Government of Nepal of Physical Planning and Works ... Pokhara.pdfGovernment of Nepal Ministry of Physical Planning and Works Earthquake Risk Reduction and Recovery Preparedness Programme

Government of Nepal Ministry of Physical Planning and Works

Earthquake Risk Reduction and Recovery Preparedness Programme for Nepal

(UNDP/ ERRRP-Project: NEP/07/010)

Report of the Sensitization Program

on Earthquake Risk Reduction and Preparedness

in Pokhara

Target Group: Engineers and Sub‐Engineers

March 14, 2009

In association with

Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City and UNDP/ERRRP-Project

Prepared By: UNDP/ERRRP Project

April 2009

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................................................... 1

Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 2

1.0 Sensitization Outline ................................................................................................................. 3

2.0 Objective of the Program .......................................................................................................... 3

3.0 Participants ............................................................................................................................... 3

4.0 Time Duration ........................................................................................................................... 4

5.0 List of Resource Persons ........................................................................................................... 4

6.0 Program Proceeding ................................................................................................................. 4

6.1 Inauguration Session ............................................................................................................. 4

6.2 Technical Session / Presentations ......................................................................................... 6

6.3 Floor Discussions / Interactive Session ................................................................................. 8

7.0 Execution Arrangements........................................................................................................... 8

8.0 Closing Session .......................................................................................................................... 9

9.0 Output of the Program ........................................................................................................... 10

Appendix A: Detail Agenda of the Program .................................................................................. 11

Appendix B: Photographs ............................................................................................................. 12

Appendix C: Participant Registration List ..................................................................................... 14

Appendix D: Presentation Materials ............................................................................................. 15

U N D P / E R R R P ‐ P r o j e c t 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express my gratitude to all those, whose support enabled us to complete the

Sensitization Report on “Earthquake Risk Reduction and Preparedness” for Engineers and Sub-

Engineers in Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City and preparing report for the same.

We are grateful to Mr. Suresh Prakash Acharya, National Programme Director, UNDP/ERRRP-

Project and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, for providing us with

suggestions and guidance which has been a valuable organizing this program. We have

furthermore to thank to Mr. Madan Bhujel, Chief Executive Officer, Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan

City, Mr. Shyam Jee Bastola, Civil Engineer and focal person of UNDP/ERRRP Project from

Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City, Mr. Kishore Thapa, Resource Person and Secretary of Water and

Energy Commission Secretariat, Mr. Kishore Shakya, President, Nepal Engineers’ Associations,

who has confirmed and supported to go ahead with the program. We would like to thank to

members of Nepal Engineers Associations, Regional Centre - Pokhara, municipal technicians and

staff for coordinating all necessary activities that facilitated in the timely arrangement of the

programme

We would like to take this opportunity to extend sincere thanks to Mr. Lekh Bahadur Gurung,

President of Nepal Engineers’ Association (NEA), Pokhara Regional Centre, Mr. Hari Bahadur

Darlami, Member, Nepal Engineers Associations for coordinating all necessary activities that

facilitated in the timely arrangement of the programme.

We thank UNDP/ERRRP project team for their support on completion of the programme. Chandra Laxmi Hada

Project Engineer / Training Coordinator

UNDP/ERRRP-Project

Email: [email protected]

Amrit Man Tuladhar

Senior Divisional Engineer

Department of Urban Development and

Building Construction

and

National Programme Manager

UNDP/ERRRP-Project

Email: [email protected]

Sensitization Report on “Earthquake Risk Reduction and Preparedness for Engineers and Sub Engineers” in Pokhara Sub‐Metropolitan City


Executive Summary

Earthquake Risk Reduction and Recovery Preparedness (ERRRP) program was initiated by

UNDP/BCPR (Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery) with the support of government of

Japan. This being a National Implementation (NIM) project of UNDP, the implementation

responsibility of the project is Ministry of Physical Planning & Works, Department of Urban

Development & Building Construction (DUDBC). Therefore, UNDP/ERRRP project has been

continuously strengthening the Earthquake Risk Reduction Management capacity of its selected

municipalities in 5 development regions of Nepal since April 2008. The project focuses on

capacity building programme through training, sensitize people and giving awareness as well as

establishing linkages with partners at different levels for earthquake disaster mitigation to transfer

the technology of earthquake resistant construction to reduce the impact of potential earthquakes

and respond to disasters more effectively in Nepal.

