8. Foreword
Nepal, a small and land locked state in the southern slopes
of the Great Himalayan ranges, has experienced a whole series
of historical and path breaking developments ever since its
formation as a unified Kingdom of Nepal by King Prithvi
Narain Shah in 1769. Nepal’s military adventurism, the Cou’t
Massacre of 1846, the anti – Rana movement of 1950 and the
subsequent Nepal’s journey to democracy, the Panchayat
system of 1962 and the reversal of democracy, the democratic
movement of 1990 and the Maoist insurgency unleashing the
country into a new era of democracy, the second democratic
movement of 2006; all have their share in the growth of modern
Nepal. Here is a country which has suffered at the hands of
their own rulers; the years of tyranny, the facets of deprivation
and persecution, the failures of democratic governments and
the shadows of insurgency. Yet the people of Nepal have shown
great resilience, tolerance and assimilative power and a faith
on liberal democracy. It is because of this that the insurgents
agreed to join political main stream and the democratic path.
Nepal has chosen a path to republican, federal and secular
democracy. It is true that it has been a long and pains taking
exercise yet Nepal has opted a new path to democracy. It still
remains in a transitional phase and some critical issues are still
to be settled and one may only hope that they will be settled
amicably later or sooner.
What has gone wrong with Nepal in the whole exercise of
modernization, development and democracy is that it never
gave a serious thought to social transformation and social
change. There were compulsions to open the country to
9. viii Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
outside economic forces and minimal democratic governance.
But it was not realized that it was not possible to keep people
of Nepal away from the forces of change. It created
contradictions within the Nepalese society. There was
resentment coming up against the hierarchical social order,
the social discriminations and deprivations. This gave an edge
to the social fragmentation and movements and it also had
strong political leverage. Nepal still needs to address to the
issues of social transformation.
Nevertheless, there is awareness among the people of Nepal
on the issues of strengthening democracy at grass root level,
need for addressing gender issues and encouraging
empowerment of women and the role of civil society, the issues
of ethnic and regional harmony.
Nepal has experienced a devastating earth quake in recent
past the social and psychological trauma of this natural calamity
are a serious lesson for the country apart from other issues of
reconstruction and rehabilitation. Nepal is faced with serious
problems of labour migration. Infect it has become a complex
issue due to large scale out migration and the complications of
the migrant communities. There are several such other issues in
building an integrated and developed Nepal.
The present book on Understanding Nepal in
Contemporary Times edited by Pramod Jaiswal is an excellent
exercise in outlining the challenges and issues in building a
new Nepal. One would hope that the book will provide a fresh
perspective in understanding the contemporary realities of
Nepal. What is highly encouraging is that Dr. Jaiswal has
provided space to some of the young Nepalese scholars.
Prof B.C. Upreti
Former Director at South Asia Studies Centre,
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The book focuses on the contemporary issues prevalent in
Nepalese society such as women empowerment, identity
politics, migration, disaster management, human rights, and
religious conversions. The aim of the book is to serve as a
handbook of comprehensive knowledge on Nepal as well as
serve as a basic scholarship involving young and dynamic
international scholars giving perspective on Nepal.
It consists of 21 well researched papers intended to guide
scholars for an overall understanding of Nepal with regard to
its society, culture, government, politics, history, bureaucratic
system, and other emerging challenges. It is the outcome of
the combined effort of the authors of various paper
incorporated in the book along with my personal contribution
as an editor. Here, we would like to thank all the authors Dr.
Palu Joshi, Binayak Sundas, Rajib Timalsina, Puspa Paudel,
Mukesh Jha, Khushbu Mishra, James Okolie-Osemene, Kirthi
Jayakumar, Amrita Limbu, Ram Pravesh Sah, Labh Kumar
Yadav, Seema Kumari Shah, Marija Grujovska, Bhuvan
Chaudhary, Raj K. Yadav, Dr. V. Ramabrahmam, Dr. Lal
Rapacha, Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H, Bamdev Subedi, Anjee
Gorkhali, Dhanasree Jayaram, Ramu C. M., Sanjeev Dahal,
Sutandra Singha and Sivakumar Challa for their timely
submission.
I would like to put on record and acknowledge the support
of many scholars in completion of this book. My special thanks
go to Prof. B C Upreti for his support and encouragement.
11. x Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
I would also like to thank many other senior scholars and
friends who helped me and guided me in finalising the draft
of the book.
Last but not the least; I would like to thank the publisher
Synergy Books India for providing all help and support for
publishing the book.
12. Preface
Nepal is geo-strategically positioned between two Asian
giants, India and China, who have their unique civilization.
Though it has been quite popular among the travelers and the
mountaineers, not much is known about Nepal beyond South
Asia. Nepal started to grab attention only after the outbreak
of ‘Peoples Movement’ by the Maoists guerrilla since 1996 and
the massacare of the royal family in 2001. Since then Nepal
has gone through multiple changes – from traditional
monarchy to modern republic, from a monolithic Hindu
Kingdom to a multicultural secular state and from unitary form
of government to federal one. All these developments took
place in very short span of life. However, not much is known
at other region of the world and it’s because Nepal figures very
less in International politics.
Though, Nepal was a fertile field study for the
anthropologists and sociologists, it was not covered much by
political thinkers and foreign policy analysts. In this context,
this book becomes very helpful in having an overall
understanding about Nepal. This book is in series of the other
two of our volumes ‘Constitution of Nepal: Evolution,
Development and Debates’ and ‘Nepal’s Foreign Policy and
Her Neighbours’.
The book contains 21 well researched papers of young and
dynamic researchers from Nepal, India, USA, Nigeria, Austria,
UAE and Australia on wide range of topics. The book is divided
into five sections, where the first section looks at Nepal’s
13. xii Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
history, local governance, issues of human rights, gender
violence and the recent issues of Madhes and constitution
making. The second section looks at impact of migration and
remittance on the Nepalese economy. The third section covers
socio-cultural issues such as issues of conversion, women
empowerment and Nepal’s rich art and architecture. The
fourth section looks at Nepal’s education policies of Nepal
such as educational policy, medical policy and cyber policy
of Nepal. The final section deals with environmental, ecology
and disaster and contains chapter on causes and consequences
of deforestation, impact of the recent earthquake which
shattered Nepal and the management of heritage monuments.
Dr. Palu Joshi looks at the importance of the political
parties in a system like Nepal which has essentially been
under the influence of a King and how they have emerged a
game changer at every crucial point of time in the political
history of Nepal. She opines that this movement, led by the
Communist groups of Nepal succeeded in 2006, only when
they were supported by the seven leading political parties of
Nepal, prominently the Nepali Congress.
Binayak Sundas discusses why and how certain groups
began to migrate to the Munglan and Company Shahr (as
the territories held by the British were then called) and
analyses the Mulki Ain (Law of the Land), a law enacted by
the Gorkha state in 1854 to create a single hierarchical society
based on the brahminical idea of caste system, by
incorporating all the existing social groups within it. The
paper explains why the state needs to get involved in the
social relations, affairs and structures of its subjects.
