Damage to School Buildings During the 2015 Nepal Earthquake and Reconstruction Strategy

The 2015 Nepal Earthquake (Mw7.8) affected more than 9,000 schools in the country. Damage distribution in the 14 most-affected administrative districts shows that the construction practices were an important determent for the level of damage extended. Use of improper construction materials, lack of construction supervision, and non-compliance with the existing building codes during design and construction probably contributed to the severe damage of most of the school buildings. Preliminary damage assessment results show that in the most-affected districts, about 86% schools were affected by the earthquake and about one million students were out of their schools for a long time. The damage survey data indicate that about 30% classrooms collapsed, about 13% classrooms sustained major damage, and about 17% classrooms sustained minor damage within the 14 districts. Such evidence of loss and damage in the earthquake disasters provides an opportunity to learn lessons for the future preparedness and to encounter the disaster challenges. Based on the damage analysis data and experience of reconstruction process after the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, this paper highlights the steps to be considered during reconstruction strategy planning for school buildings after an earthquake disaster.

The Academic Impacts of 2015 Nepal Earthquake: Evidence from Two Secondary Schools in Sindhupalchok District

How do natural disasters affect academic performance? Despite numerous studies having been conducted after the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the academic impacts of this tragic event have rarely been explored. Applying the OLS estimation on the microdata collected through a questionnaire survey among 189 secondary school students of two secondary schools in one of the hardest-hit rural villages, we found that students’ average annual test scores dropped by 7% after the earthquake. Human losses measured by the incidence of death or injury and economic losses proxied by the level of house damage in a respondent’s family were found to be significant in the decline in the annual test scores of the respondents. Because secondary schools are usually not very close for most of the students in rural mountainous communities, we controlled for time taken to reach school, which was also found to significantly increase the magnitude of the drop in the test score. However, students’ level of happiness measured using the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) and the mother’s level of education were found to be significant in reducing the magnitude of the drop in the test score of students. The findings suggest more support is needed for students who faced higher levels of human and economic loss in their family.

Beyond building damage: estimating and understanding non-recovery following disasters

Following a disaster, crucial decisions about recovery resources often focus on immediate impact, partly due to a lack of detailed information on who will struggle to recover. Here we perform an analysis of surveyed data on reconstruction and secondary data commonly available after a disaster to estimate a metric of non-recovery or the probability that a household could not fully reconstruct within five years after an earthquake. Analyzing data from the 2015 Nepal earthquake, we find that non-recovery is associated with a wide range of factors beyond building damage, such as ongoing risks, population density, and remoteness. If such information were available after the 2015 earthquake, it would have highlighted that many damaged areas have differential abilities to reconstruct due to these factors. More generally, moving beyond damage data to evaluate and quantify non-recovery will support effective post-disaster decisions that consider pre-existing differences in the ability to recover.