Towards a safer Bajhang

The pages that follow present an earthquake scenario for the district of Bajhang, Nepal. It tells the story of three people, and what happens to them and their families during a plausible but hypothetical earthquake. This is not a prediction. This story, and the study upon which it is based, are intended as an example of what may happen if a major earthquake strikes Bajhang in the near future. Bajhang will always face a risk of earthquakes. The Main Himalayan Thrust fault, which underlies much of Nepal, is the source for potentially very damaging earthquakes. The last very large earthquake in this region occurred in BS 1562 / 1505 AD. 1 Another earthquake could occur any time, because strain has been increasing on the fault ever since. This scenario shows the consequences of such an event, and the knowledge can be used to plan for safer outcomes. The story incorporates insights from professionals around the world who study earthquake effects, research on historic earthquakes, and documented experiences from the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. The consequences are based on standard methods that engineers and scientists use to estimate the shaking, damage and human impact a given earthquake may cause. The scenario earthquake strikes on a weekday in May at 1:35 PM. Across the district, adults are working, and children are on recess at school. Measuring magnitude 7.8, the earthquake originates approximately 100 kilometers northwest of Jayaprithivi on the Main Himalayan Thrust fault. It is not the worst earthquake that could happen, but it causes serious losses and suffering. Shaking throughout Bajhang and most of Sudurpashchim Pradesh is very strong, causing the consequences explained in this narrative: casualties, damaged buildings, landslides, fire, isolation, loss of power and water, and economic hardship.

Documento técnico: Lineamientos para la implementación del proceso de rehabilitación y del proceso de reconstrucción en los servicios de salud frente a emergencias y desastres 2018 / Technical document: Guidelines for the implementation of the rehabilitation process and the reconstruction process in the health services in the face of emergencies and disasters 2018

La publicación describe las líneas de acción, las directrices y los enfoques estratégicos en el proceso de rehabilitación y en el proceso de reconstrucción, bajo las cuales los servicios de salud deben desarrollar sus intervenciones en emergencias y desastres, a fin de garantizar una adecuada atención de salud frente a emergencias y desastres

Política nacional: Hospitales seguros frente a los desastres / National policy: Hospitals safe from disasters

La publicación describe los criterios expresados, las recomendaciones formuladas y los términos empleados para aplicar en la protección de los establecimientos de salud esenciales--especialmente los hospitales--a fin de evitar las consecuencias evitables de los desastres

Política nacional: Hospitales seguros frente a los desastres / National policy: Hospitals safe from disasters

La publicación describe los criterios expresados, las recomendaciones formuladas y los términos empleados para aplicar en la protección de los establecimientos de salud esenciales--especialmente los hospitales--a fin de evitar las consecuencias evitables de los desastres.

Política nacional: Hospitales seguros frente a los desastres / National policy: Hospitals safe from disasters

La publicación describe los criterios expresados, las recomendaciones formuladas y los términos empleados para aplicar en la protección de los establecimientos de salud esenciales--especialmente los hospitales--a fin de evitar las consecuencias evitables de los desastres

Política nacional: Hospitales seguros frente a los desastres / National policy: Hospitals safe from disasters

La presente publicación describe los criterios expresados, las recomendaciones formuladas y los términos empleados para aplicar en la protección de los establecimientos de salud esenciales--especialmente los hospitales--a fin de evitar las consecuencias evitables de los desastres

Documento técnico: Lineamientos para la implementación del proceso de rehabilitación y del proceso de reconstrucción en los servicios de salud frente a emergencias y desastres 2017 / Technical document: Guidelines for the implementation of the rehabilitation process and the reconstruction process in the health services in the face of emergencies and disasters 2017

Describe las líneas de acción, las directrices y los enfoques estratégicos en el proceso de rehabilitación y en el proceso de reconstrucción, bajo las cuales los servicios de salud deben desarrollar sus intervenciones en emergencias y desastres, a fin de garantizar una adecuada atención de salud frente a emergencias y desastres