Rajib Timalsina and Puspa Paudel unpack the realities of
the two – the All-Party Mechanism (APM) and Ward Citizen
Forum (WCF) and Integrated Planning & Formulation
Committees (IPFC) – stop-gap systems of local governance
that have been in place since 2008, when the elections to the
Constituent Assembly took place. The study of the system
and trends prevailing at the local level is important as it is
14. connected with the daily life of citizens, especially the
mechanisms of state-citizen communication in the provision
of service delivery. It also fills the gap, laying out current
realities at the local level with the intention of highlighting
them before local elections take place and finds the current
stop-gap system of local governance.
Mukesh Jha and Khushbu Mishra discuss various aspects
of Madheshis, the indigenous people of southern plains of
Nepal, and focuses on their inclusion in the Nepali society,
economics and politics. They also discuss various aspects of
the Madheshi society, representation of Madheshis in national
political parties, and investigate if the representation was
effective in voicing the agendas of Madheshis people. They
believes that Madhesh is not a monolith, there are various social
groups in Madhesh, which are marginalized subgroups within
Madhesh. Hence, they discuss the problems of Madheshi
community within the state of Nepal, and the problems within
the Madheshi community.
James Okolie-Osemene addresses some of the issues that
have shaped the perpetration and abatement of human rights
abuses in the country. In the article, he argues that the goal
behind the establishment of the National Human Rights
Commission would be defeated if government does not give
it free hand and provide much needed atmosphere to operate
on the one hand, and if the sources of insecurity are not tackled
on the other hand.
Kirthi Jayakumar explores the primary reasons motivating
the marked overarching invisibility of engendered approaches
to prosecutorial justice in post-conflict Nepal. She opines that
during Nepal’s armed conflict, women were victims of torture,
abuse and sexual violence. Sexual and gender-based violence
were used as tactics to terrorise women, as women were
brutally raped and subjected to horrific violence of
unimaginable kinds.
Amrita Limbu explores various issues surrounding
women’s migration from Nepal to major destination countries
Preface xiii
15. xiv Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
in the Middle East, East Asia and Southeast Asia. She argues
that such ad hoc policies have led to irregular migration and
increased vulnerability of women. However, a positive ray of
light is the changing perception towards women’s migration
in the society, which is at a juncture of change.
Ram Pravesh Sah looks at the process of migration from
Nepal and try to find out why migration has been taken place.
He argues that Nepal is one of the world’s least developed
countries because of its 85 per cent of population lives rural
areas and subsistence agriculture is the main source of their
livelihood. There also large segment of Nepalese population is
coping with great disparities of caste, gender, and other type
of social inequalities which prevails in the country. Beside,
poverty, unemployment, declining natural resources, and more
recently the decade long civil war are the major reasons for
internal and international migration.
Labh Kumar Yadav and Seema Kumari Shah look at
migration and remittances in Nepal during civil war and the
global economic crisis and investigate the impact of migration
and remittance on the developmental process of Nepal by
examining the post-2006 remittance inflows in Nepal and its
contribution in boosting up Nepalese economy, which is
struggling to graduate from least developed countries to
developing countries by 2022. They argues that despite increase
in remittance, the high number of workers outflows in this
globalized world is causing domestic labor supply shortages
in many rural areas of Nepal which threatens the Nepalese
economy in the long run and negatively impacts the
agricultural development of Nepal because skilled manpower
plays a vital role in the industrial and infrastructural
development of any nation.
Marija Grujovska answers how Nepalese Christians
construct their conversion narratives in modern day
Kathmandu. In order to answer this question, she employs
theoretical perspectives and concepts from the field of
anthropology and sociology and will base them on
16. ethnographic data collected in Kathmandu, Nepal in the course
of 5 months, with the use of qualitative methodology. She
discusses the ways that Nepalese Christians construct their
conversion narratives in a bigger context of Evangelical
Christianity and vis-à-vis the religious majority of Nepal –
Hinduism.
Bhuvan Chaudhary does the comparative study on women
empowerment in Nepal through ethnic perspective. He
concludes that Women from Dalit, Madheshi and Adibasi/
Janajati need specific empowerment programme and
livelihood opportunities to increase access to resources and
strengthen their empowerment level for justice, equity and
freedom. Women’s empowerment by ecological belt and
development region needs a further study to observe the
regional variation.
Raj K. Yadav discusses how a modern era profession ‘social
work’ might fit in addressing national chaos and lead the
country towards better social, cultural, political, and
economical transformation. He points out that it is social work’s
value laden approach that assess problems at all levels and
engage multiple stakeholders including affected peoples in the
process of intervention. Moreover, professional social workers
have been working in the multiple development sectors of
Nepal for last two decades. He also argues that there are greater
scope of social work(ers) in nation building as they bear quality
to engineer a sense of collectiveness, comunitarianism, and
above all a shared ‘we-feeling’ among the nationalities for
better Nepal.
Dr. V. Ramabrahmam talks about the art and architecture
of Nepal and its esthetic sense in detail.
Dr. Lal Rapacha investigates some pertinent linguistic-
paleontological evidence such as -cha /-câ/ pk (phonemic
representation) or [-tsâ] (phonetic representation) and -whang
gokM/-whân/ or [-whân] morphemes extant amongst the
clanonym (indigenous or native clan names in one’s mother
Preface xv
17. xvi Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
tongue) nomenclature of the Kiranti linguistic and cultural
group(s) of Nepal and thinly scattered in other parts of the
world in order to re/link them in contemporary ongoing
multidisciplinary academic study and debate on collective
identity and indigenous territory mainly delinked by
sociopolitical, linguistic, cultural and historical dominations
in several phases of recent-contemporary and the past Nepalese
history.
Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H tries to bring out the current
structure of education system as well as the issues in Nepal.
He opines that the right to education guaranteed through
various international instruments and also the anomalies are
analyzed which highlights the deviations in obligations to be
performed by a country.
Bamdev Subedi takes Nepal an example of pluralistic health
care practices of a rural community, shares some issues and
concerns and questions the situation of inclusiveness of the
coexisting systems of medicines in the national health care
system. He also points out the policy rhetoric of promoting
ayurveda and other alternative systems and making health care
services accessible to all.
Anjee Gorkhali aims to provide a framework to analyze and
identify the current challenges present in the e-governance
structure in the context of Nepal as well as navigate the
probable path in the current scenario to achieve an efficient e-
governance structure by presenting the future direction topic
from the perspective of government employees using the e-
governance structure and the general public.
Dhanasree Jayaram and Ramu C. M. provide a geological-
cum-policy analysis of the 2015 earthquake – its causes,
consequences – delving into policy gaps and proposing
recommendations. They argue that in order to implement such
policies in Nepal, it needs to overcome its political,
infrastructural and socio-economic crises. In this exercise, it
needs to cooperate closely with the international community;
18. particularly its South Asian (Himalayan) neighbours to
establish joint-effort mechanisms and create resilience in the
country, considering all the countries in the Himalayan region
are equally at risk.
Sanjeev Dahal explains responses of different sectors during
the earthquake of Nepal. He opines that Nepal saw an engaged
response from both the formal and informal sectors, mostly
active in relief distribution after the first major quake struck
and a great energy was shared by Nepalese youth. The
earthquake posed as class quake exposing the economic
differences in Nepali society and projecting deepening of those
differences. What followed the disaster was not all grim; it
united Nepalese youth, mobilized their creative energy and
ignited hopes for a New Nepal.
