Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
EARTHQUAKE SAFETY AWARENESS IN NEPAL:
GLOBAL AND LOCAL PERSPECTIVES ON
EARTHQUAKE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Department of Civil & Geomatics Engineering,
Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal.
ABSTRACT
Earthquake disaster awareness
is an important issue to save human
lives and properties during earthquake
events. Various countries have their
own disaster management programs
as per their needs and feasibilities.
The disaster management procedures
may not be similarly applicable in all
the countries: the methods may
particularly vary between developed
and developing countries. After the
Gorkha Earthquake of April 25,
2015, it was realized that the
awareness of Nepalese community
was insufficient as many casualties
occurred. This paper intends to focus
on the methods and requirements for
the underdeveloped and developing
countries to promote the disaster
management schemes.
KEYWORDS
Seismic Awareness, Earthquake
disaster, Gorkha Earthquake, Disaster
management.
Prachand Man Pradhan
INTRODUCTION
A severe earthquake of
Moment Magnitude 7.8 triggered on
a gloomy day 25 April, 2015 at 11:56
am with epicenter at Barpak, Gorkha,
Nepal (Fig.1). Again, on May 12,
2015, its major aftershock of
magnitude 7.3 hit Dolkha, Nepal
(USGS 12/05/2015). These epicenters
are within the range of 200 km from
the Kathmandu valley. The tremors
of Gorkha earthquake occurred for
more than half a minute and the
situation was scary. Within a short
span of time, news were on air
reporting heavy human casualties as
many as 8,219 (MoHA, May 13,
2015) and huge loss of property. The
earthquake propagated from west to
east and as a result heavy shaking
was experienced in and around
Kathmandu city (USGS). The
earthquake had a devastating impact
on the existing infrastructures. A lot
of reinforced concrete, load bearing
and adobe structures suffered severe
damages. Many people were trapped
in the debris and many faced
psychological trauma.
Researchers around the globe
have had expected big earthquake in
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Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016

the Himalayan Belt due to some
seismicity gap of more than about 50
years. Thus, few concerned organiza-
tions were active in various ways for
the mitigation of earthquake
damages. There had been speculation
of large human losses and property
damages. However, the deaths were
quite less than that had been expected
for the earthquake of magnitude as
much as 7.8. Moreover, the structures
were not affected to the extent of the
expected damage. This was the
positive fold of the disastrous
earthquake. The negative side of the
coin existed in that even more human
lives could have been saved if the
pre-disaster measures were properly
planned.

Figure 1. Gorkha Earthquake (2015) Epicenter location.

EFFECTS OF EARTHQUAKES event takes place during daytime, the

situation can be mild. The disastrous
The effects of earthquakes are
events can also be dependent on the
usually observed through the deaths,
duration of ground-shaking and
injured and damage conditions of
population-density. Further prepared-
buildings. It would be inappropriate
ness for earthquake safety can make a
to compare the effect due to
big difference in achieving disaster
earthquakes in different countries as
resilience. If the people are aware of
the situation and conditions would
earthquake resistant design codes,
not be similar. The location, time and
quality control of construction
geotechnical conditions are the
materials and strict adherence to the
influential factors for the disastrous
construction principles for earthquake
events or intensity. The comparison
resistance, the vulnerability would be
for Haiti earthquake for magnitude 7
decreased considerably. Developed
shows huge casualties as compared to
countries usually perform better
the earthquake of Nepal of magnitude
against earthquakes and the reason is
7.8 (Table1). The time when the
well-known, ie., buildings strictly
earthquake takes place can be crucial.
comply with earthquake resistant
For instance, many people may get
design codes, which follow both
trapped during night times, but if the

76
 Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016

structural and geotechnical require- data of world earthquake, the

ments.
Referring to Table 1, it is not
possible to compare the casualties
and destruction levels due to certain
scale of earthquake as the effect is
dependent on many factors. Factors
like population density, duration of
earthquake motion, type of
construction, time of event, climatic
conditions, epicenter depth, location,
soil characteristics etc., can play
important roles in the effects.
Usually, the concept of large casualty
and damage for large earthquake may
not be anticipated for all the cases.
So, the events of earthquakes may
lead to unexpected results in terms of
damages and losses. From several
scenario of damage and losses can not
be easily identified and compared.
However, if the country is prepared
with disaster risk reduction frame-
works as of strict building code
implementations, action plans, safe
school regulations towards earthquake
disaster prevention policies, rescue
and rehabilitation planning and
preparations, back ups for energy and
communication facilities, storage of
fuel and food supplies, the resilience
of the country can increase. The
country can come to normal state at
the earliest. The academic and
economic situation will not take long
to normalize if the preparation is
done effectively.

