Increasing Disaster Resilience for Nepal’s School Sector
N
epal is located in a high hazard zone with high vulnerabilities and exposure, leading to potentially high risk and grave consequences from natural disasters, especially from earthquakes. The country lies on several active faults where possible epicenters are located at rather shallow depths, increasing the probability of Nepal experiencing
very strong ground motions. Due to the growing understanding of the importance of disaster resilience (DR) in Nepal, many programs have been initiated in many sectors, including the establishment of National Risk Reduction Consortium (NRRC), comprising of five flagship programs. School and Hospital Safety. Led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Health Organization (WHO), and Nepal’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Health (MOH), it aims to build the earthquake resilience of schools and hospitals through retrofitting, training, raising awareness, and safety measures.
Emergency Preparedness and Response. Led by UNOCHA and Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA), it seeks to enhance the government’s preparedness and response capabilities at the national, regional, and local level.
Flood Risk Management in Koshi River Basin. Led by the World Bank (WB) and Nepal’s Ministry of Irrigation, this initiative aims to protect the country from flood-related disasters.
Author: Community-based Disaster Risk Management. Led by the International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies and Nepal’s Ministry of Local Development, this effort aims to prepare 1000 VDCs to become disaster resilient.
Naveed Anwar, Ph.D. Policy/Institutional Strengthening. The United Nations Development Program and Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs lead with the aim of enhancing government’s disaster risk management capacity centrally and at the municipal and local level.
Executive Director, AIT Consulting Director, Asian Center for Engineering Computations and Software (ACECOMS), Affiliate Faculty, Structural Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology
Administrative, Geographical, and Ecological Regions of Nepal
Technology | February 2015
9