Sivakumar Challa explains how the heritage monuments
can be preserved from the disaster. He argues that disaster
recovery management can prevent or reduce the negative
impacts of disaster on world heritage properties. The paper
primarily talks about reducing risks to the heritage values
embedded in the property, but also to human lives, physical
assets and livelihoods.
Sutandra Singha gives a detail view about the issue of
deforestation from 1990 to 2013 and, the combat strategy
undertaken by the Government. With the help of
a statistical method called Multiple Regression Analysis, she
explains the reasons and the extent of their impact on the
present and future scenario of deforestation. She also offers
some recommendations which can be adopted to integrate the
conservation and sustainable management of forests.
As a last word, we would like to mention that the authors
have sole responsibility for all errors/ omissions and take full
responsibility for the work being original.
Preface xvii
20. Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgement ix
Preface xi
Contributors xxiii
Abbreviations xxv
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
1. Political Parties of Nepal: Role and Significance
in the Nepali Polity 1
Palu Joshi
2. The Gorkha State and 19th
Century
Nepali Society: Assimilation and Contestation 21
Binayak Sundas
3. Voices to Bridge the Gap between the Citizens
and the Local Government 56
Rajib Timalsina and Puspa Paudel
4. Madhesh and the Inclusion Issue in Nepal 71
Mukesh Jha and Khushbu Mishra
5. Human Rights Violations in Nepal:
Patterns and Evolution 94
James Okolie-Osemene
6. Invisibility of Gender Violence in International
Criminal Law: Addressing Sexual Violence in
Nepal’s Conflict 106
Kirthi Jayakumar
21. xx Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
ECONOMICS
7. Women and Migration in Nepal: A Juncture
of Change 124
Amrita Limbu
8. Migration from Nepal: A Reality of Livelihood 147
Ram Pravesh Sah
9. Labor Migration, Remittance and its Impact
on the Economy of Nepal 174
Labh Kumar Yadav & Seema Kumari Shah
SOCIETY, CULTURE AND LITERATURE
10. Christian Conversion Narratives in Nepal 195
Marija Grujovska
11. A Comparative Study on Women Empowerment
in Nepal: Ethnic Perspective 221
Bhuvan Chaudhary
12. Social Work(ers) in Nation Building 245
Raj K. Yadav
13. Art and Architecture of Nepal: Its Esthetic
Sense and Awareness 273
V. Ramabrahmam
14. Re/linking the Kiranti People of Nepal
through Linguistic-Paleontological Evidence 284
Lal Rapacha
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
15. A Macro Study on Structure and Issues of
Education System in Nepal 317
Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H
22. Contents xxi
16. Medical Pluralism: Policies and Practices in
Nepal 334
Bamdev Subedi
17. E-Governance in Nepal: Progress and Challenges 364
Anjee Gorkhali
ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND DISASTER
18. Managing Earthquakes in Nepal through National
and Regional Efforts 372
Dhanasree Jayaram and Ramu C. M.
19. Nepal Earthquake 2015: Vantage Point
for Nation Building 396
Sanjeev Dahal
20. Disaster Management of Heritage Monuments 424
Sivakumar Challa
21. Understanding the Causes and Consequences
of Deforestation in Nepal (1990-2013) 436
Sutandra Singha
24. Contributors
Amrita Limbu, Senior Research Associate at the Centre for the
Study of Labour and Mobility at the Social Science Baha,
Kathmandu, Nepal.
Anjee Gorkhali, Ph. D Candidate with a concentration in
Information Systems Management, in Strome College of
Business, Old Dominion University, USA.
Bamdev Subedi, Research Scholar, Center of Social Medicine
and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New
Delhi, India.
Bhuvan Chaudhary, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India.
Binayak Sundas, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India.
Dhanasree Jayaram, Project Associate, Manipal Advanced
Research Group, Manipal University, Karnataka, India.
James Okolie-Osemene, Department of International
Relations, Wellspring University, Nigeria.
Khushbu Mishra, Ph.D in Development Economics at The
Ohio State University, USA.
Kirthi Jayakumar, Director of The Red Elephant Foundation,
organisation that works on Gender, Peace and Conflict issues,
India.
Labh Kumar Yadav, Masters in Master in International
Relations, South Asian University, New Delhi, India.
Lal Rapacha (Dr.), Faculty Member in English, Trinity
International College, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
25. xxiv Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
Marija Grujovska, Social and Cultural Anthropology,
University of Vienna, Austria.
Mukesh Jha, Masters in Computing and Information Science
from Masdar Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Palu Joshi (Dr.), Assistant Professor, Kanoria P.G. Mahila
Mahavidhalaya, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Puspa Paudel, Researcher at GalliGalli, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Raj K. Yadav, PhD Candidate, The University of Newcastle,
Australia.
Rajib Timalsina, Lecturer at the Department of Conflict, Peace
and Development Studies (CPDS), Tribhuvan University and
Director of ARC Research Institute, Kathmandu, India.
Ram Pravesh Sah, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India.
Ramu C. M., Master’s Degree in Geopolitics and International
Relations, Department of Geopolitics and International
Relations, Manipal University, Karnataka, India.
Sanjeev Dahal, MA in Social Work, Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Mumbai, India.
Seema Kumari Shah, Masters in Master in International
Relations, South Asian University, New Delhi, India.
Sivakumar Challa, Archaeology Research Group, Tirupati,
Andra Pradesh, India.
Sree Krishna Bharadwaj H, Research Scholar, National Law
School of India University, Karnataka, India.
Sutandra Singha, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India.
V. Ramabrahmam (Dr.), Coordinator & Assistant Professor,
Dept. of History & Archaeology, Yogi Vemana University,
Andhra Pradesh, India.
26. Abbreviations
AAHW Ayurvedic Assistant Health Worker
ABARI Adobe Bamboo and Research Institute
ADB Asian Development Bank
AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
ANA Arts Network Asia
APM All-Party Mechanism
AYON Association of Youth Organization Nepal
BAMS Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery
CA Constituent Assembly
CBS Central Bureau of Statistics
CDC Curriculum Development Center
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms
of Discrimination against Women
CFP Community Forestry Programme
CIAA Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of
Authority
CPN (Maoist) Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
CPN (UML) Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Maxist
Leninist)
CPN-ML Communist Party of Nepal – Maxist Leninist
CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
CSSP Community School Support Program
CTEVT Council for Technical Education and
Vocational Education
CWC Central Working Committee
27. xxvi Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
CYSU Come on Youth Stand Up
DANIDA Danish International Development Agency
DDC District Development Committee
DEO District Education Officer
DFID Department for International Development
DoFE Department of Foreign Employment
DoHS Division of Occupational Health and Safety
DRM Disaster Risk Management
ECD Early Childhood Development
EFA Education for All
ETFs Ecological Task Forces
FAO Food and Agricultural Organisation
FEPB Foreign Employment Promotion Board
FPTP First-Past-the-Post
FWLD Forum for Women, Law and Development
GCC Gulf Cooperation Council
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GEM Gender Empowerment Measure
GNP Gross National Product
GON Government of Nepal
HCI Himalayan Climate Initiative
HDI Human Development Index
HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HMG His Majesty Government
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights
ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development
ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
28. ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for
Yugoslavia
IDPs Internally Displaced Persons
ILO International Labour Organization
INGOs International Non-Governmental
Organization
INSEC Informal Sector Service Center
IPFC Integrated Planning & Formulation
Committees
IRIN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IUCN International Union for Conservation of
Nature
JEMC Janak Educational Materials Center
LDCs Least Developed Countries
LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trransgender.