Table1. Comparison of earthquake effects.

Earthquake Deaths injured Public Public Sources

house house
complete partially
damaged damaged
Gorkha EQ 8605 17868 487490 260292 http://www.codefornepal.org/en/2015/04/m
M7.8, Nepal ap-of-reported-nepalearthquake-deaths/
2015
Tohoku EQ M9, 15,782 4086+ 128,530 240,332 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/articl
Japan, 2011 e/pii/S0038080612000947

Haiti EQ, M7, 222,57 300,000 97,294 188,383 http://www.slideshare.net/PrabinTandan/ha

2010 0 iti-earthquake-presentation

North Sumatra 1313 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P

EQ, M8.7, MC3577382/table/T1/2012
Indonesia 2005
Northern Iran 1572 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
EQ, M7.3, Iran, MC3577382/table/T1/2012
1997
Bhuj EQ, M7.7, 20,023 167,000 400000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Gujarat
India, 2001 _earthquake
Hindukush EQ, 1000 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
M6.1, MC3577382/table/T1/2012
Afghanistan
2002
Southern 117 >500 34 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Taiwan_
Taiwan, M6.4, historical earthquake
2016 buildings

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Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016

EARTHQUAKE RISK MANAGE- national organizations have focused

MENT IN NEPAL on earthquake safety awareness
programs through trainings, drills,
The management of earthquake
conferences etc. Besides, academic
risk in developing countries deals
institutions are providing earthquake
with the same problems in principle
engineering courses in the under-
as are faced in developed countries
graduate and graduate levels.
(Dowrick, 2011). Since the developing
Even in relatively developed
countries have less available physical,
countries with well developed
financial, educational and administrative
bureaucracies, implementation of
resources, the scale of problems is
earthquake risk mitigation plans is
significant compared to that of
difficult. This problem can be partly
developed countries. Rapidly increasing
attributed to inadequate promotion of
population in cities, uncontrolled
research solutions by the researchers,
urbanization, inappropriate construction
partly due to inadequate language
materials and malpractices in con-
(Killip, 2001). The problem is also
struction technologies further make
possibly due to unwillingness to take
the situation worse in developing
the advice or the government being
countries. Developing countries have
unable to enforce the adoption of
to prioritize their dealing with the day
improved risk reduction measures.
to day problems, such as pollution of
One initiative taken by USA to
water and air, drinking water and
overcome this aspect of the problem
sanitation, health care, flood, poverty
was producing a guidebook called
rather than the infrequent damaging
FEMA313 (FEMA 313), through the
earthquakes. However, considering
Federal Emergency Management
the need of the safety of the popu-
Agency for the state earthquake and
lation and property, Government of
mitigation managers. While different
Nepal also has been putting some
countries have impediment to
efforts towards earthquake risk reduc-
earthquake risk reduction that differ
tion. A disaster mitigation action plan
from each other in detail and degree,
is designed by the Ministry of Home
they are nevertheless the same in
Affairs (MoHA). The Department of
principles (Dowrick, 2011). Thus,
Urban Development and Building
planning phases are designed by
Construction has its earthquake
learning from each other.
resistant design code, NBC 105:1994
In the earthquake risk reduction
and further its mandatory rule of
planning, there are three phases: pre-
thumb code, NBC 205: 1994, is being
earthquake planning, during the
implemented for earthquake resistant
earthquake response planning and
design of buildings without masonry
post disaster planning. Pre-disaster
in fills. However, after the big earth-
planning may include the preparation
quakes, the need of revising the codes
of building codes besides other
has not been seriously felt. Various
training, rescue and rehabilitation