Nepal is ranked 11th in terms of risk from earthquake according to BCPR report on disaster risk

Nepal experienced catastrophic damages in 1934 and 1988 earthquakes. As urbanization are

increasing day by day and the construction of the buildings haphazardly without considering

earthquake resistant factor. As of recent years, most of the uncontrolled building processes are

rapidly producing structures of unacceptable standard and prone to the risk of damage and

collapse under earthquake. Earthquake resistant building construction therefore is the challenge

before us. For a seismically vulnerable country like Nepal, to mitigate the problems due to pre

and post disaster, ERRRP focus on bottom-up approach in which house-owner, common people

and technical people becomes aware, have basic ideas on earthquake preparedness and convinced

on the need to make their residences safer against earthquake. This can be achieved only through

a massive awareness raising program which ERRRP has developed and is implementing

successfully.

Accordingly, with the joint effort of UNDP/ERRRP Project, Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City and

Nepal Engineers Association - Pokhara Regional Center had organized the half day Sensitization

program on “Earthquake Risk Reduction and Preparedness” for Engineers and Sub-Engineers on

March 14, 2009 in Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City. The objective of the PEA was done to

generate awareness among the technical people on engineering aspects of earthquakes and to

discuss the issues related to implementation of Nepal National Building Code (NBC).



1.0 Sensitization Outline

The Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City, United Nation Development Programme / Earthquake Risk

Reduction and Recovery Preparedness Programme for Nepal (UNDP/ERRRP) and Nepal

Engineers’ Association, Pokhara Regional Center jointly organized Sensitization Programme on

“Earthquake Risk Reduction and Preparedness” for Engineers and Sub-Engineers on March 14,

2009 at Hotel Kantipur in Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City. A total of seventy six participants

attended the workshop.

2.0 Objective of the Program

The main objective of the program is to generate earthquake awareness among the people and the

specific objectives are:

To sensitize and raise awareness among technical people from municipality, different

government organization, designers / consultants on engineering aspects of earthquakes

risks of Nepal.

To make technical people aware of earthquake risks and preparing for hazards in advance

of a disaster and as a long-term strategic effort.

To identify problems that hinder effective building code enforcement

To discuss the issues related to implementation of National Building Code – lessons

learned and way forward, local technology and professional ethics of technical persons.

To create understanding on taking necessary actions toward earthquake resilience

construction.

3.0 Participants The programme was attended by 76 people (engineers, sub engineers, media persons, and

municipal chief) from different government and non government organizations. The participants

were from Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City Office, Department of Urban Development and

Building Construction, Pokhara Valley Town Development Committee, Engineering Colleges,

District Technical Office, Silica Cement, Road Department, Sanitation Department, Water Supply

Department, Telecommunication Department, Senior Architects, Engineers from Private

Consultants, media persons & other government and non government organizations. Out of 76

participants, 1 was female participant and rests 75 were men attended the programme. In covering



the gender issues, Bhramin = 28, Kshetris = 34, Janjati = 7, Madhesis = 2, Dalit = 5, were

attended in the program.

A list of participants’ details has been attached in Appendix C.

4.0 Time Duration The duration of the workshop period was half day which started from 1 pm till 4:30 pm and held

completely on March 14, 2009 at Hotel Kantipur in Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City.

5.0 List of Resource Persons

The technical and overall coordination was provided by Ms. Chandra Laxmi Hada, Project

Engineer and Training Coordinator of UNDP/ERRRP Project. The Resource Persons for the

training program were:

The Resource Persons for the training program were:

S. No Resource Person / Speaker Designation /Organization

1. Mr. Kishore Thapa Acting Secretary, Water and Energy Commission

Secretariat

2. Ms. Chandra Laxmi Hada Project Engineer and Training Coordinator,

UNDP/ERRRP-Project

6.0 Program Proceeding

6.1 Inauguration Session At Inauguration, Mr. Lekh Bahadur Gurung, President of NEA Regional centre, Pokhara, Mr.

Kishore Thapa, Resource Person and Secretary of Water and Energy Commission Secretariat, Mr.

Mukunda Sharma Paudel, President, Nepal Bar Association, Pokhara, Mr. Sarang Subedi, Vice

President, Nepal Bar Association, Pokhara, Ms. Chandra Laxmi Hada, Project Engineer and

Training Coordinator of UNDP/ERRRP Project, Mr. Surendra Thapa, Advocate, Mr. Shyam Jee

Bastola, Civil Engineer and focal person of UNDP/ERRRP Project from Pokhara Sub

Metropolitan City, Mr. Hari Bahadur Darlami, Member of NEA, Mr. Bhuvaneswor Timilsina,

Vice President, NEA Regional Center Pokhara, municipal engineers, municipal technicians,



engineers from Pokhara regional centre, media persons and participants from different

organizations were attended.

Mr. Om Sharma, Civil Engineer and member of Nepal Engineers’ Association, Pokhara Regional

Centre facilitated the master of ceremony.

