in understanding the contemporary realities ofNepal. What is highly encouraging is that Dr. Jaiswal hasprovided space to some of the young Nepalese scholars.

Prof B.C. UpretiFormer Director at South Asia Studies Centre,

University of Rajasthan, Jaipur

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The book focuses on the contemporary issues prevalent inNepalese society such as women empowerment, identitypolitics, migration, disaster management, human rights, andreligious conversions. The aim of the book is to serve as ahandbook of comprehensive knowledge on Nepal as well asserve as a basic scholarship involving young and dynamicinternational scholars giving perspective on Nepal.

It consists of 21 well researched papers intended to guidescholars for an overall understanding of Nepal with regard toits society, culture, government, politics, history, bureaucraticsystem, and other emerging challenges. It is the outcome ofthe combined effort of the authors of various paperincorporated in the book along with my personal contributionas an editor. Here, we would like to thank all the authors Dr.Palu Joshi, Binayak Sundas, Rajib Timalsina, Puspa Paudel,Mukesh Jha, Khushbu Mishra, James Okolie-Osemene, KirthiJayakumar, Amrita Limbu, Ram Pravesh Sah, Labh KumarYadav, Seema Kumari Shah, Marija Grujovska, BhuvanChaudhary, Raj K. Yadav, Dr. V. Ramabrahmam, Dr. LalRapacha, Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H, Bamdev Subedi, AnjeeGorkhali, Dhanasree Jayaram, Ramu C. M., Sanjeev Dahal,Sutandra Singha and Sivakumar Challa for their timelysubmission.

I would like to put on record and acknowledge the supportof many scholars in completion of this book. My special thanksgo to Prof. B C Upreti for his support and encouragement.

x Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

I would also like to thank many other senior scholars andfriends who helped me and guided me in finalising the draftof the book.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank the publisherSynergy Books India for providing all help and support forpublishing the book.

Preface

Nepal is geo-strategically positioned between two Asiangiants, India and China, who have their unique civilization.Though it has been quite popular among the travelers and themountaineers, not much is known about Nepal beyond SouthAsia. Nepal started to grab attention only after the outbreakof ‘Peoples Movement’ by the Maoists guerrilla since 1996 andthe massacare of the royal family in 2001. Since then Nepalhas gone through multiple changes – from traditionalmonarchy to modern republic, from a monolithic HinduKingdom to a multicultural secular state and from unitary formof government to federal one. All these developments tookplace in very short span of life. However, not much is knownat other region of the world and it’s because Nepal figures veryless in International politics.

Though, Nepal was a fertile field study for theanthropologists and sociologists, it was not covered much bypolitical thinkers and foreign policy analysts. In this context,this book becomes very helpful in having an overallunderstanding about Nepal. This book is in series of the othertwo of our volumes ‘Constitution of Nepal: Evolution,Development and Debates’ and ‘Nepal’s Foreign Policy andHer Neighbours’.

The book contains 21 well researched papers of young anddynamic researchers from Nepal, India, USA, Nigeria, Austria,UAE and Australia on wide range of topics. The book is dividedinto five sections, where the first section looks at Nepal’s

xii Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

history, local governance, issues of human rights, genderviolence and the recent issues of Madhes and constitutionmaking. The second section looks at impact of migration andremittance on the Nepalese economy. The third section coverssocio-cultural issues such as issues of conversion, womenempowerment and Nepal’s rich art and architecture. Thefourth section looks at Nepal’s education policies of Nepalsuch as educational policy, medical policy and cyber policyof Nepal. The final section deals with environmental, ecologyand disaster and contains chapter on causes and consequencesof deforestation, impact of the recent earthquake whichshattered Nepal and the management of heritage monuments.

Dr. Palu Joshi looks at the importance of the politicalparties in a system like Nepal which has essentially beenunder the influence of a King and how they have emerged agame changer at every crucial point of time in the politicalhistory of Nepal. She opines that this movement, led by theCommunist groups of Nepal succeeded in 2006, only whenthey were supported by the seven leading political parties ofNepal, prominently the Nepali Congress.

Binayak Sundas discusses why and how certain groupsbegan to migrate to the Munglan and Company Shahr (asthe territories held by the British were then called) andanalyses the Mulki Ain (Law of the Land), a law enacted bythe Gorkha state in 1854 to create a single hierarchical societybased on the brahminical idea of caste system, byincorporating all the existing social groups within it. Thepaper explains why the state needs to get involved in thesocial relations, affairs and structures of its subjects.

Rajib Timalsina and Puspa Paudel unpack the realities ofthe two – the All-Party Mechanism (APM) and Ward CitizenForum (WCF) and Integrated Planning & FormulationCommittees (IPFC) – stop-gap systems of local governancethat have been in place since 2008, when the elections to theConstituent Assembly took place. The study of the systemand trends prevailing at the local level is important as it is

connected with the daily life of citizens, especially themechanisms of state-citizen communication in the provisionof service delivery. It also fills the gap, laying out currentrealities at the local level with the intention of highlightingthem before local elections take place and finds the currentstop-gap system of local governance.

Mukesh Jha and Khushbu Mishra discuss various aspectsof Madheshis, the indigenous people of southern plains ofNepal, and focuses on their inclusion in the Nepali society,economics and politics. They also discuss various aspects ofthe Madheshi society, representation of Madheshis in nationalpolitical parties, and investigate if the representation waseffective in voicing the agendas of Madheshis people. Theybelieves that Madhesh is not a monolith, there are various socialgroups in Madhesh, which are marginalized subgroups withinMadhesh. Hence, they discuss the problems of Madheshicommunity within the state of Nepal, and the problems withinthe Madheshi community.

James Okolie-Osemene addresses some of the issues thathave shaped the perpetration and abatement of human rightsabuses in the country. In the article, he argues that the goalbehind the establishment of the National Human RightsCommission would be defeated if government does not giveit free hand and provide much needed atmosphere to operateon the one hand, and if the sources of insecurity are not tackledon the other hand.

Kirthi Jayakumar explores the primary reasons motivatingthe marked overarching invisibility of engendered approachesto prosecutorial justice in post-conflict Nepal. She opines thatduring Nepal’s armed conflict, women were victims of torture,abuse and sexual violence. Sexual and gender-based violencewere used as tactics to terrorise women, as women werebrutally raped and subjected to horrific violence ofunimaginable kinds.

Amrita Limbu explores various issues surroundingwomen’s migration from Nepal to major destination countries

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xiv Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

in the Middle East, East Asia and Southeast Asia. She arguesthat such ad hoc policies have led to irregular migration andincreased vulnerability of women. However, a positive ray oflight is the changing perception towards women’s migrationin the society, which is at a juncture of change.

Ram Pravesh Sah looks at the process of migration fromNepal and try to find out why migration has been taken place.He argues that Nepal is one of the world’s least developedcountries because of its 85 per cent of population lives ruralareas and subsistence agriculture is the main source of theirlivelihood. There also large segment of Nepalese population iscoping with great disparities of caste, gender, and other typeof social inequalities which prevails in the country. Beside,poverty, unemployment, declining natural resources, and morerecently the decade long civil war are the major reasons forinternal and international migration.