78

plans. As pointed out earlier, the need
of enhanced code for earthquake
resistant design in Nepal is foreseen.
Rescue planning in Nepal has been
felt quite crude as compared to the
methods adapted by developed
countries. Even after a year of
disaster, the slow progress towards
rehabilitation indicates that still a lot
has to be done.
DIFFICULTIES IN EARTH-
QUAKE DISASTER MITIGA-
TION IN NEPAL
There are various difficulties
due to which disaster risk reduction is
not quite effectively achieved in
Nepal. Due to many reasons, with the
occurrence of big earthquakes, the
country suffers disastrous situations
and the resilience of the country
abruptly falls down. Vulnerability
will further increase if the country’s
resilience is not enhanced timely
when future calamity strikes. After
the Gorkha Earthquake, there were a
lot of international organizations
which cooperated with Nepal from
various means and modes. But as the
disaster mitigation action plan was
not quite effectively set up, the rescue
and rehabilitation works were
chaotic. Even after a year of the
event, many people are still home-
less. The financial, material, medical
and many other types of cooperation
and supports to the victims were not
reachable to the difficult sites where
the earthquake disaster took place.
This type of situation generally
Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
happens in the developing countries,
whereas in developed countries, the
resilience being strong, the countries
normalize within short span of time.
On March 11, 2011, Tohoku, north-
east of Japan was hit by a massive
earthquake of Magnitude (Mw) 9.
Residents of Tokyo received early
warning before the strong earthquake
from Japan’s earthquake early
warning system. The country's rigid
seismic building codes and early
warning system prevented many
deaths from the earthquake, by
stopping high-speed trains and
factory assembly lines. People in
Japan also received texted alerts of
the earthquake and tsunami warnings
on their cell phones (Oskin, 2015).
The magnitude 6.6 Mw Fuku-shima
Hamadōri earthquake occurred inland
on 11 April 2011 at 08:16 UTC at
a focal depth of 13 km (8.1 mi), about
36 km (22 mi) west of Iwaki, Fuku-
shima, or 161 km (100 mi) north-
northeast of Tokyo. The earthquake
caused little structural damage, killed
only four people and injured ten
others (Wikipedia, 2011). Immediate-
ly after the earthquake, the active
reactors automatically shut down
their sustained fission reactions. Such
is the situation in Japan towards
disaster management. Some of the
impediments in disaster management
in Nepal are as follows:
Governmental policy alteration and
job placements
The government’s effort in
the development of the earthquake
safety awareness seems to be far
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Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
unimaginable as per the uncertainty
and instability of the governmental
policies. The officials are often
replaced with the replacement of the
ruling party. This happens because
the officials are generally controlled
by the political parties that rule the
government, and once another
political party takes the lead, the
people involved in the policy making
are replaced by other officials.
Politicians at the national and
municipality levels do put some
effort in promoting seismic safety
conditions. However, as their term of
work keeps on changing frequently,
their interests do not come in to
action. This kind of situation is the
primary obstacle for Nepal in the
seismic risk mitigation sector.
Code revision and implementation
obstacles
After the 1988 earthquake in
Nepal, UNDP launched the Nepal
National Building Code Development
project (Sharpe, 2004). The project’s
aim was to assess the seismic hazard
and seismic risk of building
construction in Nepal, including the
development of earthquake design
strategies. The Nepalese code, which
deals with earthquake resistant
design, is somewhat similar to former
Indian Standards for criteria of
earthquake resistant design titled as
IS 1893: 1984. However, after the
Gujrat Earthquake in Bhuj, India,
which occurred on 26 January 2001,
with Moment Magnitude as big as
7.7, inadequacy of the Indian code
was felt due to large number of
80
casualties and economic losses.
Consequently, a revised code was
published soon in June 2002 as
IS1893 (part I): 2002. The revised
code ensures enhanced safety
measures for earthquake resistant
design works. Since both India and
Nepal lie in the same tectonic plate,
the applicability of the revised Indian
code is still acceptable in the
Nepalese context. Indian code is still
popular amongst the practicing
engineers because majority of design
literatures are available with Indian
code design applications.
Global and local expert advice
conflict
The trend in relying on
foreign expert advice is also found in
the case of earthquake safety as well
as other related cases. Despite having
national experts in earthquake
engineering sector in the country,
majority of decisions are considered
through foreign recommendations. It
is to be noted that the difficulties and
solutions of the nation would be best
met by the citizens of the country
rather than by those who are unaware
of the other country’s local condi-
tions. There may be unique situations
for the design of various structures in
our country. For instance, the
overhead bridges that spread in the
Kathmandu Metropolitan city are
supposed to be designed not only to
take care of the pedestrian load who
cross them, but considerable live load
need to be considered to take care of
situations of overcrowding during
some festivals. The necessity of