Speaking at the program Mr. Shyam Jee Bastola delivered welcome address to the participants.

He shared the information of the ERRRP project activities carried out in Pokhara and its impact.

In his speech, he said earthquakes produce various damaging effects to the areas they act upon

such as damage to buildings and in worst cases the loss of human life.

Ms. Chandra Laxmi Hada highlighted the program objectives. She mentioned about the program

is to develop a wider understanding of earthquakes and to contribute to increased knowledge of

earthquake risk reduction practices. She gave the brief information of ERRRP Project and its

activities carrying out in 5 programme municipalities. She highlighted that Nepal is one of the

countries where the earthquakes are frequent and sometimes very devastating. She shared with

appropriate risk reduction measures the destructions can be avoided. She focused in order to

reduce earthquake risk it is important to understand how earthquakes cause destruction, and how

such destruction can be prevented. She urged earthquake resistant building design and

construction therefore is the challenge before us. She expressed that capacity building program

through trainings and awareness program will help to reduce loss of life and property in future

earthquakes.

Mr. Kishore Thapa mentioned that Government of Nepal has been formally approved the Nepal

National Building Code in the year 2003. He gave reason behind the unable to implement the

building code in Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City so far. He shared the challenges for building

code implementation in municipalities. He stressed the requirement of massive training as well as

dissemination including public awareness programme. He said the impact of earthquake on

livelihood of people can be reduced by measures such as adherence to earthquake resistant

building design and construction standards, proper planning, education and trainings. However

the risk is ever increasing as urbanization in developing countries is adding extra pressure on

building construction. He stressed that we need to generate the awareness about the earthquake

among the people so that people will cooperate with us to fully implement the building code.



Mr. Lekh Bahadur Gurung, mentioned when a catastrophic disaster happens like the one in 1934

earthquake, it should serve as a reminder to look at our own disaster-preparedness plans. He

focused that the awareness program is very important step to translate the existing knowledge into

practice. He stressed the designers should use their professional judgment in the adoption of

appropriate design standards. He mentioned that Nepal Engineers Associations is always ready to

help in this disaster sector to mitigate and to make our country prosperous.

The detail agenda of the program has been attached in Appendix A.

6.2 Technical Session / Presentations

The format of the teaching was basically power point presentation by the resource person

followed by interactive discussion after the presentations. The awareness postures in Nepali on

preparedness and earthquake safe buildings developed by UNDP/ERRRP Project were distributed

to participants as reference. The presentations were made by the resource persons on the

following topics: (Refer Annex D)

Lecture Title Speaker Time

Sensitization on Engineering Aspects of Earthquakes,

Audio Visuals Demo Ar. Chandra Laxmi Hada 30 min

Engineers’ Role in Implementation of Nepal National

Building Code Ar. Kishore Thapa 30 min

Interactions / Participants View / Summary 20 min

Following topics were covered in the program:

Title: Sensitization on Engineering Aspects of Earthquakes:

Earthquake basics: The goal of this part is to make people aware about the impending earthquake

risk in Nepal and the region. It covers earthquake occurring areas, structure of earth, seismic

hazards in Nepal, effects of earthquake and measurement of earthquake.



Causes of Structural Damage due to Earthquakes: It covers the reason due to improper

configuration, low strength, low ductility and improper connections

Improper Configuration: It covers Complex Shape (Torsion problem), Soft Story, Short

Column, Load Path, and Vertical Discontinuity.

Low strength: It covers Low strength material (Un-reinforced masonry wall),

Deterioration and Low quality construction.

Low Ductility: It covers Spacing of Stirrups and Lack of Vertical bars in masonry

building.

Improper connections: It covers Anchorage Failure of Beam and Shear Failure of Joint.

The goal of sensitization is to give tips on earthquake safe and unsafe buildings. It covers, what

makes a building weak or strong in general, and how to identify these weaknesses.

Non-structural Components: This part covers how building contents could create a risk and how

this risk can be mitigated.

Principles of EQ-Resistant Design:

Resist Earthquake of minor intensity without Damage

Sufficient strength to resist moderate Earthquake

Detailing the structure to ensure probability of collapse in severe earthquake

Title: Engineers’ Role in Implementation of Nepal National Building Code:

What is Building Code ?

Legislative framework

Building Construction Practice in Nepal

Hierarchy of Codes

Issues and Challenges

Major stakeholders and their roles

Way forward for effective implementation of building code

The course has covered in such a way that will increase awareness on earthquake resistant

construction of buildings and need of implementing building code in urban areas. During the



presentations the need for adopting earthquake resistant technology was highlighted. Participants

were provided with IEC material for reference.