Labh Kumar Yadav and Seema Kumari Shah look atmigration and remittances in Nepal during civil war and theglobal economic crisis and investigate the impact of migrationand remittance on the developmental process of Nepal byexamining the post-2006 remittance inflows in Nepal and itscontribution in boosting up Nepalese economy, which isstruggling to graduate from least developed countries todeveloping countries by 2022. They argues that despite increasein remittance, the high number of workers outflows in thisglobalized world is causing domestic labor supply shortagesin many rural areas of Nepal which threatens the Nepaleseeconomy in the long run and negatively impacts theagricultural development of Nepal because skilled manpowerplays a vital role in the industrial and infrastructuraldevelopment of any nation.

Marija Grujovska answers how Nepalese Christiansconstruct their conversion narratives in modern dayKathmandu. In order to answer this question, she employstheoretical perspectives and concepts from the field ofanthropology and sociology and will base them on

ethnographic data collected in Kathmandu, Nepal in the courseof 5 months, with the use of qualitative methodology. Shediscusses the ways that Nepalese Christians construct theirconversion narratives in a bigger context of EvangelicalChristianity and vis-à-vis the religious majority of Nepal –Hinduism.

Bhuvan Chaudhary does the comparative study on womenempowerment in Nepal through ethnic perspective. Heconcludes that Women from Dalit, Madheshi and Adibasi/Janajati need specific empowerment programme andlivelihood opportunities to increase access to resources andstrengthen their empowerment level for justice, equity andfreedom. Women’s empowerment by ecological belt anddevelopment region needs a further study to observe theregional variation.

Raj K. Yadav discusses how a modern era profession ‘socialwork’ might fit in addressing national chaos and lead thecountry towards better social, cultural, political, andeconomical transformation. He points out that it is social work’svalue laden approach that assess problems at all levels andengage multiple stakeholders including affected peoples in theprocess of intervention. Moreover, professional social workershave been working in the multiple development sectors ofNepal for last two decades. He also argues that there are greaterscope of social work(ers) in nation building as they bear qualityto engineer a sense of collectiveness, comunitarianism, andabove all a shared ‘we-feeling’ among the nationalities forbetter Nepal.

Dr. V. Ramabrahmam talks about the art and architectureof Nepal and its esthetic sense in detail.

Dr. Lal Rapacha investigates some pertinent linguistic-paleontological evidence such as -cha /-câ/ pk (phonemicrepresentation) or [-tsâ] (phonetic representation) and -whanggokM/-whân/ or [-whân] morphemes extant amongst theclanonym (indigenous or native clan names in one’s mother

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tongue) nomenclature of the Kiranti linguistic and culturalgroup(s) of Nepal and thinly scattered in other parts of theworld in order to re/link them in contemporary ongoingmultidisciplinary academic study and debate on collectiveidentity and indigenous territory mainly delinked bysociopolitical, linguistic, cultural and historical dominationsin several phases of recent-contemporary and the past Nepalesehistory.

Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H tries to bring out the currentstructure of education system as well as the issues in Nepal.He opines that the right to education guaranteed throughvarious international instruments and also the anomalies areanalyzed which highlights the deviations in obligations to beperformed by a country.

Bamdev Subedi takes Nepal an example of pluralistic healthcare practices of a rural community, shares some issues andconcerns and questions the situation of inclusiveness of thecoexisting systems of medicines in the national health caresystem. He also points out the policy rhetoric of promotingayurveda and other alternative systems and making health careservices accessible to all.

Anjee Gorkhali aims to provide a framework to analyze andidentify the current challenges present in the e-governancestructure in the context of Nepal as well as navigate theprobable path in the current scenario to achieve an efficient e-governance structure by presenting the future direction topicfrom the perspective of government employees using the e-governance structure and the general public.

Dhanasree Jayaram and Ramu C. M. provide a geological-cum-policy analysis of the 2015 earthquake – its causes,consequences – delving into policy gaps and proposingrecommendations. They argue that in order to implement suchpolicies in Nepal, it needs to overcome its political,infrastructural and socio-economic crises. In this exercise, itneeds to cooperate closely with the international community;

particularly its South Asian (Himalayan) neighbours toestablish joint-effort mechanisms and create resilience in thecountry, considering all the countries in the Himalayan regionare equally at risk.

Sanjeev Dahal explains responses of different sectors duringthe earthquake of Nepal. He opines that Nepal saw an engagedresponse from both the formal and informal sectors, mostlyactive in relief distribution after the first major quake struckand a great energy was shared by Nepalese youth. Theearthquake posed as class quake exposing the economicdifferences in Nepali society and projecting deepening of thosedifferences. What followed the disaster was not all grim; itunited Nepalese youth, mobilized their creative energy andignited hopes for a New Nepal.

Sivakumar Challa explains how the heritage monumentscan be preserved from the disaster. He argues that disasterrecovery management can prevent or reduce the negativeimpacts of disaster on world heritage properties. The paperprimarily talks about reducing risks to the heritage valuesembedded in the property, but also to human lives, physicalassets and livelihoods.

Sutandra Singha gives a detail view about the issue ofdeforestation from 1990 to 2013 and, the combat strategyundertaken by the Government. With the help ofa statistical method called Multiple Regression Analysis, sheexplains the reasons and the extent of their impact on thepresent and future scenario of deforestation. She also offerssome recommendations which can be adopted to integrate theconservation and sustainable management of forests.

As a last word, we would like to mention that the authorshave sole responsibility for all errors/ omissions and take fullresponsibility for the work being original.

Preface xvii

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ContentsForeword viiAcknowledgement ixPreface xiContributors xxiiiAbbreviations xxv

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

1. Political Parties of Nepal: Role and Significancein the Nepali Polity 1Palu Joshi

2. The Gorkha State and 19th CenturyNepali Society: Assimilation and Contestation 21Binayak Sundas

3. Voices to Bridge the Gap between the Citizensand the Local Government 56Rajib Timalsina and Puspa Paudel

4. Madhesh and the Inclusion Issue in Nepal 71Mukesh Jha and Khushbu Mishra

5. Human Rights Violations in Nepal:Patterns and Evolution 94James Okolie-Osemene

6. Invisibility of Gender Violence in InternationalCriminal Law: Addressing Sexual Violence inNepal’s Conflict 106Kirthi Jayakumar

xx Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

ECONOMICS

7. Women and Migration in Nepal: A Junctureof Change 124Amrita Limbu

8. Migration from Nepal: A Reality of Livelihood 147Ram Pravesh Sah

9. Labor Migration, Remittance and its Impacton the Economy of Nepal 174Labh Kumar Yadav & Seema Kumari Shah

SOCIETY, CULTURE AND LITERATURE

10. Christian Conversion Narratives in Nepal 195Marija Grujovska

11. A Comparative Study on Women Empowermentin Nepal: Ethnic Perspective 221Bhuvan Chaudhary

12. Social Work(ers) in Nation Building 245Raj K. Yadav

13. Art and Architecture of Nepal: Its EstheticSense and Awareness 273V. Ramabrahmam

14. Re/linking the Kiranti People of Nepalthrough Linguistic-Paleontological Evidence 284Lal Rapacha

EDUCATION AND SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

15. A Macro Study on Structure and Issues ofEducation System in Nepal 317Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H

