Private housing compliance with public seismic safety measures after 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal

Abstract

After the Gorkha earthquake in 2015, the Nepalese government introduced a series of seismic-resistant building designs to reconstruct and repair residential dwellings. The objective of this research was to explore the extent of compliance with the new prescribed or recommended seismic-resistant features in rebuilt residential structures in two Nepal districts that were severely damaged during the earthquake. The primary source of data was a field survey conducted with a structural questionnaire among 332 affected households during October and November 2022. The survey also utilized informal interviews at three study sites in August 2023, with results showing that 95%–97 % of total respondents reconstructed their houses according to earthquake-resistant standards. The same percentage of respondents withdrew the final payment from the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). Most reconstructed houses were smaller than before the earthquake; many respondents rebuilt one-room, one-story structures. In addition, housing typologies at the study sites changed from brick/stone and mud-based masonry to cement-based construction. Key Words: Gorkha earthquake, seismic-resistant guidelines, compliance with government safety measures, reconstructed houses, NRA.