6.3 Floor Discussions / Interactive Session

There was active interaction after the presentation sessions. The floor was opened after the

presentations for discussion. Following points were brought forward during the interactive

session:

Public awareness is a key factor in effective disaster risk reduction.

Awareness on earthquake and cost issues needs to be disseminated.

Massive training including sensitization programme is necessary.

The knowledge and lessons of earthquake gained during the workshop need to

disseminate to our communities

Participants are expected to organize such awareness programme again jointly with NEA

and ERRRP Project.

Difference between building bylaws and building code.

Most of the participants suggested that the training given from ERRRP need to be focused

on all the designers/consultants rather on municipal engineers only.

The answer to queries was given by the resource person themselves.

7.0 Execution Arrangements

Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Ministry of Local

Development, UNDP/ERRRP project executed the programme in collaboration with Pokhara

Sub-Metropolitan City. Additionally the UNDP/ERRRP Project provide support to strengthen the

institutional, administrative, technical system for earthquake vulnerability reduction. The

Municipality provided support for the successful implementation of the programme.



8.0 Closing Session

In concluding session, Mr. Om Sharma, Secretary of Nepal Engineers’ Association, Pokhara

Regional Centre facilitated the master of ceremony.

Ms. Chandra Laxmi Hada mentioned that ERRRP project do efforts for implementation of Nepal

National Building Code consisted with two components: massive training to technicians about the

code, dissemination and public awareness raising program about earthquake resistant building

construction. She shared the information of incorporating the designers / consultants in training

program from different professional group. She shared that building code implementation has

been mandatory in all the municipalities however 4 out of 58 municipalities have initiated the

process. She said awareness raising and capacity buildings are interrelated tasks and features as

one of the key components for effective implementation of building code.

Mr. Lekh Bahadur Gurung mentioned buildings and structures are susceptible to the ravaging

devastation of earthquakes. He shared one of the most important physical traits of earthquake

safe buildings and structures are flexibility and a rigid structure will crumble and collapse during

the movement caused by an earthquake. He focused that the construction materials used in

buildings and structures can significantly help reduce the amount of damage caused during an

earthquake. He hoped that as advances in structural engineering are made and new construction

materials emerge, earthquake-safe buildings and structures may soon be a reality. He was very

hopeful to get the support from DUDBC and UNDP to strengthen the engineering society of

Pokhara. As the chairman of Society of Consulting Engineers, Pokhara, he suggested the

engineer’s professional to be very ethical and follow the building code in design process.

Mr. Mukunda Sharma Paudel, President, Nepal Bar Association, Pokhara, suggested that law

education need to be incorporated in engineering syllabus. There are certain rules and regulations

that have separated for the engineers on evaluating the land cost. So engineers need to have a

general knowledge on law, rules and regulations prevailing to professional practice.

Mr. Kishore Thapa stressed engineers need to be trained and build their capacity then only

municipalities can implement building code. He focused on need of organizing the program from

NEA, Pokhara regional centre on apartment act as apartment construction is going on in Birgunj,

Pokhara, Dharan and Kathmandu.



9.0 Output of the Program

At the end of the sensitization program, the 76 participants from the Nepal Engineers’

Association, Pokhara Regional Centre

Were aware on earthquake safe construction of buildings

Sensitized on earthquake awareness among the technical people

Were informed to prepare community members for hazards in advance of a disaster and as

a long-term strategic effort.

Oriented on the need of incorporating earthquake resistant elements in new building

construction.

Build capacity to take initiations for earthquake disasters in their families and community

members.

Enhanced capacity to deliver helpful information to the community members.

Oriented on need of implementation of NBC for safer construction practices.



Appendix A: Detail Agenda of the Program



Appendix B: Photographs Inaugural and orientation to the objectives of the program

Paper Presentation by Resource Persons and Floor Discussions



Closing Session



Appendix C: Participant Registration List



Appendix D: Presentation Materials



For further information please contact:

AMRIT MAN TULADHAR Senior Divisional Engineer / National Programme Manager Earthquake Risk Reduction and Recovery Preparedness Programme for Nepal (UNDP/ERRRP-Project:NEP/07/010) Department of Urban Development and Building Construction Babar Mahal, Kathmandu, NEPAL Ph: (977‐1) 4262365 | Fax: (977‐1) 4262439 G.P.O. Box No. 26004, Kathmandu, NEPAL

email: [email protected] website: www.errrp.org.np

Documents

Government of Nepal of Physical Planning and Works ... Pokhara.pdfGovernment of Nepal Ministry of Physical Planning and Works Earthquake Risk Reduction and Recovery Preparedness Programme