LGCDP Local Governance and Community
Development Programme
LGSA Local Self Governance Act
MFSC Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation
MICC Migration Information and Counseling
Centers
MJF Madheshi Janadhkar Forum
MOE Ministry of Education
MoFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs
MoHP Ministry of Health and Population
MoLE Ministry of Labour and Employment
MTOs Money Transfer Operators
NARMSAP Natural Resource Management Sector
Assistance Program
NC Nepali Congress
NCC National Curriculum Council
Abbreviations xxvii
29. xxviii Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
NCD Nepali Congress Democratic
NCED National Center for Educational Development
NDP National Democratic Party
NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations
NHRC National Human Rights Commission
NLSS Nepal Living Standard Survey
NSP Nepal Sadbhavna Party
NVP National Volunteer Program
OBC Other Backward Castes
OCE Office of the Controller of Examinations
OOP Out-of-pockets
OPD Out Patient Department
PHC Primary Health Center
PPCs Pre-Primary Classes
PR Proportional Representation
PU Publishing Unit
RCC Reinforced Concrete Cement
RD&D Research, Development and Deployment
RS Richter Scale
RUF Revolutionary United Front
SAADMEx South Asian Annual Disaster Management
Exercise
SAARC South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation
SEDEC Secondary Education Development Center
SESP Secondary Education Support Program
SLC School Leaving Certificate
SOP Standard Operating Procedure
SPA Seven Party Alliance
SSRP School Sector Reform Program
30. SWAN Social Workers’ Association Nepal
TEP Teacher Education Project
TMLP Tarai Madhesh Loktantrik Party
TMT Thermo-Mechanically Treated
UCPN (Maoist) Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
UMN United Mission to Nepal
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
USAID U.S. Agency for International Development
VDCs Village Development Committees
WCF Ward Citizen Forum
WHO World Health Organization
WWF World Wide Fund for Nature
Abbreviations xxix
31. Managing Earthquakes in Nepal
through National and Regional
Efforts
Dhanasree Jayaram and Ramu C. M.
Abstract Nepal was hit by the worst earthquake in more than 80
years in April 2015. In terms of death toll, it was the highest on
record in the country. The Himalayan country sits right above the
most active and hazardous seismic fault zone in the world; and
therefore, it is likely to be affected by many more such events in the
future (has had a history of powerful earthquakes over the last
millennium).
What cannot be denied is the fact that Nepal is not just a victim of
geological fault lines but also poor socioeconomic and physical
infrastructure that leaves the country’s population highly vulnerable
to such geological disasters. In this context, the paper provides a
geological-cum-policy analysis of the 2015 earthquake – its causes,
consequences – delving into policy gaps and proposing
recommendations.
The disaster brings to light the need for Nepal to put in place disaster
risk reduction, emergency response and mitigation policies that
would minimize damage to life and property, considering
earthquakes cannot really be predicted. It needs to realign its
development policies (interlinked with urbanisation, quality of
infrastructure, environmental/geological risk assessment,
demographics and so on).
It argues that in order for Nepal to implement such policies, it needs
to overcome its political, infrastructural and socio-economic crises.
In this exercise, it needs to cooperate closely with the international
community; particularly its South Asian (Himalayan) neighbours
32. to establish joint-effort mechanisms and create resilience in the
country, considering all the countries in the Himalayan region are
equally at risk.
Introduction
On an otherwise normal summer morning of April 25, 2015,
Nepal faced the wrath of nature’s fury. A 7.8 magnitude
powerful earthquake, with its epicentre located around the
northeast of the capital city of Kathmandu, ravaged some of
the most populous as well as isolated sections of the small
landlocked mountainous country. The earthquake devastated
the cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara. Not only was the urban
population affected, but pockets of rural population spread
across the mostly hilly and rugged terrain, also fell victim to
the worst natural disaster to have confronted Nepal since the
1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake. Apart from the near obliteration
of Nepal’s major cities, the ripples of the quake’s destructive
force were felt across the neighbouring countries like India,
China, Bhutan, Bangladesh; and even Myanmar and Pakistan
for that matter.
What made matters worse for the disaster-affected
communities of Nepal was the frequent occurrences of tremors
and aftershocks in the aftermath of the initial quake. The 6.7
magnitude mega aftershock on the very next day, hampered
rescue activities and disaster relief operations in the areas
affected. And as obvious as it can get, the unceasing series of
tremors sent waves of panic to a population already deprived
of the basic livelihood amenities, following the previous day’s
bummer. In addition to dealing a harsh blow to Nepal’s
fledgling services sector, centred mostly on tourism, banking
and real estate; primary and manufacturing sectors like
agriculture and industry – that constitutes the backbone of the
nation’s economy, were adversely affected (IANS 2015).
Just over a fortnight after the major quake, Nepal was once
again hit by a relatively powerful aftershock. Though it was,
in geological terms, an ‘aftershock’ of the April 25 Gorkha
Managing Earthquakes in Nepal through National and... 373
33. 374 Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
earthquake, the one that struck in the early hours of May 12
measured a shocking 7.3 on the Richter scale. This was almost
as devastating as the parent quake. The aftershock was centred
around 150 kilometres east of the parent quake. Furthermore,
this temblor had its focus, about 76 kilometres towards the
east-northeast of Kathmandu; while it was only 18 kilometres
from the strategic city of Kodari that borders Nepal and Tibet.
The arterial Kathmandu-Lhasa (Lhasa is the capital city of the
Tibet Autonomous Region) Highway that passes through
Kodari, was severely damaged by the accompanying tremors
(Bryna 2015).
Despite the fact that the region is classified as a highly
earthquake prone zone, weak and unplanned infrastructure
has been allowed to mushroom everywhere. Nepal has had a
history of powerful earthquakes over the last millennium –
with records dating back to 1100. As a matter of fact, many of
those heritage structures that got obliterated in Kathmandu’s
famous Durbar Square had been previously subject to
renovation and reconstruction, owing to damages incurred by
centuries of earthquakes.
Even though one cannot ignore the fact that some of the
really old structures withstood the shocks with minor damages,
the spate of the not-so-lucky post-seventeenth century
structures speaks volumes about the shoddy construction
practices that are still being followed and gross negligence
towards the lessons from history (Jayaram and C. M. 2015).
The two massive earthquakes struck during the summer
months of April-May, a time when businesses are running high
and when the tourism industry makes maximum turnover. It
is also that particular period in a year, which witnesses
maximum number of mountaineering expeditions – owing to
the favourable weather conditions.
No wonder that the Nepalese economy was severely
crippled after the quake struck, sending waves of destruction
across the suburbs of Kathmandu as well as the adjacent rural
countryside. The successive tremors and aftershocks, some of
34. which were of magnifying proportions, further engulfed the
hill communities in fear and panic. All in all, over 9000 people
were killed and 22,000 succumbed to severe injuries. Hundreds
and thousands of people became homeless in a country where
half of the approximately 28 million numbering population
live below poverty line. Food security, access to water,
sanitation and hygiene, and above all, shelter, became areas of
grave concern – as the disaster made way for a humanitarian
tragedy, from that of an ecological catastrophe (Augsburger
2015).
