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Nepal was struck by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on the 25th of
April 2015 followed by another powerful quake and numerous
aftershocks, killing9,000people and injuring100,000; it destroyed
500,000 houses and damaged 269,000 more (UNOCHA, 2015). In
the Kathmandu valley, approximately 3.94 million tons of debris
was generated – in other words the“equivalent of nearly 11 years
of waste was generated in one day” (Gyawali, 2015).
The waste generated included building, medical, electrical,
laboratory, industrial and petroleum waste and paint materials,
some of which ended up in groundwater or rivers (Ministry of
Science, Technology and Environment, 2015), as well as health care
related waste used in the response phase. The largest amount of
waste was building debris, consisting of bricks, wood and concrete
(Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, 2015).
The enormous amount of waste and debris overwhelmed the waste
management capacities of the Nepali Government and its citizens;
in fact, the municipalities responsible for waste management were
already having difficulties managing waste prior to the earthquake.
Only 5 out of 191 municipalities had sanitary landfill sites and the
Solid Waste Management Act of Nepal did not cover disaster waste.
Therefore, the earthquake put an enormous burden onmunicipalities
that were already struggling (Ministry of Science, Technology and
Environment, 2015); municipalities were not able to manage the
waste for several weeks after the earthquake (UNEP, 2015).
Clearing the waste was largely the responsibility of local
communities. People tried to clear their own debris and reuse
bricks, wood and other materials to reconstruct their homes. This
significantly reduced the volume of waste that had to be disposed
of, but also created safety concerns as most people did not have
the tools or knowledge needed to safely rebuild their houses. It
is estimated that 80 per cent of the debris in Kathmandu will be
recycled with or without the Government’s help (Gyawali, 2015).
Building contractors contributed by buying reusable bricks and
wood to keep up with the increased demand. The United Nations
Development Programme also supported in managing debris
and demolition activities by training demolition workers and
local community members under a cash-for-work scheme. As of
November 2015, this scheme had managed to safely demolish
2,500 buildings, assess 4,000 buildings, manage 138,000 cubic
metres of debris and hire almost 2,800 people (UNDP, 2015a).
CASE STUDY
Disaster waste – managing the equivalent of 11 years of waste after
the 2015 Nepal earthquake
Earthquake damage in Bhaktapur.
Photo
©
UNDP Nepal/Laxmi Prasad Ngakhusi