Background papers and supplementary technical information

Population growth and the built environment are the primary root causes of morbidity and mortality associated with earthquakes. Earthquakes generally do not cause death and injury, but rather it is the buildings in which people are located and the contents therein that are directly responsible for human mortality and morbidity. Protective action messaging is intended to provide members of the public with information that can be recalled and acted on during earthquake shaking to reduce the chance of death and injury. In order to design appropriate guidance for developing protective action messages for earthquakes, it is important to understand their human impact­that is, how people are injured and killed during earthquake shaking. The purpose of this background paper is to describe the epidemiology of deaths and injuries during earthquakes. The paper will address the major causes of death and injury from earthquakes, including what the research indicates about injuries to building occupants who walk or run, the likelihood of death or injury from earthquakes, the likelihood of death or injury from earthquake-related building collapse, the likelihood of death or injury from substandard building evacuation routes during earthquakes, and other sudden onset threats, such as tsunami or fire. The health effects of earthquakes can be categorized in a variety of ways. Combs, Quenemoen, Parrish, and Davis (1999) developed a typology, which has been adopted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for categorizing the health effects attributable to earthquakes and other disasters based on two parameters: (1) the time the death or injury occurs relative to the event, and (2) whether the event is directly or indirectly related to the disaster. Deaths and injuries that are directly related are those that are caused by the physical forces of the event, whereas indirectly related deaths and injuries are, "those caused by unsafe or unhealthy conditions that occur because of the anticipation, or actual occurrence, of the disaster" (Combs et al., 1999, p. 1125). This paper will focus primarily on human deaths and injuries occurring during earthquakes that are directly related to the event.

Conceptual seismic design guidance for new reinforced concrete framed infill buildings

Throughout the world, reinforced concrete frame buildings with masonry infill walls house families, shelter school children, and provide offices for workers. These buildings are functional, durable, and economical. All too often, though, these buildings perform poorly in earthquakes. Some collapse and kill the people inside, and many are badly damaged, requiring demolition or expensive repairs. Sometimes, poor construction quality or a lack of engineering design is at fault. In many cases, though, the engineering design itself is to blame. Despite the stiffness and strength infill walls possess, building codes around the world lack guidance on modeling and designing infill walls as structural elements, and many engineers have been taught not to consider them as such. Engineers therefore often ignore infill walls during structural design or presume that they will have only beneficial effects. This simple yet fundamental oversight often dooms buildings to poor earthquake performance. For example, many multi-story reinforced concrete buildings with masonry infill walls collapsed at the ground level from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake. These buildings typically had commercial space or parking at the ground floor and infill walls in the stories above.

Propuestas para la reconstrucción de la Región del Bío Bío / Proposals for the reconstruction of the Bío Bío Region

El 27 de febrero nuestro país fue víctima de un terremoto y un posterior maremoto que, con especial violencia, golpearon nuestra Región. La Universidad de Concepción aún cuando no ha escapado a tal realidad y ha sufrido importantes perdidas económicas en edificaciones e infraestructura, ha continuado con su rol fundacional de contribuir, en forma permanente, al crecimiento de la Región del Bío Bío. Desde el primer momento, muchos de sus profesionales han colaborado de distinta forma con las autoridades regionales y comunales, así como con distintos servicios, poniendo su experiencia al servicio de la comunidad y de quienes más lo necesitan. Lo mismo se puede señalar respecto del despliegue de investigadores en terreno en búsqueda de información y datos que, en colaboración con expertos internacionales, permitan efectuar una evaluación y caracterización del fenómeno, con la finalidad, en la medida de lo posible, de poder anticipar la ocurrencia de eventos como el señalado. Con este objeto se ha creado el "Programa de la Universidad de Concepción para la Reconstrucción Regional" que tiene como objetivo colaborar en la búsqueda y formulación de propuestas, en distintas áreas temáticas, para la reconstrucción armónica y planificada de la Región buscando transformar esta catástrofe en una oportunidad para su desarrollo y crecimiento y para mejorar las condiciones y calidad de vida de sus habitantes...

