Abstract
On 25 April 2015, a Mw 7.8 earthquake struck central Nepal, killing more than 8700 people. An earthquake of this magnitude has long been anticipated in Nepal and the neighbouring northern Indian state of Bihar, which straddle the active Himalayan frontal fault system. Drawing on field research undertaken before the earthquake, this paper traces the progress made in earthquake risk reduction efforts at the national scale in Nepal and at the sub-national scale in Bihar. With their contrasting ‘governance landscapes’, we examine the political and institutional context and power relations among different stakeholder groups, as well as the interests and political will motivating earthquake risk reduction. Nepal is a post-conflict country, with a weak legislative and institutional setting for earthquake risk reduction, and a multitude of different stakeholders (government, multi and bi-lateral donors, UN organisations, and national and international NGOs) engaged in the disaster risk reduction process. Bihar, by comparison, has a strong, hierarchical, sub-national government system with minimal influence of non-government stakeholders in earthquake risk reduction. While Nepal appears to have progressed further in strengthening earthquake resilience, the institutional structures in Bihar are stronger and could potentially support more sustainable resilience building in the long-term. The role of individual ‘champions’ in both instances (in Nepal among a national NGO, donors and multilateral agencies, and in Bihar within the government) has been instrumental in shaping the earthquake risk reduction agenda and initiatives.
Highlights
On 25 April 2015 a Mw 7.8 earthquake struck central Nepal, with its epicentre located 80 km northwest of the capital city Kathmandu in Lamjung District
Instead, drawing on field research undertaken before the earthquake, this paper explores the risk reduction efforts at the national scale in Nepal and at the sub-national scale in Bihar, with a particular focus on the role of governance and political will1 in earthquake risk reduction
We focus our research on Nepal and the neighbouring Indian State of Bihar (Fig. 1), which have evolved very different systems of governance and state apparatus for reducing earthquake risk
Summary
On 25 April 2015 a Mw 7.8 earthquake struck central Nepal ( called the Gorkha Earthquake), with its epicentre located 80 km northwest of the capital city Kathmandu in Lamjung District. Risk reduction through provision of seismic information, strengthening critical infrastructure including schools and health facilities, risk awareness training and preparedness, mapping of possible secondary hazards such as landslides; Risk avoidance through safe construction methods in new public buildings and facilitation of safe private sector construction (e.g. through training and financing arrangements); Private sector regulation through appropriate building codes and their enforcement; Promotion of collective action through decentralized programming at sub-national and local scales including community based disaster risk reduction; Coordination of multi-stakeholder activities including scientists, planning departments, building and urban management, local authorities, NGOs and humanitarian organizations This suite of actions constitutes a state-of-the-art menu for national and sub-national governments backed up by a great deal of engineering experience and research in natural and social sciences [56]. We help to lay the foundation for better understanding by focusing on what we call the ‘governance landscape’
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