The sample survey of around 5000 buildings across the valley carried out by the Nepal Engineers' Association (NEA) in collaboration with the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) shows that 65 per cent of the buildings in the Valley are still safe and inhabitable even after the deadly earthquake that destroyed nearly 200,000 buildings across the country.
"Many houses in the Valley have developed cracks but all such houses are not unsafe. Sixty-five percent of the existing buildings are safe and livable," said NEA President Dhurba Thapa.The NEA had deployed 200 teams comprising of 2000 architects to carry out visual damage assessment of over 5,000 buildings in the Valley for the survey. Each team led by an experienced architect had conducted the survey over the past four days, said NEA officials.
"After examining the damage trends during our sample survey across the Valley, we have come to the conclusion that around 65 per cent of the buildings in the valley are safe and livable, 22 per cent of the buildings have been partially damaged but repairable and 13 per cent of the buildings have been completely damaged," said Thapa.
He said that the damage assessment of the buildings was carried out in all the quake -affected areas of the Valley.
Most of the old mud houses, among other buildings, collapsed in the Valley during the earthquake, the study shows. NEA officials said most of the partially damaged houses have cracked walls but the pillar frames have been found intact, which means such houses are repairable and comparatively safe.
"We found that the buildings in Sitapaila, Gongabu, Kausaltar and Lokanthali have been found mostly affected by the earthquake," said he.
Of the total 614,777 buildings in the Valley, 50,984 buildings have been completely damaged and 41,066 buildings partially damaged in the earthquake, according to the home ministry. In the Kathmandu district alone, 27,640 houses have been destroyed. Similarly, 16,344 houses have been destroyed in Lalitpur district.
The NEA and DUDBC had jointly given training to 2,000 architects before deploying them for the damage assessment survey.
Meanwhile, a visual damage assessment of DUDBC has found the building of Kathmandu Metropolitan City office at Bag Durbar severely damaged by the earthquake and, therefore, unsafe for use.
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