Identifying earthquake-unsafe schools and setting priorities to make them safe: a case study In Gujarat, India

After the January 26, 2001 Gujarat Earthquake, GeoHazards International (GHI) was concerned about the risk of school buildings in the largest Gujarat cities and asked the Volunteers for India Development and Empowerment (VIDE) and NGOs Kobe to help fund a study that would identify earthquake-unsafe school buildings in Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat. VIDE and NGOs Kobe agreed to help. GHI worked with its Indian partner organization, SEEDS, to evaluate 153 schools: 42 in Ahmedabad, 58 in Baroda, and 53 in Surat. The schools included different structural types, served students from a variety of educational and economic levels, and were widely dispersed within each city. GHI found that the earthquake risk of the schools in all three cities is significant, and recommends that the authorities responsible for these schools take steps to reduce the risk. GHI further recommends that these authorities initiate comprehensive school earthquake risk mitigation programs. GHI and SEEDS will meet with officials in these three cities to discuss these findings and follow-up actions. After this meeting, this report will be revised.

Manual de evaluación de daños y necesidades en salud para situaciones de desastre / Damage and Health Needs Assessment Manual for Disaster Situations

Los desastres plantean grandes retos al sector salud porque a la vez que generan daños en las personas e instalaciones del sector, obligan a incrementar o intensificar la oferta de servicios para atender y asistir a los afectados. La prioridad es siempre la preservación de la mayor cantidad de vidas humanas, para lo cual se precisa un arduo trabajo de coordinación intra e intersectorial. La evaluación de los daños en el sector salud es una medida de fundamental importancia para la toma adecuada de decisiones, que implica no sólo la salud de la población - de los damnificados y de los afectados -, sino también las condiciones sanitarias que existen como consecuencia del evento en sí, además de la evaluación de los establecimientos que ofrecen servicios de salud. El proceso de evaluación de las necesidades en salud se realiza en la zona del desastre con el fin de determinar el tipo y la extensión de los efectos sobre la salud de las poblaciones afectadas, los daños y las áreas que requieren ser intervenidas con mayor urgencia. La evaluación de los daños no es un proceso fijo y estático, por el contrario, es dinámico y cambia con la situación que se genera día a día, por lo cual debe llevarse a cabo periódicamente mediante instrumentos que permitan confirmar cuáles son las necesidades de los sectores más afectados y determinar específicamente los aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de la asistencia sanitaria. Éstos se deben determinar, aun cuando no se haya completado todo el proceso de evaluación. La información que se recopila en las ocho primeras horas permite responder a las necesidades más urgentes para tratar de aliviar el sufrimiento humano. Es de fundamental importancia contar con los datos en las 48 a 72 horas siguientes al desastre, para cuantificar los costos de los daños y la necesidad de recursos para su rehabilitación o reconstrucción.

Global Earthquake Safety Initiative (GESI): pilot project

As the Global Earthquake Safety Initiative (GESI) Pilot Project was drawing to a close, the world witnessed two earthquake disasters, striking countries on opposite sides of the earth: India and El Salvador. At this writing, the final human and economic toll is not known, but it can be assumed that tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars were lost. For El Salvador, emerging from decades of civil war and with half its population below the poverty line, the losses were devastating­0.02% of its population and 10% of its GDP, equivalent to losses for the more populous, richer U.S. of 55,000 lives and $900 billion. And the toll cannot be measured in lives and dollars alone. The entire world shuddered at images of Indian children crushed while sitting at their school desks or while marching in a holiday parade. Learning of such disasters is especially distressing for people like the authors of this report, who are familiar with earthquake risk. As it is for everyone, it is painful for us to see the suffering of already impoverished people and innocent children. It is even worse because for us these disasters are no surprise and they teach us nothing new. Studies of earthquake disasters always reach the same conclusions: communities should enact and enforce modern building and land-use codes, strengthen and prepare medical care facilities, and train and equip emergency response agencies. These earthquake disasters are also depressing because for a fraction of the reconstruction costs, the losses could have been reduced or even avoided through mitigation and preparedness beforehand. Finally, these disasters disturb us because they absorb the world's attention, allowing little attention to be given to the hundreds of communities that are as vulnerable as those just struck. Thus, while we mourn the Indian and Salvadoran victims and sympathize with the survivors, our energies are directed to avoiding such disasters elsewhere in the future. We wish to alert threatened cities of their danger and help them reduce their future death and suffering. This is the mission of GeoHazards International (GHI) and the focus of the GESI Pilot Project.