Contents xxi

16. Medical Pluralism: Policies and Practices inNepal 334Bamdev Subedi

17. E-Governance in Nepal: Progress and Challenges 364Anjee Gorkhali

ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND DISASTER

18. Managing Earthquakes in Nepal through Nationaland Regional Efforts 372Dhanasree Jayaram and Ramu C. M.

19. Nepal Earthquake 2015: Vantage Pointfor Nation Building 396Sanjeev Dahal

20. Disaster Management of Heritage Monuments 424Sivakumar Challa

21. Understanding the Causes and Consequencesof Deforestation in Nepal (1990-2013) 436Sutandra Singha

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Contributors

Amrita Limbu, Senior Research Associate at the Centre for theStudy of Labour and Mobility at the Social Science Baha,Kathmandu, Nepal.Anjee Gorkhali, Ph. D Candidate with a concentration inInformation Systems Management, in Strome College ofBusiness, Old Dominion University, USA.Bamdev Subedi, Research Scholar, Center of Social Medicineand Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, NewDelhi, India.Bhuvan Chaudhary, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi, India.Binayak Sundas, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi, India.Dhanasree Jayaram, Project Associate, Manipal AdvancedResearch Group, Manipal University, Karnataka, India.James Okolie-Osemene, Department of InternationalRelations, Wellspring University, Nigeria.Khushbu Mishra, Ph.D in Development Economics at TheOhio State University, USA.Kirthi Jayakumar, Director of The Red Elephant Foundation,organisation that works on Gender, Peace and Conflict issues,India.Labh Kumar Yadav, Masters in Master in InternationalRelations, South Asian University, New Delhi, India.Lal Rapacha (Dr.), Faculty Member in English, TrinityInternational College, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

xxiv Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

Marija Grujovska, Social and Cultural Anthropology,University of Vienna, Austria.Mukesh Jha, Masters in Computing and Information Sciencefrom Masdar Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE.Palu Joshi (Dr.), Assistant Professor, Kanoria P.G. MahilaMahavidhalaya, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.Puspa Paudel, Researcher at GalliGalli, Kathmandu, Nepal.Raj K. Yadav, PhD Candidate, The University of Newcastle,Australia.Rajib Timalsina, Lecturer at the Department of Conflict, Peaceand Development Studies (CPDS), Tribhuvan University andDirector of ARC Research Institute, Kathmandu, India.Ram Pravesh Sah, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi, India.Ramu C. M., Master’s Degree in Geopolitics and InternationalRelations, Department of Geopolitics and InternationalRelations, Manipal University, Karnataka, India.Sanjeev Dahal, MA in Social Work, Tata Institute of SocialSciences, Mumbai, India.Seema Kumari Shah, Masters in Master in InternationalRelations, South Asian University, New Delhi, India.Sivakumar Challa, Archaeology Research Group, Tirupati,Andra Pradesh, India.Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H, Research Scholar, National LawSchool of India University, Karnataka, India.Sutandra Singha, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi, India.V. Ramabrahmam (Dr.), Coordinator & Assistant Professor,Dept. of History & Archaeology, Yogi Vemana University,Andhra Pradesh, India.

Abbreviations

AAHW Ayurvedic Assistant Health WorkerABARI Adobe Bamboo and Research InstituteADB Asian Development BankAIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency SyndromeANA Arts Network AsiaAPM All-Party MechanismAYON Association of Youth Organization NepalBAMS Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and SurgeryCA Constituent AssemblyCBS Central Bureau of StatisticsCDC Curriculum Development CenterCEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms

of Discrimination against WomenCFP Community Forestry ProgrammeCIAA Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of

AuthorityCPN (Maoist) Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)CPN (UML) Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Maxist

Leninist)CPN-ML Communist Party of Nepal – Maxist LeninistCRC Convention on the Rights of the ChildCSSP Community School Support ProgramCTEVT Council for Technical Education and

Vocational EducationCWC Central Working Committee

xxvi Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

CYSU Come on Youth Stand UpDANIDA Danish International Development AgencyDDC District Development CommitteeDEO District Education OfficerDFID Department for International DevelopmentDoFE Department of Foreign EmploymentDoHS Division of Occupational Health and SafetyDRM Disaster Risk ManagementECD Early Childhood DevelopmentEFA Education for AllETFs Ecological Task ForcesFAO Food and Agricultural OrganisationFEPB Foreign Employment Promotion BoardFPTP First-Past-the-PostFWLD Forum for Women, Law and DevelopmentGCC Gulf Cooperation CouncilGDP Gross Domestic ProductGEM Gender Empowerment MeasureGNP Gross National ProductGON Government of NepalHCI Himalayan Climate InitiativeHDI Human Development IndexHIV Human Immunodeficiency VirusHMG His Majesty GovernmentICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political

RightsICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain

DevelopmentICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

ICTY International Criminal Tribunal forYugoslavia

IDPs Internally Displaced PersonsILO International Labour OrganizationINGOs International Non-Governmental

OrganizationINSEC Informal Sector Service CenterIPFC Integrated Planning & Formulation

CommitteesIRIN Integrated Regional Information NetworksIUCN International Union for Conservation of

NatureJEMC Janak Educational Materials CenterLDCs Least Developed CountriesLGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trransgender.LGCDP Local Governance and Community

Development ProgrammeLGSA Local Self Governance ActMFSC Ministry of Forests and Soil ConservationMICC Migration Information and Counseling

CentersMJF Madheshi Janadhkar ForumMOE Ministry of EducationMoFA Ministry of Foreign AffairsMoHP Ministry of Health and PopulationMoLE Ministry of Labour and EmploymentMTOs Money Transfer OperatorsNARMSAP Natural Resource Management Sector

Assistance ProgramNC Nepali CongressNCC National Curriculum Council

Abbreviations xxvii

xxviii Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

NCD Nepali Congress DemocraticNCED National Center for Educational DevelopmentNDP National Democratic PartyNGOs Non-Governmental OrganizationsNHRC National Human Rights CommissionNLSS Nepal Living Standard SurveyNSP Nepal Sadbhavna PartyNVP National Volunteer ProgramOBC Other Backward CastesOCE Office of the Controller of ExaminationsOOP Out-of-pocketsOPD Out Patient DepartmentPHC Primary Health CenterPPCs Pre-Primary ClassesPR Proportional RepresentationPU Publishing UnitRCC Reinforced Concrete CementRD&D Research, Development and DeploymentRS Richter ScaleRUF Revolutionary United FrontSAADMEx South Asian Annual Disaster Management

ExerciseSAARC South Asian Association for Regional

CooperationSEDEC Secondary Education Development CenterSESP Secondary Education Support ProgramSLC School Leaving CertificateSOP Standard Operating ProcedureSPA Seven Party AllianceSSRP School Sector Reform Program

SWAN Social Workers’ Association NepalTEP Teacher Education ProjectTMLP Tarai Madhesh Loktantrik PartyTMT Thermo-Mechanically TreatedUCPN (Maoist) Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)UMN United Mission to NepalUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural OrganizationUNICEF United Nations Children’s FundUSAID U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentVDCs Village Development CommitteesWCF Ward Citizen ForumWHO World Health OrganizationWWF World Wide Fund for Nature

Abbreviations xxix

Managing Earthquakes in Nepalthrough National and Regional

EffortsDhanasree Jayaram and Ramu C. M.

