School Construction as Catalysts for Community Change: Evidence from Safer School Construction Projects in Nepal

Abstract

Organizations in Nepal have retrofitted weak school buildings using earthquake-resistant construction techniques for over a decade. Some of these safer school projects have been carried out as technical interventions only, while others have been embedded within programs of community engagement, masonry training, and oversight. Following the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, 12 school sites were assessed through visual inspection and a series of community interviews to understand the impacts of safer school construction projects on local perceptions and construction practice. Compared to communities that had received technical intervention only, or no intervention at all, communities that had experienced community engagement were more knowledgeable of earthquake-resistant construction techniques and reported more adoption of these techniques in housing construction. They also evidenced more trust in the school building, using it as shelter following the earthquake. Community engagement can amplify the benefit of future school retrofit and reconstruction projects, simultaneously building social and infrastructure capital.

An Analytical Study on the Damage to School Buildings by the 2015 Nepal Earthquake and Damage Level-Based Reconstruction Experience

“…To build a culture of disaster prevention, various programs and international campaigns have been launched in different parts of the world, but in some of the most vulnerable and disaster-prone areas, there are still a large set of factors that must be addressed for this purpose. In addition to making various efforts to reduce loss of life, destruction of property, and disruption of society and economy, the objectives of disaster prevention programs also include building safer communities, particularly focusing on community participation in disaster prevention efforts, training programs for local masons and technicians, and disaster prevention-related training programs for students, teachers, and communities, e.g., [32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

“…Without their involvement, the reconstruction program implementation may be sometimes misunderstood. Paci-Green et al [33] conducted a survey in this relation after the 2015 Nepal Earthquake. They reported that the community-engaged projects showed better knowledge of disaster risk and earthquake-resistant construction technology in people.…”