Ankit Adhikari

If a major quake strikes the Capital city, more than one million people are likely to be homeless. One of the biggest challenges in the Kathmandu Valley will be finding spaces to accommodate the homeless. The government of Nepal and UN agencies have attempted to address this problem.

In a joint study conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 84 open spaces have been identified in Kathmandu that could be used for humanitarian support in the event of a crisis.

In those 84 spaces, the report says, 792,698 Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) can be accommodated, but in a very crowded condition, which is likely to increase other humanitarian problems like water crisis, sanitation, and food.

The project has categorised large, medium and small areas in Kathmandu that have the potential to be used as accommodation centres or for other purposes for the IDPs. According to the report, an estimated population of 3.5 million are currently living within the confines of the Valley. Considering the high number of sub-standard constructions, a major earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale would destroy about 60 percent of these buildings.

The report recommends that schools be used as reception centres where IDPs may assemble for registration, following which their placement procedure could begin. For this, the government has to identify retrofitted schools in the

Valley as soon as possible, the report suggests, adding that 3,150,000 square meters worth of open area would be required to provide 900,000 people with covered shelters.

The report offers a list of potential sites by identifying them at three different levels—large, medium and small. Large camps have been defined as those that could accommodate 30,000 to 90,000 people. The study identified two large blocks of land (875,043 square meters) at Tribhuvan University in Kirtipur and the National Agricultural Research Centre in Lalitpur (305,470 square meters) that could function as camps falling under the “large” category.

According to the report, these areas could hold up to 118,051 people together and be suitable for long-term accommodation, with the provision of some of the site services within the camps.

Medium-sized camps have been defined as those that could accommodate 20,000 to 45,000 people in a covered area (3.5 square meters per person). The report suggests six medium camps with the capability of holding up to 286,908 people. The planning for this is based on only providing covered living accommodation, with other camp facilities outside the site.

The Ratnapark/Tundikhel area (155,400 square meters), the airport and Golf Club site (253,327 square meters), the southern end of the runway of the International Airport (146,575 square meters), the Oxygenation Park on the banks of Bagmati River opposite Tribhuvan University (146,604 square meters), Gokarna Golf Club (178,212 square meters) and Birendra Sainik School in Bhaktapur (134,564 square meters) have been proposed as potential medium camps.

The small camps, the report defines, are 75 places that could accommodate accommodate approximately 387,739 people—3.5 square meters per person. Among the possibilities are Satdobato, Balkumari, Jawalakhel, Pulchowk, Pulchowk Engineering College, Lagankhel, Tribhuvan University, Bagbazaar, Naxal, greater Pashupati, Sinamangal, Lainchaur, Teku, Chabahil, Balaju, Sallaghari-Tinkune-Bhaktapur, among various other schools and colleges.

“The density of the camps may pose significant challenges to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), food distribution and security,” the report reads. “Water emerged as the most critical of the planning factors. In the event of an earthquake, it is expected that 95 percent of water pipes could be destroyed and pumping capacity reduced by half. Using Sphere Standards of 15 litres per person per day, 13.5 million litres per day would be required for the IDPs. Additional water would be required for the rest of the population, which would be equivalent to 52.5 million litres per day (based on a population of 3.5 million).”

Stating that a UNICEF project has already constructed five deep tube-wells in Lalitpur district in preparation for a potential disaster, the study recommends that additional such tube-wells be built after receiving appropriate technical advice on whether or not the wells can survive an earthquake.

Going according to the WASH requirements in the event of a crisis, the report suggests one latrine be maintained for every 10 households or 50 individuals.

Similarly, the report recommends the maintenance of one hand pump and bathing space each for every 20 households or 100 individuals and a garbage pit for every 40 households or 200 individuals.

source: Adhikari, Ankit(2011),"84 open spaces in Valley for emergenc accommodation", The Kathmandu Post. 27 Dec 2011