Abstract Nepal was hit by the worst earthquake in more than 80years in April 2015. In terms of death toll, it was the highest onrecord in the country. The Himalayan country sits right above themost active and hazardous seismic fault zone in the world; andtherefore, it is likely to be affected by many more such events in thefuture (has had a history of powerful earthquakes over the lastmillennium).

What cannot be denied is the fact that Nepal is not just a victim ofgeological fault lines but also poor socioeconomic and physicalinfrastructure that leaves the country’s population highly vulnerableto such geological disasters. In this context, the paper provides ageological-cum-policy analysis of the 2015 earthquake – its causes,consequences – delving into policy gaps and proposingrecommendations.

The disaster brings to light the need for Nepal to put in place disasterrisk reduction, emergency response and mitigation policies thatwould minimize damage to life and property, consideringearthquakes cannot really be predicted. It needs to realign itsdevelopment policies (interlinked with urbanisation, quality ofinfrastructure, environmental/geological risk assessment,demographics and so on).

It argues that in order for Nepal to implement such policies, it needsto overcome its political, infrastructural and socio-economic crises.In this exercise, it needs to cooperate closely with the internationalcommunity; particularly its South Asian (Himalayan) neighbours

to establish joint-effort mechanisms and create resilience in thecountry, considering all the countries in the Himalayan region areequally at risk.

Introduction

On an otherwise normal summer morning of April 25, 2015,Nepal faced the wrath of nature’s fury. A 7.8 magnitudepowerful earthquake, with its epicentre located around thenortheast of the capital city of Kathmandu, ravaged some ofthe most populous as well as isolated sections of the smalllandlocked mountainous country. The earthquake devastatedthe cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara. Not only was the urbanpopulation affected, but pockets of rural population spreadacross the mostly hilly and rugged terrain, also fell victim tothe worst natural disaster to have confronted Nepal since the1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake. Apart from the near obliterationof Nepal’s major cities, the ripples of the quake’s destructiveforce were felt across the neighbouring countries like India,China, Bhutan, Bangladesh; and even Myanmar and Pakistanfor that matter.

What made matters worse for the disaster-affectedcommunities of Nepal was the frequent occurrences of tremorsand aftershocks in the aftermath of the initial quake. The 6.7magnitude mega aftershock on the very next day, hamperedrescue activities and disaster relief operations in the areasaffected. And as obvious as it can get, the unceasing series oftremors sent waves of panic to a population already deprivedof the basic livelihood amenities, following the previous day’sbummer. In addition to dealing a harsh blow to Nepal’sfledgling services sector, centred mostly on tourism, bankingand real estate; primary and manufacturing sectors likeagriculture and industry – that constitutes the backbone of thenation’s economy, were adversely affected (IANS 2015).

Just over a fortnight after the major quake, Nepal was onceagain hit by a relatively powerful aftershock. Though it was,in geological terms, an ‘aftershock’ of the April 25 Gorkha

Managing Earthquakes in Nepal through National and... 373

374 Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times

earthquake, the one that struck in the early hours of May 12measured a shocking 7.3 on the Richter scale. This was almostas devastating as the parent quake. The aftershock was centredaround 150 kilometres east of the parent quake. Furthermore,this temblor had its focus, about 76 kilometres towards theeast-northeast of Kathmandu; while it was only 18 kilometresfrom the strategic city of Kodari that borders Nepal and Tibet.The arterial Kathmandu-Lhasa (Lhasa is the capital city of theTibet Autonomous Region) Highway that passes throughKodari, was severely damaged by the accompanying tremors(Bryna 2015).

Despite the fact that the region is classified as a highlyearthquake prone zone, weak and unplanned infrastructurehas been allowed to mushroom everywhere. Nepal has had ahistory of powerful earthquakes over the last millennium –with records dating back to 1100. As a matter of fact, many ofthose heritage structures that got obliterated in Kathmandu’sfamous Durbar Square had been previously subject torenovation and reconstruction, owing to damages incurred bycenturies of earthquakes.

Even though one cannot ignore the fact that some of thereally old structures withstood the shocks with minor damages,the spate of the not-so-lucky post-seventeenth centurystructures speaks volumes about the shoddy constructionpractices that are still being followed and gross negligencetowards the lessons from history (Jayaram and C. M. 2015).

The two massive earthquakes struck during the summermonths of April-May, a time when businesses are running highand when the tourism industry makes maximum turnover. Itis also that particular period in a year, which witnessesmaximum number of mountaineering expeditions – owing tothe favourable weather conditions.

No wonder that the Nepalese economy was severelycrippled after the quake struck, sending waves of destructionacross the suburbs of Kathmandu as well as the adjacent ruralcountryside. The successive tremors and aftershocks, some of

which were of magnifying proportions, further engulfed thehill communities in fear and panic. All in all, over 9000 peoplewere killed and 22,000 succumbed to severe injuries. Hundredsand thousands of people became homeless in a country wherehalf of the approximately 28 million numbering populationlive below poverty line. Food security, access to water,sanitation and hygiene, and above all, shelter, became areas ofgrave concern – as the disaster made way for a humanitariantragedy, from that of an ecological catastrophe (Augsburger2015).

Against this backdrop, the chapter makes a brief study andestimation of the geological factors that threaten Nepal’ssurvival. It uses the 2015 earthquake as a case to further explainthem. Besides geological factors, it assesses the socioeconomicand policy issues that act as threat multipliers. It makes amodest attempt at providing policy recommendations thatcould help Nepal combat these geological and socioeconomicproblems. Finally, it touches upon the ways and means ofcooperation among the Himalayan countries to promotedisaster risk reduction as well as post-disaster emergencyresponse and reconstruction.

Understanding the Geological Roots of the Earthquake

The 2015 Nepal earthquake resulted from the relieving ofimmense stress accumulated over millions of years along theHimalayan thrust fault. Before delving into the intricacies ofthe disaster, it is paramount to understand the basic geologyof the Himalayan region comprising Nepal. As a matter of fact,Nepal sits above one of the most seismically active, and at thesame time, hazardous fault lines in the world. The Himalayanmountain system, with its relatively young (in relation to thegeological time scale) topography and ecosystem, has beenformed as a result of plate tectonic activities arguably datingback to around 50 million years ago. Before proceeding further,one need to acquire a clear understanding of the varioustectonic plate movements that have proceeded, accompanied,and also been succeeding the genesis of the Himalayas.