Against this backdrop, the chapter makes a brief study and
estimation of the geological factors that threaten Nepal’s
survival. It uses the 2015 earthquake as a case to further explain
them. Besides geological factors, it assesses the socioeconomic
and policy issues that act as threat multipliers. It makes a
modest attempt at providing policy recommendations that
could help Nepal combat these geological and socioeconomic
problems. Finally, it touches upon the ways and means of
cooperation among the Himalayan countries to promote
disaster risk reduction as well as post-disaster emergency
response and reconstruction.
Understanding the Geological Roots of the Earthquake
The 2015 Nepal earthquake resulted from the relieving of
immense stress accumulated over millions of years along the
Himalayan thrust fault. Before delving into the intricacies of
the disaster, it is paramount to understand the basic geology
of the Himalayan region comprising Nepal. As a matter of fact,
Nepal sits above one of the most seismically active, and at the
same time, hazardous fault lines in the world. The Himalayan
mountain system, with its relatively young (in relation to the
geological time scale) topography and ecosystem, has been
formed as a result of plate tectonic activities arguably dating
back to around 50 million years ago. Before proceeding further,
one need to acquire a clear understanding of the various
tectonic plate movements that have proceeded, accompanied,
and also been succeeding the genesis of the Himalayas.
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Some 250 million years ago, the earth comprised of a
supercontinent called Pangaea, surrounded by a global ocean
by the name of Panthalassa. With the passage of time and due
to the underlying plate tectonics, the supercontinent began to
fracture transversely, splitting into two gigantic palaeo-
lithospheric units: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the
south. Laurasia constituted present-day North America,
Europe and most of Asia. On the other hand, Gondwana (or
Gondwanaland) encompassed within itself, present-day South
America, Africa, Antarctica and Indo-Australia. The two
terrestrial blocks were separated transversely by a narrow
channel of ocean called the Tethys. However, as a result of
concomitant divergent plate movements, both these blocks
started to rupture from within. This gave rise to the continents
of the present day – as they started breaking apart and drifted
away from one another. Initially, the Indo-Australian plate split
from the Gondwana landmass – but later on with the Indian
sub-plate further breaking away (off Madagascar) and drifting
northwards to collide with the larger Eurasian plate (The
Editors of The Encyclopædia Britannica n.d.).
The collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate
occurred around 50 million years ago, and this led to the
formation of what one would describe today as the pillars of
the world – the Himalayan mountain chain; and the roof of
the world – the adjoining plateau of Tibet to the north.
Technically speaking, the Indian plate, since then, is constantly
being pushed underneath the Eurasian plate. This creates a
subduction zone; an area where two lithospheric units
converge with one another, one overlapping the other. In this
case, the Eurasian plate rides over the Indian plate; or to be
more precise, the Indian plate slides under the Eurasian plate.
The continuous subduction of the Indian plate under the
Eurasian plate led to the uplifting of the Tethys seabed.
One of the most discernible evidences to this phenomenon
is the presence of almost 450 metres thick deposits of salt beds
across the famous Spiti Valley of northeast Himachal Pradesh
36. in India, and the mighty lakes of the Tibetan plateau, including
the Namtso salt lake and Manasarovar freshwater lake. The
saline topography reveals the oceanic history of this region.
While Namtso is the highest lake in the world and the largest
in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Manasarovar is the source
of origin of the Sutlej, an important tributary of the mighty
Indus River.
Moreover, many of South Asia’s largest rivers, including
the Indus, Brahmaputra and the Karnali (a tributary of the
Ganga) have their origins and watersheds along the periphery
of the Manasarovar Lake. In a way, therefore, this region
becomes the hydrographic bulwark of the Himalayas (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration 2015).
It is said that the Indian plate is sliding beneath the Eurasian
plate at a velocity of five centimetres per year. The more the
Indian continental plate loses its lithospheric portions due to
subduction into the upper mantle, also known as asthenosphere
(the layer of magma below the crust) – beneath the Eurasian
continental crust; the more are the Himalayas pushed upward
due to intermittent folding of the lower oceanic crustal rocks
of the erstwhile Tethys.
Judging from the excessive pressure developing across the
Himalayan thrust fault, India’s northward drift and subsequent
collision with the Eurasian plate has been lately associated with
what is known as a double subduction.
Some 80 million years ago, two simultaneous subduction
processes are believed to have thrust India into a high velocity
drift towards the massive Eurasian plate. These double faults
on the earth’s surface are thought to have facilitated the Indian
continental crust to slide above the Tethys oceanic crust; while
the latter gradually sank (into the asthenosphere) under the
former’s advancing overlap. And once the Indian plate collided
with the Eurasian plate, the oceanic lithospheric plate at the
edge of the former began to be subducted below the latter.
Here, the subduction zone is created by one continental crust
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sliding beneath another continental crust; while the narrow
strip of oceanic crust in the middle gets completely subducted
into the mantle/ asthenosphere (United States Geological
Survey 2015).
The Himalayan range, along with the Tibetan Plateau,
continues to be pushed upward by the intense folding caused
by the downward thrusting Indian plate. For instance, Mount
Everest, the world’s highest peak, is supposed to have grown
by two metres over the last century, with reliable estimates
suggesting its height to be 8850 metres – a substantial increase
from the 8848-metre figure, just about half a century ago. The
powerful tectonic forces in action under the Indo-Eurasian
convergent fault have led to several mini and mega
earthquakes and tremblers across this region. Not only are
these quakes felt across the main Himalayan belt, but the
repercussions extend all the way through the north-northwest
along the Karakoram - Hindu Kush - Pamir systems of
mountains in Central Asia and the Elbruz - Zagros mountain
systems of Iran.
Meanwhile, the north-northeastern earthquake risk zone
traverses China along the Tien Shan – Kunlun – Qilian
mountain ranges of China. Hence, the May 2015 Nepal
earthquake comes as no surprise, well at least within the
geological fraternity. The fact of the matter is that a mega
earthquake, of the size and magnitude of the recent one, was
long anticipated over the Main Central Thrust Fault that cuts
across Nepal (Fischman 2015).
However, the 2015 earthquake came after a considerably
long hiatus. The last recorded mega earthquakes along the
region were 1988 and the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake. The
epicentres of both these quakes were further southeast of the
recent one – closer to the Terai; i.e. the floodplains along the
Nepal border with the Indian state of Bihar.
The 1934 quake was a pulveriser by normal standards. A
unique feature of this quake, making it even more destructive
38. in terms of the casualty-count, was that apart from the
obliteration of property and infrastructure by the shaking and
fracturing of the surface, the quake also resulted in intense
liquefaction over the Indo-Gangetic floodplains of Northern
Bihar.
The floodplains of the Ganges and its tributaries are rich in
fine silt and alluvium. These sediments are formed as a result
of fluvial erosion of the clastic sedimentary rocks that dominate
the region. During earthquakes, these clastic rocks and
alluvium that make up the riverbeds are subject to the process
of liquefaction, as mentioned above.