Salud Sexual y reproductiva en poblaciones desplazadas: sintesis de una experiencia: Barrio Nueva Vida / Sexual health and [reproductiva] in displaced populations: synthesis of an experience: District New Life

El presente documento contiene los principales resultados del diagnóstico de los servicios de salud sexual y reproductiva en poblaciones desplazadas, realizado entre los meses de marzo y abril de 1999 en el asentamiento Nueva Vida, ubicado en la zona sur- occidental de la Ciudad de Managua, Nicaragua. El estudio fue realizado por IPAS y perseguÝa como principal Objetivo el de caracterizar la atención que se brinda en salud sexual y reproductiva a la población desplazada. Al momento del estudio, el barrio Nueva Vida estaba habitado por un poco mßs de 1700 familias provenientes de los barrios ubicados en la costa del lago de Managua, que tuvieron que ser reubicados a esta zona a causa de las inundaciones producidas por el huracßn Mitch, que azotó la región de Centro AmÚrica a finales de octubre de 1998 y que destruyó las viviendaas de estas familias. La investigación se hizó con una población de un sector marginal, pobre, que al momento de la catßstrofe se encontraba en condiciones de extrema pobreza y sin recursos económicos o materiales para reconstruir sus hogares, por lo que al momento del estudio dependÝan totalmente de la ayuda del Estado y de Organismos de Socorro, para hacer frente a sus necesidades mßs inmediatas de sobrevivencia

RADIUS: risk isessment tools for dagnosis of urban areas against seismic disasters

Urban seismic risk is rapidly increasing, particularly in developing countries, where a number of mega-cities are growing.Almost half of the world population lives in cities, where all kinds of human activities are concentrated. Thus, cities are more and more vulnerable to disasters, particularly to earthquakes, which can strike any city suddenly without warning. Once an earthquake takes place in a large city,the damage can be tremendous both in human and economic terms. Even an intermediate earthquake can cause destructive damage to a city as in the cases of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe. Japan and the 1999 earthquake in Kocaeli,Turkey. There is a tendency to think that disaster prevention would cost much more than relief activities. However, the reality is the reverse. Our society has been spending a lot of resources for response activities after disasters; these resources could have been drastically reduced if some had been spent for disaster prevention.There is also a tendency to look at disasters mainly from a humanitarian angle, bringing us into the position of giving priority to the response to disasters. However, relief activities can never save human lives that have already been lost. Response activities can never help immediately resume functions of an urban infrastructure that have already been destroyed. The bottom line is that buildings should not kill people by collapsing and infrastructure should not halt social and economic activities of the city for a long time. It is essential particularly for seismic risk reduction to concentrate our efforts on prevention and preparedness.The secretariat of the lnternational Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR 1990-2000), United Nations, Geneva, therefore, launched the RADIUS (Risk AssessmentTools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas against Seismic Disasters) initiative in 1996, with financial assistance from the Government of Japan. It aimed to promote worldwide activities for reduction of seismic disasters in urban areas, particularly in developing countries.

Plan de reconstrucción sector salud / Plan of reconstruction sector health

El documento presenta el plan de reconstrucción del sector salud después del paso del Huracán Mitch, el que dejo un gran deterioro material y económico así como perturbación social lo que significa un impacto negativo en los procesos de salud de la población. Tambien aborda la situación epidemiológica

Impacto económico de los desastres naturales en la infraestructura de salud / Economic Effect of the natural disaster on the health structure

El documento es un estudio realizado por la CEPAL sobre el impacto económico de los desastres naturales en la infraestructura hospitalaria en América latina y El Caribe durante los últimos quince años. Revisa la metodología utilizada para la evaluación de dichos efectos en el sector salud, e incluye un análisis de las consecuencias económicas, directas e indirectas, así como una descripción de los procesos de reconstrucción en algunos hospitales seleccionados que contemplaron las medidas necesarias para mitigar el daño de futuros desastres naturales