Although the government knew that the government buildings, schools, hospitals and residential buildings are vulnerable and their lifespan has expired long ago, it could not react on time. And the result is all we know.
#devastating_earthquake_April25
In case of a disaster, government’s day to day function will crumble
Sujata Awale
Kathmandu
Most government offices in the valley built before 2003 are vulnerable to natural disaster and poor in condition according to data maintained by the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC). DUDBC is working on a Building Maintenance Information System (BMIS) to maintain a database of the status of government buildings across the country. Till date 1,053 government buildings have been updated in the database, of which 85 per cent are in poor state and over a thousand buildings have yet to be updated in the software.
In the system, DUDBC has recorded 83 office buildings in Kathmandu, 18 in Lalitpur and 43 in Bhaktapur. Data shows that Juddha Barud Yantra at New Road and Pulchowk, Central District Offices of Lagankhel and Babarmahal, Kathmandu Valley Municipal Development Planning Committee at Anamnagar, Department Of Hydrology and Meteorology at Babarmahal, Land Reform and Management, Water Induced Disaster Prevention Division-4 at Sipadole, among others are in a very poor state and in need of major repair and maintenance works. The department is responsible for scrutinising other buildings and looking into the need for retrofitting.
The study found that most government office buildings have an RCC frame structure, brick and stone masonry in cement mortar with RCC roof, brick or stone masonry in cement mortar with asbestos sheet and CGI sheet.
“We have found that more than 85 per cent of government buildings built before 2003 in the valley are vulnerable to natural disaster as the life span of these building have already expired,” said Prakirna Tuladhar, Senior Divisional Engineer of Building Maintenance and Evaluation Section at DUDBC. He said, “There are some buildings used for government administrative work since 1903, these need immediate retrofitting and restructuring for the safety measures.”
On who is responsible for the vulnerable state of government offices, Tuladhar said, “Earlier the government buildings were built without paying any heed to National Building Code(NBC). It was only in 2003 that the Cabinet decided make the NBC mandatory.” DUDBC is responsible for the design of buildings, implementing NBC and conducting maintenance work on government buildings. He however passed the buck by saying that they do not have adequate budget for conducting detail vulnerability assessment and restructuring work.
According to him, government buildings inside Singha Durbar, Ministerial Quarters, public hospitals, schools, et cetera need immediate vulnerability assessment to control probable damage to the property. Informing that they plan to introduce their ‘Safer Building Construction National Planner Action’ project within a month, he said, “This project will be of 30 years where five years will be spent on documentation and the rest on retrofitting all public structures across the country for safety measures.”
Although DUDBC has initiated having vulnerable assessment, it is yet to conduct a detailed survey to figure out the exact scenario of the risk that government buildings pose. “The state of government offices in the valley is critical and the worst part is there is no assessment of the vulnerability of those buildings,” said Bijay Krishna Upadhyay, Earthquake Risk Reduction Professional at National Society of Earthquake Technology. He further said, “Most buildings operating as government offices are not built for the same purpose which means they are not adopting vulnerable measures.”
Many reports showed that the valley is in a high-risk seismic zone. Citing that government agencies responsible for rescue and resource mobilisation themselves are at high risk, he questioned, “How can common people be provided reliefin the event of a catastrophe?” He opined that the government has been negligent about the probable situation in case of a natural disaster and lacks farsightedness. “The government is working on disaster preparedness plans but there is a lot to do. It should focus on a business continuity plan.” He warned, “If the government doesn’t care about the present status of the government offices, in case of any disaster, day to day function will crumble making the whole system a failure.”
According to him, there is an immediate need to safeguard properties by implementing earthquake resistance methods and retrofitting and restructuring for existing vulnerable structures.
Published on The Himalayan Times, March 7, 2015
#devastating_earthquake_April25
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| Judha Barun Kendra, Pulchowk Photo By: Prakash Mathema, AFP |
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| Durbar School, country's oldest school, at Bhotahiti Photo By: news.xinhuanet.com |
In case of a disaster, government’s day to day function will crumble
Sujata Awale
Kathmandu
Most government offices in the valley built before 2003 are vulnerable to natural disaster and poor in condition according to data maintained by the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC). DUDBC is working on a Building Maintenance Information System (BMIS) to maintain a database of the status of government buildings across the country. Till date 1,053 government buildings have been updated in the database, of which 85 per cent are in poor state and over a thousand buildings have yet to be updated in the software.
In the system, DUDBC has recorded 83 office buildings in Kathmandu, 18 in Lalitpur and 43 in Bhaktapur. Data shows that Juddha Barud Yantra at New Road and Pulchowk, Central District Offices of Lagankhel and Babarmahal, Kathmandu Valley Municipal Development Planning Committee at Anamnagar, Department Of Hydrology and Meteorology at Babarmahal, Land Reform and Management, Water Induced Disaster Prevention Division-4 at Sipadole, among others are in a very poor state and in need of major repair and maintenance works. The department is responsible for scrutinising other buildings and looking into the need for retrofitting.
The study found that most government office buildings have an RCC frame structure, brick and stone masonry in cement mortar with RCC roof, brick or stone masonry in cement mortar with asbestos sheet and CGI sheet.
“We have found that more than 85 per cent of government buildings built before 2003 in the valley are vulnerable to natural disaster as the life span of these building have already expired,” said Prakirna Tuladhar, Senior Divisional Engineer of Building Maintenance and Evaluation Section at DUDBC. He said, “There are some buildings used for government administrative work since 1903, these need immediate retrofitting and restructuring for the safety measures.”
On who is responsible for the vulnerable state of government offices, Tuladhar said, “Earlier the government buildings were built without paying any heed to National Building Code(NBC). It was only in 2003 that the Cabinet decided make the NBC mandatory.” DUDBC is responsible for the design of buildings, implementing NBC and conducting maintenance work on government buildings. He however passed the buck by saying that they do not have adequate budget for conducting detail vulnerability assessment and restructuring work.
According to him, government buildings inside Singha Durbar, Ministerial Quarters, public hospitals, schools, et cetera need immediate vulnerability assessment to control probable damage to the property. Informing that they plan to introduce their ‘Safer Building Construction National Planner Action’ project within a month, he said, “This project will be of 30 years where five years will be spent on documentation and the rest on retrofitting all public structures across the country for safety measures.”
Although DUDBC has initiated having vulnerable assessment, it is yet to conduct a detailed survey to figure out the exact scenario of the risk that government buildings pose. “The state of government offices in the valley is critical and the worst part is there is no assessment of the vulnerability of those buildings,” said Bijay Krishna Upadhyay, Earthquake Risk Reduction Professional at National Society of Earthquake Technology. He further said, “Most buildings operating as government offices are not built for the same purpose which means they are not adopting vulnerable measures.”
Many reports showed that the valley is in a high-risk seismic zone. Citing that government agencies responsible for rescue and resource mobilisation themselves are at high risk, he questioned, “How can common people be provided reliefin the event of a catastrophe?” He opined that the government has been negligent about the probable situation in case of a natural disaster and lacks farsightedness. “The government is working on disaster preparedness plans but there is a lot to do. It should focus on a business continuity plan.” He warned, “If the government doesn’t care about the present status of the government offices, in case of any disaster, day to day function will crumble making the whole system a failure.”
According to him, there is an immediate need to safeguard properties by implementing earthquake resistance methods and retrofitting and restructuring for existing vulnerable structures.
Published on The Himalayan Times, March 7, 2015
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