Accordingly, the already saturated soil starts behaving like
a fluid in response to the induced stress. The sheer intensity of
the quake, along with its relatively shallow epicentre, is what
rendered the 1934 quake powerful enough to induce soil
liquefaction across the upper reaches of the floodplains. The
quake had recorded 8.1 on the Richter scale. Because of the
liquefaction, vents were dug up and fissures erupted across
riverbeds and sandbanks. Subsequently, the land beside these
vents and fissures caved. Buildings constructed on top of the
fluidated sediments were either carried afloat or their
foundations just gave way, as these sank into the mud under
their own weight.
Eventually, a total of over 19,000 people, across Nepal and
India, lost their lives in one of the worst natural disasters to
have hit the region in modern times. Had the recent earthquake
exceeded 8.0 on the Richter scale, perhaps, liquefaction-induced
destruction would have ambushed quite a number of urban
and sub-urban dwellings across the floodplains and riverine
valleys (along foothills) in the Indian downstream state of Bihar
(Express Web Desk 2015).
The 7.8 magnitude 2015 Gorkha earthquake complements
the 2005 Kashmir earthquake (in the Karakoram Range) in
explaining the ever-continuing subduction of the dense Indian
plate beneath the Eurasian plate. Such a phenomenon renders
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excess strain on the lower crustal rocks, resulting in their
deformation and eventual collapse. The seismic waves
generated during the quake use these weak spots as exit routes,
resulting in aftershocks that succeed the major quake. These
tremors and aftershocks can trigger potential landslides and
mud-slips (when accompanied by rain) along the mountains
and valleys, but also in a fragile sedimentary ecosystem like
the Terai region, spread across the lowlands and foothills of
the Nepal-Bihar belt. This is a direct after-effect of the shaking-
induced loosening of the ground over steep gradients. As
important as the magnitude of the quake and the energy of
the seismic waves generated during it, the sheer gradient of
the surface as well as the rock composition also plays a pivotal
role in triggering landslips.
In fact, a total of 4312 landslide incidents were reported
within the area of impact, during the monsoon rains that hit
the region in late July. Above the snowline, this could however
translate into avalanches, like the one that occurred on the
Everest trekking trail – killing eighteen prospective summiteers
a belonging to various Everest climbing expeditions. It is only
sheer fortune that the quake did not trigger liquefaction in the
lower reaches of the Himalayas – which would have spewed
up river mud on the surrounding areas, or caused buildings
to cave in and collapse under their own weight (Qiu 2015).
What exactly happened on the terrible Saturday morning
of April 25, 2015? Well, the continuing shoving of the Nepalese
landscape by the Indian plate has produced what is often
referred to in geological terms as the Himalayan frontal thrust
fault. This fault continues to house the epicentres of enormous
earthquakes. In relatively simple terms, this boundary zone
acts as an escape route for the abundant energy that is
generated in the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian
one. The energy released is felt as earthquakes in a periodic
manner.
In the last century, the most devastating manifestation of
this intermittent release of pent up energy, came to be in 1934;
40. and later again in 1988. This is insofar as not to discount that
the 2015 quake struck with a bang and unleashed a huge swell
of destruction, particularly across Nepal’s northeast.
Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal
The Gorkha earthquake, combined with the massive
aftershock trembler two weeks later, nonetheless provides
some important lessons to the governments, authorities as well
as peoples of both Nepal and other countries that come within
the earthquake high-vulnerability zone of the Himalayan
Thrust Fault.
It is mundane knowledge that earthquakes cannot be
predicted or foreseen; only the probability of its occurrence
can be evaluated. Invariably, once a disaster strikes, the
immediate response from the governments and other relief
agencies is to deploy their human resource to the affected areas,
and carry out rescue operations on an extensive scale. In the
worst hit areas, it is always the military, with its disciplined
operational style and enormous human-cum-technical resource
base that is ready for disposal at any time, which comes in as
saviour.
A thorough examination of the modus operandi followed
in any such instance, reveals an added emphasis on disaster
management that proceeds usually in four Rs: rescue, relief,
rehabilitation and resettlement. With due respect, managing
a disaster is of utmost urgency; but this is tantamount to curing
an ailment which has already done its share of the damage.
Moreover, prevention is anytime better than cure. However
in the majority of cases, earthquakes are a result of natural
tectonic forces; and there is no way one can prevent them from
happening. Therefore, in such cases, the language of prevention
translates into mitigation.
Disaster mitigation involves all measures and mechanisms
adopted to neutralise or at least reduce the impacts of an
anticipated disaster, well before it happens (Government of
Canada 2015).
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In a country like Nepal which is located exactly above the
Himalayan Thrust Fault, earthquakes are inevitable – as it had
shown in the past; and will still recur in the future. However,
contrary to what should have been done as part of mitigating
the effects of such already anticipated earthquakes, the largely
poor and unscientific infrastructure of cities like Kathmandu,
speaks otherwise.
The seismically active Kathmandu Valley is an extremely
densely populated region. The city of Kathmandu, with a
population of over 2.5 million people, is considered to be at
the ‘highest’ risk in terms of impact of earthquakes on the
people. Before the earthquake struck, the risks caused by weak
infrastructure, indiscriminate development planning, non-
compliance with building codes, encroachment on open spaces,
depleting water table had been predicted but the damage had
already been done and Nepal, due to the lack of financial and
technical resources as well as political will, could not reverse
or control it.
The damage had been inflicted mostly by the pressure
created on the housing sector by heavy influx of rural
populations to the city and the subsequent irregular and illegal
construction boom – making it one of the fastest growing cities
in South Asia. Despite the fact that the authorities had taken
steps to refurbish the existing infrastructure and tighten
legislation (such as the introduction of building code in 1994)
to ensure planned development activities, this proved to be
inadequate.
Substandard building practices have plagued Kathmandu
for decades; and recommended practices and legislations were
not implemented or enforced in toto. The government managed
to retrofit many critical facilities such as hospitals and schools
but the high costs involved in doing the same to the remaining
buildings that were built before these steps were undertaken
have hampered regularising and strengthening infrastructure
fully in the city and its neighbouring areas (Scheuer 2015,
Grünewald 2014: 1-6).
42. The immediate priority is to implement the much-needed
reforms in the construction sector. Strictly speaking, in a highly
earthquake prone country, the first and foremost task is to
foolproof buildings and other infrastructure in a way that could
withstand or at least absorb the shocks released in an
earthquake; so that these undergo minimum damage. As a
result, the impetus should be towards bringing down the
damage to life and property. Hence, greater emphasis should
be given to geotechnical engineering and earthquake resistant
construction practices that make use of scientifically tested
designs and techniques.
Japan is a role model in this regard. In an impressive
projection of true grit, the country has more or less managed
to overcome the challenges of being situated along one of the
most earthquake prone belts in the world; namely the Pacific
Ring of Fire. Japan’s achievements in this regard are a
manifestation of the innovations that were carried out in its
construction sector, by learning from the experiences of
previous earthquakes.
Being a relatively poor country, Nepal could do well by
seeking assistance and cooperation from a developed yet
disaster-prone country like Japan in mitigating the effects of
earthquakes; particularly with respect to earthquake-resistant
infrastructure designs. For example, it would be advisable to
follow the Japanese model of earthquake-resistant construction
techniques, such as ‘Base-isolation’. This envisages floating the
building on top of its foundation by means of a system of lead
rubber bearings, springs and padded cylinders (which acts as
shock absorbers).
