The Path to Housing Recovery Nepal Earthquake 2015: Housing Reconstruction (December 2020 Fifth Anniversary Edition)

The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), published by the GoN in June 2016, identified housing as the most affected sector with the per capita average cost of earthquake damage ranging from 255,860 NPRs in Dolakha to 43,800 NPRs in Makwanpur, at an average of 130,000 NPRs per person across the 14 most affected districts. The PDNA also estimated that an additional 2.5% to 3.5% of the population, at least 700,000 people, would be pushed into poverty in the year following the quake as a result of the disaster. 

This document presents a timeline of key achievements and activities so far in the housing recovery, as well as including a pre-earthquake section in an attempt to highlight the decades of work on earthquake preparedness and response in Nepal which preceded 25 April 2015. It is hoped that this timeline has already contributed to, and will continue to contribute to increased awareness and understanding of the huge number of policies, procedures, and guidelines that have been developed for the recovery process. The timeline also highlights the winter and monsoon seasons and COVID-19 pandemic to emphasise the impact that they have during construction seasons. This document captures the progress, milestones and significant events during the recovery period from April 2015 till November 2020. Furthermore, this document also briefly captures milestones between 1934 till 2015 that has impacts on current recovery period.

There are many lessons from the recovery process so far which demand reflection; we must learn from these and carry them forward in the years ahead to the completion of the housing reconstruction. Overall, this timeline looks to emphasise the enormous efforts made by all recovery actors, at all levels, but most of all by those in earthquake affected communities, to achieve the progress over the past four years.