Context and issues during post-earthquake rapid evaluation of buildings after the 2015 Nepal (Gorkha) earthquake

Abstract

The authors’ first-hand experiences with post-earthquake building safety evaluation and related activities after the 2015 Nepal (Gorkha) earthquake are presented. Following the earthquake, Applied Technology Council’s ATC 20 Guideline or its derivatives were used for Rapid Evaluation of buildings in the earthquake affected areas of Nepal. Various organisations and consulting companies provided their services on a volunteer and commercial basis for the evaluation efforts. These efforts provided an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the processes and the issues that arose during the work. Lessons learned from these experiences regarding the effectiveness of Rapid Evaluation of damaged buildings, placarding, and training needs are discussed herein. Improvements to current building safety (usability) evaluation were proposed and an outline of further considerations for reoccupation of damaged buildings in Nepal is presented.