The Gorkha Earthquake changed the course of politics, economy and infrastructure.
Saturday, 25 April 2015.
Around 11.56 am that day, a mega earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred in western Nepal, said to be the 11th most earthquake-prone country in the world. The Barpak region in the eastern part of Gorkha district was the epicenter. The hypocenter was too close to the earth surface, barely at a depth of 8-10 kilometers. The devastating Gorkha Earthquake lasted roughly "50 long seconds".
To recap, an estimated 9,000 people were killed across Nepal, parts of Tibet to the north, the Indian State of Assam and Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka to the southeast. Well over 20,000 were injured. Tens of thousands of houses were destroyed, rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless within less than a minute. The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mt Everest, killing over 20 people. That is said to be the 'deadliest incident' on the mountain on the record. An estimated 250 tourists were reported missing in another huge avalanche in the Langtang Valley. Historical monuments, many of them listed as the World Heritage Site, were razed to rubble.
The Gorkha Earthquake was the second worst earthquake to strike Nepal since the 'Great' Earthquake (Mw 8.4) of 1934, which, studies suggest, resulted in more than 10,000 deaths in the Kathmandu Valley.
The Nepal Earthquake 2015 Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) states: "The catastrophic earthquake was followed by more than 300 aftershocks greater than magnitude 4.0 (as of 7 June 2015). Four aftershocks were greater than magnitude 6.0, including one measuring 6.8 which struck 17 days after the first big one with the epicenter near Mount Everest. To date, there are over 8,790 casualties and 22,300 injuries."
Over half a million houses were destroyed. Poorer rural areas were more adversely affected than towns and cities due to their inferior quality of houses. Also, according to the PDNA, more women and girls died than men and boys, partly because of gendered roles that disproportionately assigned indoor chores to women.
Post-2015 earthquake reshapes Nepal's construction industry
The horrors of the day remain, and shall remain, etched into the minds of millions of Nepalis living mainly across 31 districts of western and central Nepal, 14 of them worst-affected. Tales of deaths, devastations and horrors will be passed down the generations.
Macroeconomic impacts
The Earthquake had a great macroeconomic impact, incurring damage and losses worth an estimated $ 7 billion – roughly NRs 700 billion. The tourism sector was hit hard owing to a 40% drop in the months following the catastrophic earthquake. Hundreds of historical and cultural monuments at least a century old were either destroyed or extensively damaged and tourist arrivals dropped significantly.
The Government of Nepal (GoN) made an official request for international assistance within hours of the earthquake. Over time, 134 international SAR teams from 34 countries responded to Nepal’s request for help. Although Nepal received aid pledges worth over $ 4 billion, the actual disbursement was slow and fell short.
However, the construction sector and the cement industries boomed amid massive and aggressive rebuilding efforts.
Silver lining
Earthquakes – big or small – are Earth's natural geological processes and can occur anytime, anywhere in the world. The big ones are bound to have long-term impacts – some of which may even be positive.
The Gorkha Earthquake is one such, with major long-term impacts across the board. It changed the course of politics, economy and infrastructure.
Constitution Promulgation
The promulgation of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in September 2015 was perhaps the single most significant achievement of the 601-member Constituent Assembly which was re-elected in November 2013. The first Constituent Assembly, elected in April 2008 with a two-year mandate, had failed to deliver the constitution even as its tenure was extended till 2013. However, the first Assembly made that historic declaration on 28 May 2008, formally abolishing the over 240-year-old monarchy and turning Nepal into a federal republic.
The devastating earthquake of April 2015 gave a much-needed impetus to the constitution-drafting process, deadlocked through the first Assembly. After the constitution was promulgated, the second Assembly transitioned into a legislative parliament, serving until October 2017 and setting the stage for three tiers of elections – general elections, provincial elections and the local level elections – under the new Constitution in the world's youngest secular, federal republic.
In the years following the mega quake, Nepal has seen tectonic shifts in political alliances, high magnitude ego tussles between the "top" political actors and rather frequent changes in the government.
Stricter building codes
Construction was another sector that saw major improvements in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake. Post-disaster, Nepal introduced stricter building codes and incorporated earthquake resilient design and engineering practices. Unskilled and untrained masons, for long the backbone of Nepal’s real estate and construction sector, were given formal training to ensure safer, more reliable construction techniques.
Major urban centers, including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur, retrofitted and reinforced historical and cultural structures that were partially damaged or at risk.
It is now reasonable to state that, should another high-magnitude earthquake strike the same regions, the scale of destruction and loss would likely be significantly reduced.
The gaps
Ten years on, much has changed for the better as Nepal prepares to graduate from its long-held status as a Least Developed Country to that of a developing nation by 2026. What has not changed is the way the political parties and their leaders conduct affairs in government, parliament, or in responding to the needs of the people.
Governance remains weak. Bureaucratic inefficiency and rampant corruption is at full-scale display. The Constitution guarantees an independent judiciary, without functional autonomy. Regulatory bodies only serve instruments of the ruling party. Key public appointments appear to be politically or financially motivated. A striking example is the prolonged vacancy at the Nepal Rastra Bank: even as the country struggles through an economic slowdown there is no hurry to appoint the Governor. Parliament has become a battleground for political maneuvering at the expense of its core business of making laws. Disillusionment is widespread. Thousands of young Nepalis continue to seek employment overseas, particularly in Malaysia and the Gulf states.
As Nepal looks to the future and as the country struggles to get its economy back on track, the countrymen and women keep their fingers crossed praying for things to change for the better. They should. The hope still remains that the tragedy, etched in the minds of millions, will serve as a catalyst for a better, stronger and fairer Nepal.
