Overview
Nepal is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, and ranks second in the world in terms of mortality risk due to natural hazards. Nepal’s geographic and climatic characteristics subject it to multiple hazards, many of which may impact the country simultaneously as a result of cascading effects. Floods and landslides are particularly frequent during the monsoon season and have intensified in recent years. Droughts, storms, GLOFs, and major seismic risks are all serious threats to a population that has the second lowest income level in the region; more than 30 percent of Nepali citizens live below the poverty line.
Estimates by the Ministry of Home Affairs suggest that of all reported disasters, floods and landslides are the most devastating in terms of the number of deaths that occur and the damages they cause. Between 2001 and 2008, floods and landslides killed 1,673 people, affected 221,372 families, killed 33,365 livestock, destroyed 52,007 houses, and washed away or destroyed over 22,000 ha of land. A conservative estimate of the monetary value of damages due to floods alone for 2001-2008 is about US$ 130 million (US$ 16 million annually, or 0.1% of the country’s GDP). While less frequent, earthquakes are among the most important threats to Nepal’s population. Major earthquakes are expected to occur in Nepal with a 75 year return period. The last major earthquake, which occurred in 1934, resulted in more than 10,000 deaths. A smaller event in 1988 led to 700 casualties.
Challenge
Guided by the principle of enhancing resilience to hazards, and recognizing the need to build institutions capable of responding to large-scale disasters, the Government of Nepal (GoN) passed a National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM) in 2008. The NSDRM serves as a guide for shifting the government’s approach to DRM from disaster response to a focus on risk identification, vulnerability reduction, and improved preparedness and response capacity. Following this strategy, the GoN has embarked on the establishment of new institutional, legislative, and policy frameworks for DRM. The existing DRM structure faces several challenges, particularly the fact that the current DRM strategy consists of a reactive approach to natural disasters. This limitation is being addressed in the NSDRM. Furthermore, the existing capacities and institutions do not realize their full potential and legislation to enforce DRM practices is weak. There has been a lack of a broader awareness of the risks of natural disasters and possible response mechanisms, not only among the public, but also among government officials and public employees.
Approach
The World Bank and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery have focused their efforts on supporting the capacity building initiatives of the GoN, particularly on risk assessment activities. They recently assisted the Ministry of Home Affairs in organizing a probabilistic risk assessment training workshop focused on seismic risk from May 2-4, 2012 in Kathmandu. The event provided knowledge and skills training for conducing probabilistic risk assessments for multiple hazards using the CAPRA software and also discussed open data management using GeoNode platforms. Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, various government departments, municipalities, academic institutions, NGOs, and development partners participated. The CAPRA training workshop highlighted the need for a holistic approach to risk assessment in order to identify multi-hazard risk and use this information in decision-making and planning exercises aimed at reducing exposure to such risks..
Results
As a result of the World Bank/GFDRR’s engagement with the GoN and the CAPRA training workshop, a process to support the government’s efforts in conducting a comprehensive risk assessment is underway. The World Bank/GFDRR has plans to support Technical Assistant Programs for floods and landslide risk, flood vulnerability assessments in the Kosi Basin, and seismic risk assessments in select cities on a pilot basis.