Some 250 million years ago, the earth comprised of asupercontinent called Pangaea, surrounded by a global oceanby the name of Panthalassa. With the passage of time and dueto the underlying plate tectonics, the supercontinent began tofracture transversely, splitting into two gigantic palaeo-lithospheric units: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in thesouth. Laurasia constituted present-day North America,Europe and most of Asia. On the other hand, Gondwana (orGondwanaland) encompassed within itself, present-day SouthAmerica, Africa, Antarctica and Indo-Australia. The twoterrestrial blocks were separated transversely by a narrowchannel of ocean called the Tethys. However, as a result ofconcomitant divergent plate movements, both these blocksstarted to rupture from within. This gave rise to the continentsof the present day – as they started breaking apart and driftedaway from one another. Initially, the Indo-Australian plate splitfrom the Gondwana landmass – but later on with the Indiansub-plate further breaking away (off Madagascar) and driftingnorthwards to collide with the larger Eurasian plate (TheEditors of The Encyclopædia Britannica n.d.).

The collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plateoccurred around 50 million years ago, and this led to theformation of what one would describe today as the pillars ofthe world – the Himalayan mountain chain; and the roof ofthe world – the adjoining plateau of Tibet to the north.Technically speaking, the Indian plate, since then, is constantlybeing pushed underneath the Eurasian plate. This creates asubduction zone; an area where two lithospheric unitsconverge with one another, one overlapping the other. In thiscase, the Eurasian plate rides over the Indian plate; or to bemore precise, the Indian plate slides under the Eurasian plate.The continuous subduction of the Indian plate under theEurasian plate led to the uplifting of the Tethys seabed.

One of the most discernible evidences to this phenomenonis the presence of almost 450 metres thick deposits of salt bedsacross the famous Spiti Valley of northeast Himachal Pradesh

in India, and the mighty lakes of the Tibetan plateau, includingthe Namtso salt lake and Manasarovar freshwater lake. Thesaline topography reveals the oceanic history of this region.While Namtso is the highest lake in the world and the largestin the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Manasarovar is the sourceof origin of the Sutlej, an important tributary of the mightyIndus River.

Moreover, many of South Asia’s largest rivers, includingthe Indus, Brahmaputra and the Karnali (a tributary of theGanga) have their origins and watersheds along the peripheryof the Manasarovar Lake. In a way, therefore, this regionbecomes the hydrographic bulwark of the Himalayas (NationalAeronautics and Space Administration 2015).

It is said that the Indian plate is sliding beneath the Eurasianplate at a velocity of five centimetres per year. The more theIndian continental plate loses its lithospheric portions due tosubduction into the upper mantle, also known as asthenosphere(the layer of magma below the crust) – beneath the Eurasiancontinental crust; the more are the Himalayas pushed upwarddue to intermittent folding of the lower oceanic crustal rocksof the erstwhile Tethys.

Judging from the excessive pressure developing across theHimalayan thrust fault, India’s northward drift and subsequentcollision with the Eurasian plate has been lately associated withwhat is known as a double subduction.

Some 80 million years ago, two simultaneous subductionprocesses are believed to have thrust India into a high velocitydrift towards the massive Eurasian plate. These double faultson the earth’s surface are thought to have facilitated the Indiancontinental crust to slide above the Tethys oceanic crust; whilethe latter gradually sank (into the asthenosphere) under theformer’s advancing overlap. And once the Indian plate collidedwith the Eurasian plate, the oceanic lithospheric plate at theedge of the former began to be subducted below the latter.Here, the subduction zone is created by one continental crust



sliding beneath another continental crust; while the narrowstrip of oceanic crust in the middle gets completely subductedinto the mantle/ asthenosphere (United States GeologicalSurvey 2015).

The Himalayan range, along with the Tibetan Plateau,continues to be pushed upward by the intense folding causedby the downward thrusting Indian plate. For instance, MountEverest, the world’s highest peak, is supposed to have grownby two metres over the last century, with reliable estimatessuggesting its height to be 8850 metres – a substantial increasefrom the 8848-metre figure, just about half a century ago. Thepowerful tectonic forces in action under the Indo-Eurasianconvergent fault have led to several mini and megaearthquakes and tremblers across this region. Not only arethese quakes felt across the main Himalayan belt, but therepercussions extend all the way through the north-northwestalong the Karakoram - Hindu Kush - Pamir systems ofmountains in Central Asia and the Elbruz - Zagros mountainsystems of Iran.

Meanwhile, the north-northeastern earthquake risk zonetraverses China along the Tien Shan – Kunlun – Qilianmountain ranges of China. Hence, the May 2015 Nepalearthquake comes as no surprise, well at least within thegeological fraternity. The fact of the matter is that a megaearthquake, of the size and magnitude of the recent one, waslong anticipated over the Main Central Thrust Fault that cutsacross Nepal (Fischman 2015).

However, the 2015 earthquake came after a considerablylong hiatus. The last recorded mega earthquakes along theregion were 1988 and the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake. Theepicentres of both these quakes were further southeast of therecent one – closer to the Terai; i.e. the floodplains along theNepal border with the Indian state of Bihar.

The 1934 quake was a pulveriser by normal standards. Aunique feature of this quake, making it even more destructive

in terms of the casualty-count, was that apart from theobliteration of property and infrastructure by the shaking andfracturing of the surface, the quake also resulted in intenseliquefaction over the Indo-Gangetic floodplains of NorthernBihar.

The floodplains of the Ganges and its tributaries are rich infine silt and alluvium. These sediments are formed as a resultof fluvial erosion of the clastic sedimentary rocks that dominatethe region. During earthquakes, these clastic rocks andalluvium that make up the riverbeds are subject to the processof liquefaction, as mentioned above.

Accordingly, the already saturated soil starts behaving likea fluid in response to the induced stress. The sheer intensity ofthe quake, along with its relatively shallow epicentre, is whatrendered the 1934 quake powerful enough to induce soilliquefaction across the upper reaches of the floodplains. Thequake had recorded 8.1 on the Richter scale. Because of theliquefaction, vents were dug up and fissures erupted acrossriverbeds and sandbanks. Subsequently, the land beside thesevents and fissures caved. Buildings constructed on top of thefluidated sediments were either carried afloat or theirfoundations just gave way, as these sank into the mud undertheir own weight.

Eventually, a total of over 19,000 people, across Nepal andIndia, lost their lives in one of the worst natural disasters tohave hit the region in modern times. Had the recent earthquakeexceeded 8.0 on the Richter scale, perhaps, liquefaction-induceddestruction would have ambushed quite a number of urbanand sub-urban dwellings across the floodplains and riverinevalleys (along foothills) in the Indian downstream state of Bihar(Express Web Desk 2015).

