Waste Management Outlook for Mountain Regions

CASE STUDY

Disaster waste – managing the equivalent of 11 years of waste after the 2015 Nepal earthquake

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).

Earthquake damage in Bhaktapur. Photo © UNDP Nepal/Laxmi Prasad Ngakhusi

76