Kathmandu, September 10

Nepal Engineers’ Association (NEA), with focus on need of technical skills for reconstruction works, has provided ‘Post Damage Assessment and Repair’ trainings to 760 engineers and architects.

The trained engineers and architects will play a vital role in repair, maintenance and reconstruction of damaged physical infrastructures in the second phase, according to Subhash Chandra Baral, coordinator of the NEA’s Rapid Visual Damage Assessment (RVDA). Under the first phase, more than 3,500 engineers had conducted RVDA of over 60,000 houses after the April and May earthquakes.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDCB) have supported NEA in the damage assessment and repair trainings.

As the country lacks skilled technical workforce for the reconstruction, NEA has also been providing 10-day advanced trainings to engineers in associations with DUDBC, Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk and UNDP, with technical support of New Zealand.

Baral, who is also the coordinator of the training, said the advanced training on ‘Seismic Assessment and Strengthening of Existing Buildings and Geotechnical Assessment’ would help enhance skill of Nepali engineers. “The engineers undergoing the training will play a vital role in government’s reconstruction works,” he added.