The 7.8 magnitude 2015 Gorkha earthquake complementsthe 2005 Kashmir earthquake (in the Karakoram Range) inexplaining the ever-continuing subduction of the dense Indianplate beneath the Eurasian plate. Such a phenomenon renders



excess strain on the lower crustal rocks, resulting in theirdeformation and eventual collapse. The seismic wavesgenerated during the quake use these weak spots as exit routes,resulting in aftershocks that succeed the major quake. Thesetremors and aftershocks can trigger potential landslides andmud-slips (when accompanied by rain) along the mountainsand valleys, but also in a fragile sedimentary ecosystem likethe Terai region, spread across the lowlands and foothills ofthe Nepal-Bihar belt. This is a direct after-effect of the shaking-induced loosening of the ground over steep gradients. Asimportant as the magnitude of the quake and the energy ofthe seismic waves generated during it, the sheer gradient ofthe surface as well as the rock composition also plays a pivotalrole in triggering landslips.

In fact, a total of 4312 landslide incidents were reportedwithin the area of impact, during the monsoon rains that hitthe region in late July. Above the snowline, this could howevertranslate into avalanches, like the one that occurred on theEverest trekking trail – killing eighteen prospective summiteersa belonging to various Everest climbing expeditions. It is onlysheer fortune that the quake did not trigger liquefaction in thelower reaches of the Himalayas – which would have spewedup river mud on the surrounding areas, or caused buildingsto cave in and collapse under their own weight (Qiu 2015).

What exactly happened on the terrible Saturday morningof April 25, 2015? Well, the continuing shoving of the Nepaleselandscape by the Indian plate has produced what is oftenreferred to in geological terms as the Himalayan frontal thrustfault. This fault continues to house the epicentres of enormousearthquakes. In relatively simple terms, this boundary zoneacts as an escape route for the abundant energy that isgenerated in the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasianone. The energy released is felt as earthquakes in a periodicmanner.

In the last century, the most devastating manifestation ofthis intermittent release of pent up energy, came to be in 1934;

and later again in 1988. This is insofar as not to discount thatthe 2015 quake struck with a bang and unleashed a huge swellof destruction, particularly across Nepal’s northeast.

Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal

The Gorkha earthquake, combined with the massiveaftershock trembler two weeks later, nonetheless providessome important lessons to the governments, authorities as wellas peoples of both Nepal and other countries that come withinthe earthquake high-vulnerability zone of the HimalayanThrust Fault.

It is mundane knowledge that earthquakes cannot bepredicted or foreseen; only the probability of its occurrencecan be evaluated. Invariably, once a disaster strikes, theimmediate response from the governments and other reliefagencies is to deploy their human resource to the affected areas,and carry out rescue operations on an extensive scale. In theworst hit areas, it is always the military, with its disciplinedoperational style and enormous human-cum-technical resourcebase that is ready for disposal at any time, which comes in assaviour.

A thorough examination of the modus operandi followedin any such instance, reveals an added emphasis on disastermanagement that proceeds usually in four Rs: rescue, relief,rehabilitation and resettlement. With due respect, managinga disaster is of utmost urgency; but this is tantamount to curingan ailment which has already done its share of the damage.

Moreover, prevention is anytime better than cure. Howeverin the majority of cases, earthquakes are a result of naturaltectonic forces; and there is no way one can prevent them fromhappening. Therefore, in such cases, the language of preventiontranslates into mitigation.

Disaster mitigation involves all measures and mechanismsadopted to neutralise or at least reduce the impacts of ananticipated disaster, well before it happens (Government ofCanada 2015).



In a country like Nepal which is located exactly above theHimalayan Thrust Fault, earthquakes are inevitable – as it hadshown in the past; and will still recur in the future. However,contrary to what should have been done as part of mitigatingthe effects of such already anticipated earthquakes, the largelypoor and unscientific infrastructure of cities like Kathmandu,speaks otherwise.

The seismically active Kathmandu Valley is an extremelydensely populated region. The city of Kathmandu, with apopulation of over 2.5 million people, is considered to be atthe ‘highest’ risk in terms of impact of earthquakes on thepeople. Before the earthquake struck, the risks caused by weakinfrastructure, indiscriminate development planning, non-compliance with building codes, encroachment on open spaces,depleting water table had been predicted but the damage hadalready been done and Nepal, due to the lack of financial andtechnical resources as well as political will, could not reverseor control it.

The damage had been inflicted mostly by the pressurecreated on the housing sector by heavy influx of ruralpopulations to the city and the subsequent irregular and illegalconstruction boom – making it one of the fastest growing citiesin South Asia. Despite the fact that the authorities had takensteps to refurbish the existing infrastructure and tightenlegislation (such as the introduction of building code in 1994)to ensure planned development activities, this proved to beinadequate.

Substandard building practices have plagued Kathmandufor decades; and recommended practices and legislations werenot implemented or enforced in toto. The government managedto retrofit many critical facilities such as hospitals and schoolsbut the high costs involved in doing the same to the remainingbuildings that were built before these steps were undertakenhave hampered regularising and strengthening infrastructurefully in the city and its neighbouring areas (Scheuer 2015,Grünewald 2014: 1-6).

The immediate priority is to implement the much-neededreforms in the construction sector. Strictly speaking, in a highlyearthquake prone country, the first and foremost task is tofoolproof buildings and other infrastructure in a way that couldwithstand or at least absorb the shocks released in anearthquake; so that these undergo minimum damage. As aresult, the impetus should be towards bringing down thedamage to life and property. Hence, greater emphasis shouldbe given to geotechnical engineering and earthquake resistantconstruction practices that make use of scientifically testeddesigns and techniques.

Japan is a role model in this regard. In an impressiveprojection of true grit, the country has more or less managedto overcome the challenges of being situated along one of themost earthquake prone belts in the world; namely the PacificRing of Fire. Japan’s achievements in this regard are amanifestation of the innovations that were carried out in itsconstruction sector, by learning from the experiences ofprevious earthquakes.

Being a relatively poor country, Nepal could do well byseeking assistance and cooperation from a developed yetdisaster-prone country like Japan in mitigating the effects ofearthquakes; particularly with respect to earthquake-resistantinfrastructure designs. For example, it would be advisable tofollow the Japanese model of earthquake-resistant constructiontechniques, such as ‘Base-isolation’. This envisages floating thebuilding on top of its foundation by means of a system of leadrubber bearings, springs and padded cylinders (which acts asshock absorbers).

For instance, the Japanese city of Niigata is a world leaderin terms of successfully shielding its buildings from thevagaries of earthquakes. As a matter of fact, it has been formallydesignated as the only earthquake resistant city in the world.

Another suggestion is to resort to earthquake resistant RCC(Reinforced Concrete Cement) framed structure with infillbrick walls. This consists of floors and ceilings made of the



RCC slabs, walls made of bricks and strengthened with steelbars; and the support beams and columns/pillars arecomposed of TMT (thermo-mechanically treated) steel and theRCC. While choosing locations for building construction, carryout a thorough survey of the soil conditions, the underlyingrock formations and the surrounding topography: Avoid placeswhich have high chances of soil leaching and liquefaction.Adopting state-of-the-art modern day civil engineeringpractices and geotechnical construction typologies should notignore some of the effective traditional and indigenousconstruction designs.

