Earthquake Preparedness Policy in Nepal

Abstract

Earthquake preparedness policy is described as a faltering policy process in Nepal. By reconstructing a chain of policy events at the national and international level, it is shown that relevant policy knowledge was already available by international networks in the early 1990s and was also used for national policy initiatives at that time. Effective building regulation, however, was introduced only late and inconsistently. The sluggish and faltering policy process is essentially explained by (1) a cultural and developmental context in which governments are overloaded with clashing problems, displacing creeping policy issues; (2) endemic policy discontinuity and inconsistency generated by political instability; (3) weak infrastructural power in which public administration is unable to implement policy choices on the ground; (4) rampant corruption, slowing down consistent policy enforcement and compliance with building regulation.