What did the 2015 earthquake tell us about what the state of earthquake resilience in Kathmandu metropolitan city was?

Abstract

PurposeThis paper asks what was the state of building-code enforcement and citizen – government collaboration in disaster preparedness when an earthquake hit Kathmandu metropolitan city (KMC) in 2015? It reviewed government documents, analyzed media reports, interviewed building-code monitoring officers and carried out a detailed case study of the earthquake-damaged Park View Horizon Housing Apartment (PVHA) Complex. The research found several earthquake-resilience issues. They were enforcement-vulnerability (Building bylaws, planning permit and building code); institutional-coordination vulnerability; Apartment-regulation vulnerability; technological vulnerability; and citizen-government-collaboration vulnerability.Design/methodology/approachThe study area of this research is KMC, and this research is based on content analysis, field observation and interview. It has reviewed all the newspapers and media reports that had covered earthquake issues during and after the 2015 disaster, as well as the articles published in Nepal, South Asia, the USA, New Zealand and Haiti. The literature on Nepal’s building code, seismic history and institutional arrangements for governing earthquake-related issues were reviewed. After field observation of some of the damaged apartments, a detailed case study of PVHA Complex was carried out.FindingsThe research found several earthquake-resilience issues. They were enforcement-vulnerability (Building bylaws, planning permit and building code); institutional-coordination vulnerability; Apartment-regulation vulnerability; technological vulnerability; and citizen-government-collaboration vulnerabilityResearch limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study was its heavy reliance on content analysis, one case study and a few interviews and discussions with affected residents, local governments and developers.Practical implicationsThis study would help enhance disaster governance in developing nations.Social implicationsThe citizen–government collaborative approach to earthquake resilience would enhance human resilience to disaster at individual and community levels.Originality/valueSince this is the first research carried out on the state of building code and institutional resilience at the time of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, it is original and provides policy insights for earthquake resilience in Nepal.