Construction Research Congress 2020
Factors Contributing Building Reconstruction and Renovation Challenges: A Case Study after April 2015 Gorkha Earthquake
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2020: Safety, Workforce, and Education
ABSTRACT
The earthquake on April 25, 2015, in Nepal damaged thousands of houses; thereby leaving millions of people homeless. Most of the damaged buildings were mud and brick or stone bonded load-bearing structure. After the earthquake, there has been a lot of building reconstruction and renovation works going on in Nepal. During this phase, homeowners have faced many challenges such as inaccessibility to the construction site, scarcity of materials and equipment, and workforce shortage. Although few studies have explored the challenges during reconstruction in general, a thorough understanding of factors contributing to the obstacles is lacking. The objective of this paper is to present a detailed analysis of the factors contributing to building reconstruction and renovation challenges. A thorough literature review and interviews were conducted which helped to identify critical factors contributing to building reconstruction and renovation challenges. This study identified the top significant factors among reconstruction challenges in Nepal after the Gorkha earthquake. The top five significant factors are: a) dispute among family members on property, b) vested interest and corruption, c) lack of skilled laborer, d) lack of adopting and updating building codes, and e) lack of proper training on how to use new tools and techniques. The study also ranked the building materials and typology that suffered most damage during the Gorkha earthquake. Unreinforced mud or adobe building, unreinforced brick masonry building with mud mortar and timber floor, and stone masonry building with mud mortar were critical in each case. The findings can be used by construction professionals to improve their management strategies during pre-construction and be aware of top contributing factors during reconstruction and renovation process. The results will also help project managers, field engineers, and contractors in the understanding of building materials and typology that are vulnerable to earthquake.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Barenstein, J. D. (2013). Communities’ perspectives on housing reconstruction in Gujarat following the earthquake of 2001. Post-disaster reconstruction and change: Communities’ perspectives, 71-100.
Boano, C., & García, M. (2011). Lost in translation? The challenges of an equitable post-disaster reconstruction process: Lessons from Chile. Environmental Hazards, 10(3-4), 293-309.
Bothara, J. K., Dhakal, R. P., Dizhur, D., & Ingham, J. M. (2016). The Challenges of Housing Reconstruction after the April 2015 Gorkha, Nepal Earthquake. Technical Journal of Nepal Engineers' Association, Special Issue on Gorkha Earthquake 2015, XLIII-EC30, 1, 121-134.
CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics) Nepal. (2012). National population and housing census 2011. National Report
Davidson, C. H., Johnson, C., Lizarralde, G., Dikmen, N., & Sliwinski, A. (2007). Truths and myths about community participation in post-disaster housing projects. Habitat international, 31(1), 100-115.
Didier, M., Baumberger, S., Tobler, R., Esposito, S., Ghosh, S., & Stojadinovic, B. (2017). Improving post-earthquake building safety evaluation using the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake rapid visual damage assessment data. Earthquake Spectra, 33(S1), S415-S434
Emami, M.J., Tavakoli, A.R., Alemzadeh, H., Abdinejad, F., Shahcheraghi, G., Erfani, M.A., Mozafarian, K., Solooki, S., Rezazadeh, S., Ensafdaran, A. and Nouraie, H., (2005). Strategies in evaluation and management of Bam earthquake victims. Prehospital and disaster medicine, 20(5), pp.327-330.
Gautam, D., & Chaulagain, H. (2016). Structural performance and associated lessons to be learned from world earthquakes in Nepal after 25 April 2015 (MW 7.8) Gorkha earthquake. Engineering Failure Analysis, 68, 222-243
Gautam, D., Rodrigues, H., Bhetwal, K. K., Neupane, P., & Sanada, Y. (2016). Common structural and construction deficiencies of Nepalese buildings. Innovative Infrastructure Solutions, 1(1), 1.
Ghafory-Ashtiany, M., & Hosseini, M. (2008). Post-Bam earthquake: recovery and reconstruction. Natural Hazards, 44(2), 229-241.
Gharaati, M., & Davidson, C. (2008). Who knows best? An overview of reconstruction after the earthquake in Bam, Iran. In Proc. of the 4th Int. i-Rec Conference.
Hayles, C. S. (2010). An examination of decision making in post disaster housing reconstruction. Int. J. of Disaster Resilience in the Built Env., 1(1), 103-122.
Jagadish, K. S., Raghunath, S., & Rao, K. N. (2003). Behaviour of masonry structures during Bhuj earthquake of January 2001. J. of Earth Syst. Sci., 112(3), 431-440
Kongar, I., Esposito, S., & Giovinazzi, S. (2017). Post-earthquake assessment and management for infrastructure systems: learning from the Canterbury (New Zealand) and L’Aquila (Italy) earthquakes. Bulletin of earthquake engineering
Kwok, T. C. (2016). Continued challenges in rebuilding Haiti. E-International Relation.
Lam, L. M., & Kuipers, R. (2019). Resilience and disaster governance: Some insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Int. J. of Dis. Risk Red., 33, 321-331
Mumtaz, H., Mughal, S. H., Stephenson, M., & Bothara, J. K. (2008). The challenges of reconstruction after the October 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Proc. of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering. Wairakei, New Zealand.
Naseer, A., Khan, A. N., Hussain, Z., & Ali, Q. (2010). Observed seismic behavior of buildings in northern Pakistan during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Earthquake Spectra, 26(2), 425-449
Nazara, S., & Resosudarmo, B. P. (2007). Aceh-Nias reconstruction and rehabilitation: Progress and challenges at the end of 2006 (No. 70). ADB Institute Discussion Papers.
NEA (Nepal Engineers’ Association), 2015. A Report on Nepal Earthquake 2072, Pulchowk, Lalitpur, Nepal
O’Brien, P., Eberhard, M., Haraldsson, O., Irfanoglu, A., Lattanzi, D., Lauer, S., & Pujol, S. (2011). Measures of the seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete buildings in Haiti. Earthquake Spectra, 27(S1), S373-S386
Ophiyandri, T., Amaratunga, D., Pathirage, C., & Keraminiyage, K. (2013). Critical success factors for community-based post-disaster housing reconstruction projects in the pre-construction stage in Indonesia. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 4(2), 236-249.
Regmi, K. D. (2016). The political economy of 2015 Nepal earthquake: some critical reflections. Asian geographer, 33(2), 77-96
Soelaksono, A. (2009). NGO and donor coordination to speeds up reconstruction and avoid NGO competition.
Sharma, K., KC, A., Subedi, M., & Pokharel, B. (2018a). Challenges for reconstruction after Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake: a study on a devastated area of Nepal. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 9(1), 760-790.
Sharma, K., Apil, K. C., Subedi, M., & Pokharel, B. (2018b). Post Disaster Reconstruction after 2015 Gorkha Earthquake: Challenges and Influencing Factors. J. of the Inst. of Eng., 14(1), 52-63.
Stewart, J. P., Hough, S. E., Velan Vandhana, S., & Martin, S. (2002). Damage patterns. Earthquake spectra, 18(S1), 67-75
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Construction Research Congress 2020: Safety, Workforce, and Education
Pages: 434 - 442
Editors: Mounir El Asmar, Ph.D., Arizona State University, David Grau, Ph.D., Arizona State University, and Pingbo Tang, Ph.D., Arizona State University
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8287-2
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 9, 2020
Published in print: Nov 9, 2020
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.