designing for such heavy loading will
be only understood by the local
designer. Similarly, many bridges and
structures are best designed by
Nepalese engineers with awareness of
local conditions.
Usually, the popular safety
advices during the earthquake event
are duck and cover the head. These
terms are meant to safeguard us from
the falling non-structural elements.
The safety awareness advice of
hiding oneself under the table or bed
was spread throughout the country.
But people were not clear about the
message that hiding under the solid
objects was fine only if they were
inside engineered buildings from
where they are unable to move out to
some safe open space. During the
Gorkha Earthquake in April 2015,
incidents were such that some people
hid themselves underneath the beds
and lost their lives due to building
collapse rather than moving out,
which could have possibly saved
them. Some even ran in the house to
take cover while they were staying
outside. Thus, the information for
safety measures must be spread
clearly. Global perspective of safety
measures of covering underneath
table may not be applicable to rural
areas. In Nepal, majority of adobe
structures are at the most three
storeys and the possibility of moving
out of the building is considered safer
than hiding inside the house. People
respond to earthquakes by virtue of
the reflex as the earthquakes take on
us without warning. Sometimes we
can not even make it out whether the
Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
earthquake hit us or was it something
else. Generally, the global safety
measure considers mock drills and
other safety awareness programs
through radio, TV and newspapers.
Each year Earthquake Safety Day is
marked in Nepal as awareness
towards earthquake safety. Local
suggestions are well-conceived by the
public in city areas while the rural
areas are still having misconceptions
in the safety awareness messages.
Lessons not learnt from the past
earthquake
Earthquake risk reduction is
greatly dependent on the lessons
learnt from the past earthquakes.
Nepal has faced big and small
earthquakes in the past but national
researches are not prioritized
compared to other basic needs. Thus,
the events of disasters are forgotten
soon and the resilience of the country
would not improve if such activity
prevails. The lessons learnt from
1934 earthquake of magnitude 8.4
Richter scale had unfortunately been
forgotten by 1988. The reinforced
concrete structures have replaced the
traditional types of buildings. The
non consideration of earthquake re-
sistant design in majority of the
buildings has indicated that huge
disaster could be possible in case of
earthquake events. The buildings
being constructed in the cities do not
undergo strict enforcement of codal
requirement checks. Many buildings
collapsed during 2015 earthquakes
due to these reasons. Mild steel was
replaced by Tor steel some decades
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Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
back, and to worsen the situation, the
brittle TMT bars are the only
reinforcing bars available in the
market. The engineering is being
directed by the market availability of
such construction materials leading
us against the ductility requirements.
The foundations of load bearing
structures are usually not designed,
just some mandatory thumb rules are
applied. There may be ample exam-
ples that the design philosophies for
earthquake resistance have been
overlooked in the country, inviting
catastrophic situations.
Lack of Coordination between the
organizations
Not too long after the first
seismic hazard map being published
in 1994 by the UNDP code project,
other organizations too planned to
undertake seismic micro-zonation of
Kathmandu valley. The latter
published reports suggested diverted
results from the previous one. The
latter researches were considered to
have been carried out disregarding
the original developer’s ideas and
views (Sharpe, 2004). This gestures
the disagreement between the ex-
perts. Consorted and coordinated
effort is necessary to improve the
situation.
In the Gorkha Earthquake of
2015, huge support came from
international sectors in the form of
cash and kinds, rescue and rehabili-
tations. However, due to unplanned
coordination, the victims could not be
effectively comforted. Even after a
year, many are still homeless and the
82
reconstruction of shelters and heri-
tage structures is still barred.
Disregards to simple technology
With the misconception that
the cost of earthquake resistant
buildings would be too high, people
would rather not consult a structural
engineer. Simple technology could be
effective and inexpensive while
earthquake resistant features could be
achieved. In some cases, simple,
inexpensive solutions can solve
common problems (Sharpe, 2004).
The cost of reinforced concrete
construction would not go beyond 12
percent of the total cost of non-
engineered construction and the
increased amount is worth spending.
Actually, the earthquake resistant
construction may be acquired just by
technically following some simple
rules rather than spending huge
amount for reinforcements in
concrete buildings. Similar is the case
of adobe structures, where proper
laying of stones or brick-works and
consideration of simple technical
rules could enhance the building
strength considerably. The concrete
codes of various countries have
already pointed out that the minimum
grade of concrete for structural works
would preferably be M20 (IS
456:2000). Thus, at least the charac-
teristic compressive strength must be
20N/mm2, but the use of M15
(compressive strength of 15 N/mm2)
still prevails. The reinforcing bars in
columns must not be less than of 12
mm in diameter, but people still use
the bars of lesser diameter than 12