For instance, the Japanese city of Niigata is a world leader
in terms of successfully shielding its buildings from the
vagaries of earthquakes. As a matter of fact, it has been formally
designated as the only earthquake resistant city in the world.
Another suggestion is to resort to earthquake resistant RCC
(Reinforced Concrete Cement) framed structure with infill
brick walls. This consists of floors and ceilings made of the
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RCC slabs, walls made of bricks and strengthened with steel
bars; and the support beams and columns/pillars are
composed of TMT (thermo-mechanically treated) steel and the
RCC. While choosing locations for building construction, carry
out a thorough survey of the soil conditions, the underlying
rock formations and the surrounding topography: Avoid places
which have high chances of soil leaching and liquefaction.
Adopting state-of-the-art modern day civil engineering
practices and geotechnical construction typologies should not
ignore some of the effective traditional and indigenous
construction designs.
Some of the ancient era buildings in cities like Kathmandu
have proved the odds by withstanding many of the massive
earthquakes that have hit Nepal over the course of time. This
is because the knowledge of earthquake-resistant practices was
integrated into most of the traditional architecture, spanning
back centuries. Even to this day, best practices in earthquake-
resistant construction continue to prevail in some of the
indigenous hill communities.
For example, ‘thatch houses’, made from locally available
bamboo, wooden planks, thatch (tree leaves, branches and
twigs, hay and grass, plus other ferns and mosses etc) –
perfectly meet the necessary parameters for earthquake
resistance. The bamboo and wooden beams and columns fulfil
the optimum safety standards, on account of its sheer simplicity
and uniform rectangularity (Singh, Kumar and Haldar 2009).
Last but not the least, spreading awareness about disaster
mitigation should take the front seat, in terms of educating
the common masses of their susceptibility to more earthquakes
in the future. In fact, a large portion of the Nepali people,
especially those in the isolated and mountainous rural pockets,
have long become attuned to the cultural fatalism surrounding
the vulnerability of their country to earthquakes. In this context,
they need to be apprised of the disaster mitigation measures
that are to be implemented in advance of a similarly massive
earthquake – considering that the region is likely to experience
more powerful quakes in the times to come.
44. The most critical precondition for the enforcement of
legislation and implementation of policies related to disaster
risk reduction is political stability. Nepal has been going
through a tumultuous period of transition from monarchy to
democracy.
The country was ill-prepared for this disaster. In fact, in
2008, the Nepal had finalised its National Strategy for Disaster
Risk Management but its implementation became a huge
challenge due to the political deadlock over the new
Constitution after the end of the civil war in 2006. The impasse
over the Constitution has also stalled Nepal from conducting
local elections in the country since 1997. Hence, the inability
of the centralised bureaucracy to attend to local requirements
was compounded by the lack of a local governance framework
towards disaster mitigation.
Relief efforts were impeded owing to bureaucratic hurdles,
inconsistency in resource allocation, unaccountability and
rampant corruption (in terms of the development aid provided
to Nepal before the earthquake occurred) (Varughese 2015).
Despite the fact that the country is earthquake prone, issues
such as disaster management have not been elevated to the
top echelons of the establishment either, leaving a huge policy
gap (Robins-Early 2015). Unless these gaps are filled, it would
be difficult for the country to execute any disaster risk
reduction strategies.
Regional Efforts at Disaster Management
The 2015 earthquake has exposed and exacerbated many
of Nepal’s socio-economic and infrastructural challenges – that
it needs to address in the short and long terms. The economic
impact of the earthquake has been estimated to be between
USD 1 billion and US$ 10 billion; this is a huge loss for a country
whose annual GDP is approximately USD 20 billion (Young
2015).
The earthquake has weakened most buildings in
Kathmandu and other cities. The majority of Nepal is not
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connected by paved roads – rendering rescue and relief an
extremely arduous task many roads and bridges were
obliterated by the earthquake and require to be reconstructed.
Food, water and energy insecurity as well as the lack of
sanitation and hygiene continue to affect Nepal; many live
under the poverty line (half of the 28 million people). The
earthquake rendered 1.4 million people (excluding Kathmandu
Valley) food insecure (in need of food assistance); due to
extensive damage caused to hydropower dams, production
capacity went down by nearly 30 percent (Varady 2015) (Nepal
2015).
Political instability on one hand, and the lack of wherewithal
on the other made the task of overcoming these challenges
difficult for the authorities. Clearly, Nepal requires human,
financial and resource support from various quarters not only
for response and reconstruction but also risk reduction.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, Nepal received aid from
numerous sources across the globe. However, this caters only
to the country’s short-term requirements. Even when the
international aid kept pouring into the country, the authorities
struggled to efficiently coordinate and organise rescue and
relief due to logistical and administrative reasons.
First of all, the entire aid was being channelled through the
only international airport of the country located in the capital
city of Kathmandu. During the aid operations launched by
countries around the world, the Kathmandu airport was
choked, Several aircrafts carrying essential supplies had to be
diverted to India and other neighbouring countries. Secondly,
inaccessibility, difficult terrain, infrastructure damage and poor
communications hampered response in most parts of the
country. Thirdly, the scale of the disaster was so massive that
the government was caught totally unaware and clueless even
in assessing the degree and nature of damage, as well as
indentifying the areas that were affected.
This had an adverse impact on the relief operations as the
government was not in a position to ascertain priorities and
46. adopt an effective strategy to carry out aid distribution. To fix
these problems, Nepal needs to work with the rest of the
international community to strengthen earthquake
preparedness (Daniel and Mahr 2015, Ng 2015, Oxfam 2015).
This also points towards the vulnerability factor shared by
the other neighbouring countries in the Himalayan region such
as Bhutan, India and Pakistan. Regional and sub-regional
efforts could therefore be the answer to disaster management
woes confronted by countries like Nepal.
Disaster management is considered a ‘soft’ issue that could
easily help nation states identify the common agenda since the
security of one person or state is largely contingent on others’
security. This is more pertinent in a regional setting in which
geographical adjacency or proximity plays a big role. For
instance, the impacts of disasters are not necessarily localised
due to the interconnections with the geoeconomic and
geopolitical realities of the international, more so regional,
security environment.
Therefore, the need to adopt ‘preventive’ and ‘adaptive’
measures against both sudden (earthquakes, tsunamis or
cyclones) and gradual (climate change or droughts) changes,
is becoming more and more imperative – not just for one
country but for the whole world.
South Asia has witnessed many catastrophic disasters in
recent past, the Nepal earthquake being one among them. With
the spurt in the scale, frequency and impact of disasters in the
past couple of decades in the region, the need for beefing up
disaster management and risk reduction policies has assumed
further significance (Jayaram 2015).
On one hand, the South Asian countries are slowly waking
up to the reality of looming disasters that might originate in
one country but the ripples of which are felt across borders.
The need for joint-effort was felt most strongly when the 2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami devastated the region. Thereafter, a
string of disasters including cyclonic storms, earthquakes (such
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as the 2005 Kashmir earthquake that hit India and Pakistan),
flooding (such as the recurrent Kosi floods and Himalayan
landslides that affect India and Nepal) made the authorities
realise the need to put in place a fresh set of policies to deal
with frequent disasters rather than adopting a reactive
approach.
