On April 25 and May 12, 2015, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.3 struck Nepal, killing around 9,000 people and massively destroying the country's infrastructure and housing.
In the immediate aftermath of the first earthquake, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) decided to set up a project to support local people's emergency reconstruction initiatives.
After an initial contact with CRAterre, Julien Hosta led an initial mission to analyze the existing situation and identify local best practices in the Dolakha and Ramechaap regions. This rapid deployment a few days after the first earthquake enabled us to observe the population's immediate strategies for sheltering and protecting themselves from immediate risks, and to analyze the buildings affected before they were dismantled by the population (in particular for the recovery of materials which were then used to build temporary shelters), thus gaining a better understanding of the behavior of vernacular architecture under seismic stress. This initial mission also enabled us to make contact with the Nepalese authorities responsible for disaster construction (NSET in particular) and to take part in strategic discussions with other organizations involved in post-earthquake reconstruction programs, notably within the Shelter Cluster. On the strength of the contextual analysis carried out by CRAterre, CRS was thus able to rapidly structure a training strategy aimed at craftsmen active in local communities.
The CRS then requested a second mission to analyze local contexts, this time in the Sindhuli region. This mission was led by Miguel Ferreira Mendes in June/July 2015. It highlighted the diversity of building cultures in the different regions of Nepal. It also made it possible to define the content and programming of missions to be carried out in the field as part of a CRS training project, and again to continue participation in strategic debates with other organizations involved in post-earthquake reconstruction programs, notably by sharing the broad outlines of the content of the training program developed by CRAterre, with the players responsible for revising official government programs. This work was carried out in partnership with Olivier Le Gall, a DSA Terre student, and recruited by CRS to be part of the emergency response team between June and July 2015.
Finally, Miguel Ferreira Mendes coordinated a training of trainers course - set up in Dolakha by the Nepalese Red Cross and CRS - during a third field mission in August/September 2015. As part of this, a teaching kit was developed for the Dolakha, Ramechhap and Sindhuli areas and made available to CRS. This mission also enabled us to establish contacts with certain organizations and strengthen links with others, as well as to be able to present to the Red Cross PNS (partner national societies) the "constructive cultures" approach developed by CRAterre with its field partners. The training strategy is now in place, and CRAterre is closely monitoring its implementation.
Philippe Garnier also visited Nepal in September 2015 as part of a dual mission to (i) assess, at the request of Caritas Luxembourg, the capacities of the CCODER organization to carry out a reconstruction project in the Gorkha area, and (ii) meet with various organizations involved in reconstruction projects to gain a better understanding of the strategies envisaged and appreciate the potential for collaboration and development of post-earthquake projects based on the valorization of local constructive cultures. The findings from the area visited confirmed the relevance of using local building cultures, given the existing construction systems that take account of seismic risk and make the most of local natural and human resources. Exchanges with a large number of national and international players involved in crisis management were fruitful and opened up new perspectives that need to be concretized.
The CRAterre team remains particularly active in monitoring the response to this dramatic crisis.
Partners
Swiss Red Cross