mm. People still consider that the
concrete would perform well if the
appearance is clean by providing
excessive water-cement ratio than
that is prescribed. Due to the scarcity
of water, curing is not considered
essential and the use of cement which
may have been stored for quite a long
time is still considered fine. To
minimize the cost of construction,
supervision of construction is not
considered essential. Use of bamboos
for compacting concrete is still
popular in rural areas of Nepal, which
actually can not be compared with the
mechanical vibrator. Providing con-
finement rings in columns and beams
has to follow certain rule of locking
length of 10 times of the diameter of
the rings, but the prescribed length is
not followed strictly. The sands being
used in most of the constructions are
obtained from the sand-mines which
are abundantly mixed with clay. Clay
prevents cement from binding with
sand, aggregate and steel. Thus, the
structure constructed by using such
sand would not perform as per the
desire of the designer. Disregard to
simple technology thus indicates that
the structures constructed with such a
practice would not be reliable to
resist earthquake forces.
Low priority to research works
Huge researches and funding
are prioritized by most of the
developed countries in the sector of
disaster mitigation. Even the indus-
tries related to construction sectors
invest in researches for quality
products and better market. The
Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
situation is not the same in case of
Nepal where the quality of
construction materials is not control-
able. The construction materials are
governed by the industries and they
produce their products much caring
for their financial gains rather than
the technical need. For instance, Tor
Steel contributes better in terms of
ductility to concrete structures com-
pared to Thermo Mechanically
Treated (TMT) bars but Tor steel is
no longer available in market. Since
the cost of fabrication of TMT bars is
cheaper, the steel industries have
stopped producing Tor Steel bars and
the users are compelled to use TMT
bars in construction. Cement, sand,
steel, aggregates are the major
construction materials and if their
qualities are not controlled, earth-
quake risk reduction would not be
possible. Researches and funding
must be floated in order to acquire
the knowledge for safety considera-
tions in the construction sector. There
are a lot of industries in the world
contributing financially in the form of
grants, research scholarships, train-
ings, etc for researches in earthquake
engineering education. Such comple-
mentary efforts will ultimately im-
prove the business sector as well.
Frequent workshops and technical
sessions must be held throughout the
country to spread public awareness in
earthquake resistant technology and
materials.
Less importance to human value
In the developed countries,
human value is prioritized while it is
83
Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
not the same in the developing
country. The time the country starts
considering importance to human
value the indication of development
can be visualized. The earthquake
disaster is of such a kind that within
seconds, huge casualties can take
place with wide spread havoc and
secondary effects such as tsunami,
epidemics, fire etc. Thus, the nation
must give priority in saving human
lives by all means. Particularly, the
lives of children must be given first
priority in safety. So, school buil-
dings must be designed and con-
structed with full capacity to resist
earthquake forces. The focus to save
children is pointed out because
usually children are the most effected
group during the earthquake disas-
ters. If the young generation is wiped
off, it will be a setback for the
country’s development for more than
some decades.
Formation of National committee
members without seeking for proper
experts
After the Gorkha earthquake
disaster, with the aim to rehabilitation
works, the nation has established a
National Reconstruction Authority.
Despite the formation of the high
level committee, the situation of
victims and earthquake hit areas is
still unimproved. The government
could have formed the committee
with energetic experts who have
diversified knowledge. If the com-
mittee includes members with un-
updated and irrelevant expertise, then
the consequence is slow progress.
84
Computer technology has become so
advanced that within short stretch of
time, the experts both from academic
and professional sectors working in
the disaster management, earthquake
engineering or structural engineering
sector can be identified. Right people
in right place can only make the
program of earthquake safety
awareness effective in disaster
mitigation sector. This is one of the
best examples that may be taken from
majority of the developed countries.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that the
national policy in earthquake safety
and disaster mitigation action plan be
implemented strictly as planned,
disregarding the change in the
government. It would be excellent if
a government is allowed to work
completely till its tenure. Building
codes must be revised time to time
and strictly enforced. Quality control
regulations and design checking
authority should be properly managed
with experts. Involvement of re-
searchers and academicians is a must
in the development of codes and
regulations. As the local problems are
well perceived by local experts, while
taking international supports, sugges-
tions from local experts also need to
be taken.
The country should not forget
its past earthquake disaster effects.
The indigenous technology in
monumental structure designs as well
as in general building constructions

