Author : Manoj Bakhunchhe Shrestha 1
Date of Publication :24th January 2018
Abstract: The Barpak, Gorkha, Nepal earthquake of moment magnitude 7.8 which shook nearly 1 minute on 25th of April 2015 and its aftershock magnitude 7.3 shook for more than 30 seconds on 12th of May 2015 was catastrophic. Among the 14 severely affected districts, the historical district Bhaktapur was also affected because of compact ancient Newari settlements of improperly maintained much mud mortar buildings. This research was conducted to assess the situation and the impact of the catastrophic earthquake on the communities of study sites by numerous field visit, secondary data and PRA. There were 17,698 numbers of houses in Bhaktapur municipality in which 5,950 houses were completely damaged and 2,092 were partially damaged. Similarly, Earthquake killed 252 people and 397 were injured badly. In addition, 116 monuments were damaged where 67 were completely damaged and 49 suffered from partial damages including centuries-old buildings of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Bhaktapur Durbar Square. Out of 865 houses, 53.33% buildings were of Adobe plus Mud joint typology whereas 8.68%, 14.43% and 23.55% were Adobe plus Brick in Cement, Brick in Cement and RC Frame buildings respectively. They were analyzed by using SPSS and R software. Based on different four damage characteristics; Adobe plus Mud mortar buildings were 28.65 times more damaged than RC Frame. Similarly, 12.5 times of Adobe plus Brick in Cement and 8.2 times of Brick in Cement were seen more damage than RC Frame typology. Therefore, people should construct new houses and retrofit of damaged buildings by the supervision of engineers to preserve historical and cultural iconic view. Strict implementation in a proactive way of building bylaws and building code is necessary by both house owners and concerned authority
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