Some of the ancient era buildings in cities like Kathmanduhave proved the odds by withstanding many of the massiveearthquakes that have hit Nepal over the course of time. Thisis because the knowledge of earthquake-resistant practices wasintegrated into most of the traditional architecture, spanningback centuries. Even to this day, best practices in earthquake-resistant construction continue to prevail in some of theindigenous hill communities.

For example, ‘thatch houses’, made from locally availablebamboo, wooden planks, thatch (tree leaves, branches andtwigs, hay and grass, plus other ferns and mosses etc) –perfectly meet the necessary parameters for earthquakeresistance. The bamboo and wooden beams and columns fulfilthe optimum safety standards, on account of its sheer simplicityand uniform rectangularity (Singh, Kumar and Haldar 2009).

Last but not the least, spreading awareness about disastermitigation should take the front seat, in terms of educatingthe common masses of their susceptibility to more earthquakesin the future. In fact, a large portion of the Nepali people,especially those in the isolated and mountainous rural pockets,have long become attuned to the cultural fatalism surroundingthe vulnerability of their country to earthquakes. In this context,they need to be apprised of the disaster mitigation measuresthat are to be implemented in advance of a similarly massiveearthquake – considering that the region is likely to experiencemore powerful quakes in the times to come.

The most critical precondition for the enforcement oflegislation and implementation of policies related to disasterrisk reduction is political stability. Nepal has been goingthrough a tumultuous period of transition from monarchy todemocracy.

The country was ill-prepared for this disaster. In fact, in2008, the Nepal had finalised its National Strategy for DisasterRisk Management but its implementation became a hugechallenge due to the political deadlock over the newConstitution after the end of the civil war in 2006. The impasseover the Constitution has also stalled Nepal from conductinglocal elections in the country since 1997. Hence, the inabilityof the centralised bureaucracy to attend to local requirementswas compounded by the lack of a local governance frameworktowards disaster mitigation.

Relief efforts were impeded owing to bureaucratic hurdles,inconsistency in resource allocation, unaccountability andrampant corruption (in terms of the development aid providedto Nepal before the earthquake occurred) (Varughese 2015).Despite the fact that the country is earthquake prone, issuessuch as disaster management have not been elevated to thetop echelons of the establishment either, leaving a huge policygap (Robins-Early 2015). Unless these gaps are filled, it wouldbe difficult for the country to execute any disaster riskreduction strategies.

Regional Efforts at Disaster Management

The 2015 earthquake has exposed and exacerbated manyof Nepal’s socio-economic and infrastructural challenges – thatit needs to address in the short and long terms. The economicimpact of the earthquake has been estimated to be betweenUSD 1 billion and US$ 10 billion; this is a huge loss for a countrywhose annual GDP is approximately USD 20 billion (Young2015).

The earthquake has weakened most buildings inKathmandu and other cities. The majority of Nepal is not



connected by paved roads – rendering rescue and relief anextremely arduous task many roads and bridges wereobliterated by the earthquake and require to be reconstructed.Food, water and energy insecurity as well as the lack ofsanitation and hygiene continue to affect Nepal; many liveunder the poverty line (half of the 28 million people). Theearthquake rendered 1.4 million people (excluding KathmanduValley) food insecure (in need of food assistance); due toextensive damage caused to hydropower dams, productioncapacity went down by nearly 30 percent (Varady 2015) (Nepal2015).

Political instability on one hand, and the lack of wherewithalon the other made the task of overcoming these challengesdifficult for the authorities. Clearly, Nepal requires human,financial and resource support from various quarters not onlyfor response and reconstruction but also risk reduction.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Nepal received aid fromnumerous sources across the globe. However, this caters onlyto the country’s short-term requirements. Even when theinternational aid kept pouring into the country, the authoritiesstruggled to efficiently coordinate and organise rescue andrelief due to logistical and administrative reasons.

First of all, the entire aid was being channelled through theonly international airport of the country located in the capitalcity of Kathmandu. During the aid operations launched bycountries around the world, the Kathmandu airport waschoked, Several aircrafts carrying essential supplies had to bediverted to India and other neighbouring countries. Secondly,inaccessibility, difficult terrain, infrastructure damage and poorcommunications hampered response in most parts of thecountry. Thirdly, the scale of the disaster was so massive thatthe government was caught totally unaware and clueless evenin assessing the degree and nature of damage, as well asindentifying the areas that were affected.

This had an adverse impact on the relief operations as thegovernment was not in a position to ascertain priorities and

adopt an effective strategy to carry out aid distribution. To fixthese problems, Nepal needs to work with the rest of theinternational community to strengthen earthquakepreparedness (Daniel and Mahr 2015, Ng 2015, Oxfam 2015).

This also points towards the vulnerability factor shared bythe other neighbouring countries in the Himalayan region suchas Bhutan, India and Pakistan. Regional and sub-regionalefforts could therefore be the answer to disaster managementwoes confronted by countries like Nepal.

Disaster management is considered a ‘soft’ issue that couldeasily help nation states identify the common agenda since thesecurity of one person or state is largely contingent on others’security. This is more pertinent in a regional setting in whichgeographical adjacency or proximity plays a big role. Forinstance, the impacts of disasters are not necessarily localiseddue to the interconnections with the geoeconomic andgeopolitical realities of the international, more so regional,security environment.

Therefore, the need to adopt ‘preventive’ and ‘adaptive’measures against both sudden (earthquakes, tsunamis orcyclones) and gradual (climate change or droughts) changes,is becoming more and more imperative – not just for onecountry but for the whole world.

South Asia has witnessed many catastrophic disasters inrecent past, the Nepal earthquake being one among them. Withthe spurt in the scale, frequency and impact of disasters in thepast couple of decades in the region, the need for beefing updisaster management and risk reduction policies has assumedfurther significance (Jayaram 2015).

On one hand, the South Asian countries are slowly wakingup to the reality of looming disasters that might originate inone country but the ripples of which are felt across borders.The need for joint-effort was felt most strongly when the 2004Indian Ocean Tsunami devastated the region. Thereafter, astring of disasters including cyclonic storms, earthquakes (such



as the 2005 Kashmir earthquake that hit India and Pakistan),flooding (such as the recurrent Kosi floods and Himalayanlandslides that affect India and Nepal) made the authoritiesrealise the need to put in place a fresh set of policies to dealwith frequent disasters rather than adopting a reactiveapproach.

On the other hand, even when the disasters are restrictedto one country in the region, the rescue, relief andreconstruction activities initiated by countries such as India inits neighbourhood bring to light the need for a regional disasterrisk reduction approach. Military-to-military cooperation is animportant area that could be beefed up for coordinatedemergency response in the wake of disasters.

The Nepalese Army benefitted from the services providedby militaries from different countries (including India andChina) in its Operation Sankat Mochan. India was one of thefirst countries to ‘respond’ (within six hours) and throughoutthe rescue-relief stage, it led a massive cross-border aid missioncalled Operation Maitri (AFP 2015) (Nayak 2015). But if theprocess of deploying rescue teams and military assets as wellas distributing relief materials was coordinated in a betterfashion, much confusion could have been avoided. TheNepalese authorities struggled to manage the heavy influx ofinternational aid as already stated previously.

