Building better and safely: stimulating the private sector for sustainable solutions in Nepal
How the private sector can take action in non-earthquake impacted areas to prevent devastating losses in future
Abstract
On 25 April 2015, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Nepal. This was followed on May 12th by a second earthquake with a 7.3 magnitude. These earthquakes killed more than 8000 people. The initial damage estimates ranged from $6 billion to $10 billion, although these estimates could go much higher.
According to a report published by the National Planning Commission, the earthquake caused 498,852 homes to be destroyed and an additional 256,697 damaged. Of all of the damage and losses, half were in housing. The report considered all of these dwellings to be in the private sector.
Rather than focusing on how to reconstruct that portion of Nepal that was damaged in the earthquake, the purpose of this document is to look to the future, with a particular emphasis on how the private sector can be stimulated to take action in non-earthquake impacted areas so that an effective strategy can be taken to prevent such devastating losses in the future. It examines the questions: How can the private sector be engaged and profitably involved in building and improving safe structures in Nepal? What can be done to establish the framework and create the proper incentives? What lessons can be learned from other countries, especially from those that have large sections of their populations on low, informally earned incomes?
This report has been produced for Evidence on Demand with the assistance of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) contracted through the Climate, Environment, Infrastructure and Livelihoods Professional Evidence and Applied Knowledge Services (CEIL PEAKS) programme, jointly managed by DAI (which incorporates HTSPE Limited) and IMC Worldwide Limited.
Citation
Peppercorn, I.G. Building better and safely: stimulating the private sector for sustainable solutions in Nepal. Evidence on Demand, UK (2016) v + 42 pp. [DOI: 10.12774/eod_hd.marchr2016.peppercorni]
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