- Action Planning Workshop for Tomorrow's Khokana held in Lalitpur
- "Action Planning Workshop for Tomorrow's Rapti Valley (Deukhuri) Capital City" Held in Lamahi, Lumbini Province
- Media Interaction held on plan for Tomorrow’s Rapti Valley (Deukhuri) Capital City
- Art Competition on Tomorrow’s Rapti City held in Rapti Valley (Deukhuri) Capital City
- National Tabletop Simulation Exercise by NDRRMA MOHA
- Workshop on Earthquake Hazard Assessment and Aftershock Forecasting was held in Lalitpur
- 26th National Symposium on ‘Earthquake Risk Reduction and Management in Nepal’ held in Kathmandu.
- Mason Training begins in Darjeeling, India
- 26th Earthquake Safety Day observed in Nepal with the slogan: Let's promote use of Local Resources and Technology for Earthquake Resilient Structures
- Shaping Visioning Scenarios for Rapti, the Lumbini Provincial Capital City in Nepal
- View all
WCDRR: Symposium on Experiences and Lessons of Building Code Enforcement
In developing countries, rapid population growth especially in urban areas leads to the construction of a huge number of vulnerable buildings every year. This has resulted in ever-increasing earthquake risk in terms of human casualties from possible collapse of buildings during earthquakes. Implementation of Building Code through the building permit process appears to be the only answer, however, it requires a proactive approach and a sound strategy that covers the engineered as well as non-engineered constructions.
This session remained as an opportunity to discuss the issues of building code enforcement in developing countries and promote mutual experiential learning.
Key issues discussed:
• Countries have good building codes, however, buildings continue to be constructed badly! Why?
• What should be the strategy? "Build Back Better" or "Build Better Now"!
• Building Code Enforcement or Building Code Compliance? What could work in developing countries?
• What should be the objective of Building Code implementation - revenue generation or safety assurance, or both?
• Who is responsible and who is accountable for building code implementation?
• How to ensure code compliance of non-engineered buildings, especially in developing countries?
• "Knowledge exists", but "knowledge does not exist where it is the most required": how to make the knowledge effectively trickle down to ensure skills of safer construction at the grass roots?
• How to secure investments on housing/building? How to increase involvement of banking / insurance sector to promote safer building construction?
Panelists:
• Mr. Shiva Hari Sharma, Deputy Director General, Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), Government of Nepal.
• Mr. Michael Ernst, Regional Advisor, U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) Regional Office for Asia-Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.
• Dr. Carlos Villacis, Regional Project Manager and Strategy Coordinator, Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation.
• Professor Soichi Ando (Dr., Engineer, Architect), Director, Disaster Management (DM/DMP) Program, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan
• Dr. Fouad Bendimerad, President, Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI)
• Mr. Narayan Prasad Sapkota, Mayor and Executive Officer, Bharatpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Nepal.
Session Moderator:
Mr. Surya Narayan Shrestha, Deputy Executive Director, National Society of Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET). '