Khwopa Engineering College and Khwopa College of Engineering jointly organized the Second International Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Post Disaster Reconstruction Planning (ICEE-PRDP 2019) on Thursday. The program will commence on April 27. Narayan Man Bijukchhe, the Chairman of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) inaugurated the program.

Bijukchhe said that the government should try to minimize the impacts of such disasters at all three levels; federal, state, and local. He also emphasized on how colleges could help in influencing the government by sharing knowledge and experience.

Secretary of NWPP, Prem Suwal discussed on the balanced development of the country. “A balanced development will help in minimizing losses from natural disasters like earthquake,” he said.

 Sunil Prajapati, President of Khwopa Engineering College board of directors said that 7,62,604 houses were completely damaged in the 2015 earthquake. “Only 3,82,600 houses have been reconstructed. Four years post the earthquake, hundreds of thousands of houses are yet left to be reconstructed,” he added. 

Prajapati also stated that so far, Rs 23,37,78,000 has already been spent on reconstruction of 32 heritages only in Bhaktapur.

Dilli Raman Niraula, Chairman, Nepal Engineering Council said, “Rather than the earthquakes, it is  the flawed construction of houses that contributes to hefty losses.” He also emphasized on the need of earthquake-resistant structures.