must not be ignored. New researches
must be done in establishing codal
rules.
The coordination between
government bodies as non-govern-
mental organizations is essential not
only during the disastrous events but
also prior to disaster during the
planning period. The disaster mitiga-
tion action plan has to be prepared
and hierarchical control of authority
must be defined from the Govern-
ment top levels to the rural commu-
nity.
The basic knowledge of
earthquake resistant technology must
be provided to technical personnel in
municipality, district and rural areas
for every kind of building construc-
tion. When earthquake strikes, it can
ruin the affected area to any extent,
be it village or city, so the building
design codes should be strictly
enforced throughout the country, not
just within the municipality.
Business houses and indus-
trialists must realize that their
products should be quality controlled
and they should invest for the
researches in construction sectors. If
some investment is done in research
works in engineering, it will ulti-
mately result in healthy pay-back to
them. Research funding, scholarship
and grants can be the appropriate
forms of initiation.
Human value must be ho-
nored by the government because the
country runs by the revenue of tax
paid by the citizen. So, to save the
human lives, the government should
put all the possible efforts.
Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016
Younger generation of experts
must be given opportunities. Their
feedback as well as involvement as
think-tank is essential. Advices and
suggestions from seniors and retired
experts may be essential in the
planning phases of disaster manage-
ments, but the government must not
forget the potentials of the uprising
experts.
CONCLUSIONS
Earthquake safety awareness
in developing country must be
prioritized to save the life and
property of the citizen. Awareness
programs should be programmed in
such a way that the general public
understands things easily without any
misconceptions. Local need and
capacity must be visualized and
accordingly the action plans should
be prepared. Sometimes, the
approaches conceptualized by deve-
loped countries may not be viable in
developing countries. Thus, local and
global perceptions towards earth-
quake safety mitigation may not be
similar. Experts from the developed
countries may not be able to give
proper solutions to local problems,
for which local expert-ideas must be
taken. Government plays vital role in
earthquake safety awareness and it
must have broader vision of adopting
experts from within the country. The
earthquake disaster mitigation can be
achieved successfully by supporting
researches by industries through
healthy competitions in construction-
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Volume 4 Number 1, January 2016

material production. As mentioned Development and Building

above, right people in right place can Construction, Nepal.
only be one of the possibilities for the Oskin, B. (2015). Japan Earthquake
successful implementation for mitiga- & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and
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Sharpe, R. (2004). Supporting Local
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Experts: Experience in Nepal
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and India. Proceedings of the
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http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/fe
Mitigation Managers. Retrie-
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.org/wiki/April_2011_Fukush
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IS 456:2000. (2000). Code of Prac-
tice for Plain and Reinforced
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How to Communicate Your
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Engineering to Clients and
Building Owners. Retrieved
from http://drrportal.gov.np/
NBC 105:1994 (1994). Seismic
Design of Buildings in Nepal,
Govt. of Nepal. Department
of Urban Development and
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NBC205:1994 (1994). Mandatory

Rules of Thumb Reinforced
Concrete Buildings without
Masonry Infill. Govt. of
Nepal. Department of Urban

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