Although India has pledged US$ 1 billion to aidreconstruction in Nepal, this is not enough (Press 2015). Whatneeds to be given priority is cooperation in capacity-buildingand technology RD&D (research, development anddeployment) aimed at disaster risk reduction. A few steps havealready been taken in this direction but much more can beaccomplished if the countries show the political will to set asidetheir political differences and cooperate effectively. Forinstance, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) has set up the SAARC Disaster Management Centrethat strives to provide “policy advice” and facilitate “capacitybuilding services including strategic learning, research,

training, system development, expertise promotion andexchange of information for effective disaster risk reductionand for planning and coordinating a rapid regional responsemechanism to disasters within the region.” It has identified“risk assessment and early warning systems”, “education,information and public awareness”, “climate changeadaptation” and “preparedness for effective response” as itspriorities (Prevention Web). Even in the case of the Nepalearthquake, the country faced severe shortage of traineddisaster personnel, forcing civil society to step in, according toseveral reports (Iyengar 2015).

In November 2015, the first ever SAARC disastermanagement exercise – called the South Asian Annual DisasterManagement Exercise (SAADMEx) was organised in NewDelhi. For the first time, countries of South Asia – Bangladesh,Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan andIndia – undertook an initiative to build interoperability amongthe SAARC nations to carry out joint disaster responseoperations by cooperating and coordinating with each other.

As noted in a Business Standard article on December 1, 2015,the primary focus of this exercise was to “strengthen theeffective utilisation and quick deployment of search and rescueteams for emergency response” and to “set a scenario ofeffective activation of the national process of regional response”(This SAARC initiative (led by India) could overcome severallayers of political tensions between some of the countries inthe region – the latest being the diplomatic standoff betweenIndia and Nepal over the constitutional crisis in Nepal (Adkin2015).

Very often, foreign policy and diplomacy are seen throughthe realist paradigm in which ‘security dilemma’ tends tostymie cooperation (in the true sense of the term). Quite theopposite, the threats, or rather risks (considering much of it isstill not palpable or existential if one goes by the securitisationdiscourse), posed by environmental disruptions are common.It is a different matter altogether that different countries have



different capacities and this could come in the way ofcooperation, unless countries share their resources. Whatmakes cooperation in this area relatively less problematic isthe fact that the scientific, technical and logistic data regardingsuch disruptions is more or less shared, and more importantlyunclassified.

Bilaterally, India has initiated a handful of disaster riskreduction mechanisms. A case in point is the inclusion ofdisaster management drills in the joint exercises between thearmies of India and Nepal in 2014. This was aimed at devisingjoint response mechanisms to prevent flooding of River Kosi(Datt 2014).

India could also join hands with all the countries in theHimalayan region to transform some of its national policiesinto sub-regional ones. The Indian government has for instancelaid down a roadmap for a National Mission for SustainingHimalayan Ecosystem as a part of its National Action Plan onclimate change.

It aims to focus on not only climate-related hazards, glacialmelt and other hydrological phenomenon, but also biodiversityconservation, wildlife protection, traditional knowledge ofsocieties and their livelihoods and so on (PTI 2014). It needs togo beyond its borders and set up a sub-regional arrangementto pool in disaster management resources since the problemsare shared and the spillover effects could be disastrous as well.

Nepal could also take cues from the Indian Ecological TaskForces (ETFs) (constituted by ex-servicemen) and attempt toraise its own units by employing ex-personnel of the NepaleseArmy. These units could be deployed to implement long-termstrategies such as infrastructure reconstruction andrefurbishment, ecological restoration and sustainability in theHimalayan ecosystems, thus helping build resilience amongthe communities. The “military-type discipline and dedication”could be put into use to bring in long-term stability in the region(Gautam 2015).

Conclusion

We live in an era of complete uncertainty about theenvironment we inhabit and exploit. Geologically, manysegments have been cut across the Himalayan frontal thrustfault by the unceasing withering of the Indian plate under theEurasian plate. The 2015 earthquake ostensibly seems to haveoverlapped the segment that paved the way for the 8.1magnitude killer earthquake of 1934. According to a survey ofearthquakes that have occurred across the Himalayan ThrustFault over several years, smaller aftershocks tend to strikealong the major quake segment; whereas larger shocks areexpected to hit the edge of the rupture zone created by theparent earthquake. The 7.3 magnitude mega aftershock of May12, 2015 is a classic example of this phenomenon – since itoccurred on the eastern edge of the April 25 Gorkhaearthquake’s rupture boundary. Suffice it to say that theburgeoning number of ruptures created along the HimalayanCentral Thrust Fault, only exposes the vulnerability of theworld’s most volatile tectonic hotspot, to an even greaternumber of powerful earthquakes in the future.

After being struck by four powerful earthquakes over thepast century and still having done little towards disastermitigation, at least the most recent one should serve as an eye-opener to the government and the concerned authorities.

It is true that Nepal has had to face hardships throughoutthe period of chaos that accompanied the jittery transition froma monarchy to a fledgling democracy. Nevertheless, the verydifficulty of being sandwiched between two major powers likeIndia and China, has traditionally forced Nepal to be underthe shadow of its two powerful neighbours. This historical roleof a buffer between India and China subsequently entangledNepal in the power struggle between its two competingneighbours. As a rule, relatively less attention was paid to thenon-traditional security aspects like confronting environmentalthreats and disaster mitigation.



In Nepal’s efforts, the entire international community,especially South Asia and the Himalayan countries must poolin their resources. The idea is to facilitate joint-effort amongthe various agencies well in advance of environmentaldisruption (such as disasters).

Besides coordination between different agencies that dealwith disasters at the national level, there is also a need forlinking them with the cross-border or international agenciesfor pooling of resources and activities. For example, amongthe military agencies, this could be achieved by developingcommon terms of reference along with standard operatingprocedure (SOP) and domain awareness to enhance familiarityamong the parties involved.

The best way the smaller countries (with less resources)could overcome gaps in capacities and capabilities is throughconcerted coordination with each other; while the biggercountries could share their resources and know-how byengendering initiatives and building mutual trust amongcountries – mainly by training smaller countries’ disastermanagement agencies in capacity building, adaptiveenhancement and response mechanism (Jayaram 2015).

As the number of humanitarian disasters across the globerises, the need for increased focus on disaster risk reductionmeasures becomes critical, particularly in the Himalayanregion. Future policies (mainly in infrastructure) shouldtherefore take into consideration environmental/geologicalrisk assessment and management – an undervalued part ofdevelopment planning.

References

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Young, Angelo. 2015. “Nepal Earthquake Could Cost Half of TheCountry’s Annual Economic Output; Damage To HydroelectricProjects Still Being Assessed.” International Business Times, 27 April.Accessed December 27, 2015. http://www.ibtimes.com/nepal-earthquake-could-cost-half-countrys-annual-economic-output-damage-hydroelectric-1898481 .


Chapter_Nepal earthquake

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