Country and hazard overview
Fostering demand
for safer schools
Country: Nepal
Organisation: National Society for Earthquake
Technology-Nepal
Hazards: Earthquakes
Summary: Nepal has a history of destructive
earthquakes but until recently had done little to
protect its infrastructure and housing. Then, the
National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal
(NSET) began a host of projects to raise national
awareness through safer construction practices.
Through community mobilisation, NSET started
a public dialogue about the imminent threat of
earthquakes and offered tools to the community
to help them be more resilient. NSET encourages
the community to connect with outside funding
sources so costs are shared. In all projects, they
work to identify which school projects are most
likely to scale-up the program in their communities
and protect more Nepali children and adults.
CHINA
Mobilising communities
NSET were pioneers of community-based safe school
construction in Nepal. In 1993, the organisation consisted of
just a few people and little more than an idea. They wanted
to build awareness about earthquakes and other natural
hazards from the children up, and at the same time use
a school construction project to bring about earthquakeresistant construction practices.
Mobilising communities to build safer schools can
require lengthy engagement and trust building. A mix
of low risk-awareness, limited government capacity and
limited resources drove NSET to focus on finding sites
for a few successful projects. Their aim was to ensure
the government, as a key stakeholder, repeatedly saw
community-based safe school construction projects as an
effective means to protect children, provide education, teach
masons new skills and, by extension, protect Nepali people
and vital infrastructure investments.
SECTION III: MOBILISATION
CASE STUDY
Nepal is beset with high seismic activity. They have
weathered four major earthquakes in the last 100 years,
which have claimed more than 11,000 lives. In 1934, the
Nepal-Bihar earthquake claimed 8,519 lives and caused
massive devastation to Nepali infrastructure and housing.
Extending all the way to 1250 CE, the seismic record
suggests earthquakes of that size occur approximately every
75 years. If historical trends continue, another earthquake is
imminent. Smaller and more frequent earthquakes serve as
constant reminders of the looming threat.
School selection criteria
High community commitment
Potential for publicity
Dhangarhi
Pokhara
NEPAL
Replicability
Kathmandu
Birganj
Biratnagar
INDIA
Update: On April 25, 2015, Nepal experienced an M7.8
earthquake 77 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu. Because
the earthquake struck at noon on a Saturday, few were inside
the thousands of classrooms that collapsed. Tragically, some
teachers were attending teacher training sessions and were
killed. At the time of printing, a full education sector damage
assessment had not been completed. Early assessments
indicated over 10,000 classrooms were fully damaged and
upwards of 90 percent of schools damaged in some districts.
Enrolment
Feasible socio-economic condition
Availability of construction materials
Potential for training
Selecting a school was done with care. For example, in
Nawalparasi District, all of the district’s 239 schools were
surveyed to see which schools needed new classrooms.
The number of available local masons was assessed, along
with the socio-economic condition of all communities and
the available construction materials. Through an analysis of
these quantitative factors, NSET made a shortlist of around
20 schools.
The most resource-intensive and time-consuming part
of strategically selecting a site was determining which
communities would most benefit from a project. It was
decided the benefit would be higher in communities that did
not even know they were particularly vulnerable or that their
vulnerabilities were preventable. Benefit would also be high
in communities where local contractors or masons failed
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