Disaster Risk Management In Nepal

The History of Disaster Risk Mitigation in Nepal is relatively short compared to the rest of the world. Only in recent times that the people as well as the government have been aware of the potential risk and have been active in disaster risk mitigation. The Udaypur earthquake of 1988 was a major awakening for the country as well as for the people. With 721 people losing their lives, 22 districts affected and the loss of over 5 billion rupees in property damages the risk could not be ignored anymore. 1992 saw the start of the National Building Code Development Project (BCDP) which also involved the future founders of NSET. Nepal also observed the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) Day for the first time.

From then on various projects and workshops were conducted to tackle the disaster risk in Nepal. NSET was founded in 1993 after seeing the need to have a Non-Governmental Organization leading the charge. In 1994 the building code development project was released. In 1995 the first attempt was done to get the media involved by conducting the first training course for the journalists in disaster journalism. In 1998 His Majesty’s Government of Nepal declared 16 January as the National Earthquake Safety Day (ESD). NSET llaunched the School Earthquake Safety Program (SESP) in 1999.

Since the realization of the effects of earthquake disasters on the population, various programs have been llaunched with considerable success. People are made aware of the earthquake threat and the importance has been realized by not only the people but also the local government, local Non-Governmental as well as various international organizations.