On the other hand, even when the disasters are restricted
to one country in the region, the rescue, relief and
reconstruction activities initiated by countries such as India in
its neighbourhood bring to light the need for a regional disaster
risk reduction approach. Military-to-military cooperation is an
important area that could be beefed up for coordinated
emergency response in the wake of disasters.
The Nepalese Army benefitted from the services provided
by militaries from different countries (including India and
China) in its Operation Sankat Mochan. India was one of the
first countries to ‘respond’ (within six hours) and throughout
the rescue-relief stage, it led a massive cross-border aid mission
called Operation Maitri (AFP 2015) (Nayak 2015). But if the
process of deploying rescue teams and military assets as well
as distributing relief materials was coordinated in a better
fashion, much confusion could have been avoided. The
Nepalese authorities struggled to manage the heavy influx of
international aid as already stated previously.
Although India has pledged US$ 1 billion to aid
reconstruction in Nepal, this is not enough (Press 2015). What
needs to be given priority is cooperation in capacity-building
and technology RD&D (research, development and
deployment) aimed at disaster risk reduction. A few steps have
already been taken in this direction but much more can be
accomplished if the countries show the political will to set aside
their political differences and cooperate effectively. For
instance, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) has set up the SAARC Disaster Management Centre
that strives to provide “policy advice” and facilitate “capacity
building services including strategic learning, research,
48. training, system development, expertise promotion and
exchange of information for effective disaster risk reduction
and for planning and coordinating a rapid regional response
mechanism to disasters within the region.” It has identified
“risk assessment and early warning systems”, “education,
information and public awareness”, “climate change
adaptation” and “preparedness for effective response” as its
priorities (Prevention Web). Even in the case of the Nepal
earthquake, the country faced severe shortage of trained
disaster personnel, forcing civil society to step in, according to
several reports (Iyengar 2015).
In November 2015, the first ever SAARC disaster
management exercise – called the South Asian Annual Disaster
Management Exercise (SAADMEx) was organised in New
Delhi. For the first time, countries of South Asia – Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and
India – undertook an initiative to build interoperability among
the SAARC nations to carry out joint disaster response
operations by cooperating and coordinating with each other.
As noted in a Business Standard article on December 1, 2015,
the primary focus of this exercise was to “strengthen the
effective utilisation and quick deployment of search and rescue
teams for emergency response” and to “set a scenario of
effective activation of the national process of regional response”
(This SAARC initiative (led by India) could overcome several
layers of political tensions between some of the countries in
the region – the latest being the diplomatic standoff between
India and Nepal over the constitutional crisis in Nepal (Adkin
2015).
Very often, foreign policy and diplomacy are seen through
the realist paradigm in which ‘security dilemma’ tends to
stymie cooperation (in the true sense of the term). Quite the
opposite, the threats, or rather risks (considering much of it is
still not palpable or existential if one goes by the securitisation
discourse), posed by environmental disruptions are common.
It is a different matter altogether that different countries have
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different capacities and this could come in the way of
cooperation, unless countries share their resources. What
makes cooperation in this area relatively less problematic is
the fact that the scientific, technical and logistic data regarding
such disruptions is more or less shared, and more importantly
unclassified.
Bilaterally, India has initiated a handful of disaster risk
reduction mechanisms. A case in point is the inclusion of
disaster management drills in the joint exercises between the
armies of India and Nepal in 2014. This was aimed at devising
joint response mechanisms to prevent flooding of River Kosi
(Datt 2014).
India could also join hands with all the countries in the
Himalayan region to transform some of its national policies
into sub-regional ones. The Indian government has for instance
laid down a roadmap for a National Mission for Sustaining
Himalayan Ecosystem as a part of its National Action Plan on
climate change.
It aims to focus on not only climate-related hazards, glacial
melt and other hydrological phenomenon, but also biodiversity
conservation, wildlife protection, traditional knowledge of
societies and their livelihoods and so on (PTI 2014). It needs to
go beyond its borders and set up a sub-regional arrangement
to pool in disaster management resources since the problems
are shared and the spillover effects could be disastrous as well.
Nepal could also take cues from the Indian Ecological Task
Forces (ETFs) (constituted by ex-servicemen) and attempt to
raise its own units by employing ex-personnel of the Nepalese
Army. These units could be deployed to implement long-term
strategies such as infrastructure reconstruction and
refurbishment, ecological restoration and sustainability in the
Himalayan ecosystems, thus helping build resilience among
the communities. The “military-type discipline and dedication”
could be put into use to bring in long-term stability in the region
(Gautam 2015).
50. Conclusion
We live in an era of complete uncertainty about the
environment we inhabit and exploit. Geologically, many
segments have been cut across the Himalayan frontal thrust
fault by the unceasing withering of the Indian plate under the
Eurasian plate. The 2015 earthquake ostensibly seems to have
overlapped the segment that paved the way for the 8.1
magnitude killer earthquake of 1934. According to a survey of
earthquakes that have occurred across the Himalayan Thrust
Fault over several years, smaller aftershocks tend to strike
along the major quake segment; whereas larger shocks are
expected to hit the edge of the rupture zone created by the
parent earthquake. The 7.3 magnitude mega aftershock of May
12, 2015 is a classic example of this phenomenon – since it
occurred on the eastern edge of the April 25 Gorkha
earthquake’s rupture boundary. Suffice it to say that the
burgeoning number of ruptures created along the Himalayan
Central Thrust Fault, only exposes the vulnerability of the
world’s most volatile tectonic hotspot, to an even greater
number of powerful earthquakes in the future.
After being struck by four powerful earthquakes over the
past century and still having done little towards disaster
mitigation, at least the most recent one should serve as an eye-
opener to the government and the concerned authorities.
It is true that Nepal has had to face hardships throughout
the period of chaos that accompanied the jittery transition from
a monarchy to a fledgling democracy. Nevertheless, the very
difficulty of being sandwiched between two major powers like
India and China, has traditionally forced Nepal to be under
the shadow of its two powerful neighbours. This historical role
of a buffer between India and China subsequently entangled
Nepal in the power struggle between its two competing
neighbours. As a rule, relatively less attention was paid to the
non-traditional security aspects like confronting environmental
threats and disaster mitigation.
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51. 392 Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times
In Nepal’s efforts, the entire international community,
especially South Asia and the Himalayan countries must pool
in their resources. The idea is to facilitate joint-effort among
the various agencies well in advance of environmental
disruption (such as disasters).
Besides coordination between different agencies that deal
with disasters at the national level, there is also a need for
linking them with the cross-border or international agencies
for pooling of resources and activities. For example, among
the military agencies, this could be achieved by developing
common terms of reference along with standard operating
procedure (SOP) and domain awareness to enhance familiarity
among the parties involved.
The best way the smaller countries (with less resources)
could overcome gaps in capacities and capabilities is through
concerted coordination with each other; while the bigger
countries could share their resources and know-how by
engendering initiatives and building mutual trust among
countries – mainly by training smaller countries’ disaster
management agencies in capacity building, adaptive
enhancement and response mechanism (Jayaram 2015).
As the number of humanitarian disasters across the globe
rises, the need for increased focus on disaster risk reduction
measures becomes critical, particularly in the Himalayan
region. Future policies (mainly in infrastructure) should
therefore take into consideration environmental/geological
risk assessment and management – an undervalued part of
development planning.
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