Kathmandu, August 28

Kathmandu Metropolitan City and National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal have inked a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate for damage assessment of houses and buildings damaged by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake of April 25 and its powerful aftershocks.

Reduction of quake hazards through urban regeneration of the core areas of the capital is the common goal of the agreement signed by the KMC and NSET. They will come up with pragmatic methods, skills and capacity-generation programmes to ensure quake-resistant buildings while reconstruction.

Public awareness on safety measures against earthquake and disaster preparedness at community level will be mooted, according to the MoU. To meet these objectives, NSET will act as a technical partner of KMC for the urban regeneration and redeveloping city core areas. NSET said it was committed to providing technically-trained volunteers for the detailed damage assessment  of the quake-damaged structures. The data, facts, figures, interpretation and consequences will be provided to the NSET after the assessment.

“However, KMC will be obliged to pay daily wages and provide logistics to the trained volunteers for reconstruction, rebuilding and urban regeneration from its own resources,” said Amod Mani Dixit, Executive Director at NSET.

He added that NSET would technically assist the metropolis in developing and implementing public awareness programmes and training for risk reduction, seismic-resistant construction works and disaster preparedness. Such guidance will be financed through the treasury and other resources of NSET.

It has also agreed to provide technical guidance to KMC for the implementation of projects related to construction of quake-resistant new buildings and retrofitting of existing buildings within the capital.

On the other hand, KMC has developed programmes for disaster management, construction of quake-resistant new buildings and retrofitting of the existing buildings by incorporating KMC’s prevailing policies.

“The metropolis is expected to contribute resources for logistics of disaster management training, workshops and meetings,” Dixit said.

Over 99,331 buildings were either fully or partially destroyed due to the quakes in the Kathmandu Valley, killing 1,233 and injuring as many as 7,950.