Earthquake Resistant Mountain Schools in Nepal, 2007-2012

Nepal has a high risk of heavy earthquakes. Even minor tremors, combined with inferior building practices, result in many cracked walls and collapse.
In Thumki the children were forced to attend class in the open, after their old school building collapsed.
Interior of a classroom in Makaikholagoan, with cracked walls, muddy floors and leaking roofs.
Before we start any project, we have long meetings and discussions in the villages about our and their role in the project.
A sign is put up at the building site, that mentions the budget and the participation of all parties involved.
Clearing the land is part of the People’s Participation, where the whole village helps making the land ready for construction.
Digging the foundation trenches.
On top of the foundation we make the first, and most important tie-beam, which improves the seismic resistance of the school building.
When the old school building is demolished, we re-use as many stones as we can, for example as floor filling.
A measuring box helps to mix the concrete in the correct proportions.
We use cement spacers in the beams, to assure that all steel reinforcement is placed in the right position, and has sufficient coverage.
The walls must be plumb, straight and level. We teach the masons how to place and adjust the cement blocks.
In most cases the village donates a couple of trees from the community forest, to make new doors and windows.
Cement block walls, with the concrete beams visible at 5 levels. This way the whole building is tied up, to make it earthquake resistant.
When we build with rubble and mountain stone, we make buttresses in the walls, and include the horizontal beams.
To make the walls stronger, we insert ‘through stones’ over the full wall thickness, and we use cement mortar instead of mud.
In the hot climate it is important to keep the walls moist for some days, to let all cement and concrete set well.
After finishing the school, we paint all earthquake resistant measures on the outside of the walls.
All horizontal beams and vertical steel is pointed out, with explanation in the Nepali language.
The building becomes a life-size billboard for earthquake resistant construction, and the knowledge stays in the village.
With thick rubble stone walls, we only plaster and paint the beams, to show what we did to make the building stronger.
Former school in Deurali, which we had to break down.
New and earthquake resistant school building in Deurali at exactly the same spot.
Old school in Mahjibesi, where an interior wall had collapsed after years of minor seismic shaking.
New building in Mahjibesi with 3 classrooms, all strong and safe.
Interior of the school in Bhirchowk, which is similar to about every school we see in the mountains.
New classroom in Bhirchowk, with some nice interior paintings.
Bamboo classrooms in Syastri, these were in such bad shape that we did not have to think long about helping them.
Official opening ceremony of the new buildings in Syastri.
We thank all our sponsors and partners for supporting our school construction projects in Nepal.
For more pictures, and to stay up-to-date, please like our Facebook page: @smartshelterfoundation1

Project Data

Start of construction:	August 2007
End of construction:	May 2012
Total construction costs:	144.325 Euro
People’s Participation:	37.609 Euro (26%)
Contribution Impulsis:	16.967 Euro (12%)
Contribution CWS Hong Kong:	53.448 Euro (37%)
Contribution SSF:	36.301 Euro (25%)

The Project

Due to continuous seismic action combined with inferior construction quality, many school buildings are severly cracked, walls are tilting or have already collapsed. We contribute to improve this situation in the mountain villages of Kaski District in Nepal.

Before we start any project, we identify the real need in the villages that seek our assistance, and we make sure that the villagers fully cooperate with their own project. They are made responsible for the execution process, for the purchase of materials and for hiring the local laborers.

We also expect a certain percentage of People’s Participation, usually around 20 to 30% of the total budget. This contribution is mainly the provision of local materials such as wood and stones, and they can contribute in donating time and labor.

This way, the most important responsibilities remain where they should be; at the root level of the local communities. At the same time the village has ownership of the project, and all villagers have the responsibility towards each other to complete the project and to stay within the budget.

Our partner SEED Foundation is responsible for all the communication and administrative matters, between SEED, Smart Shelter Foundation and the village committees.

Smart Shelter Foundation is responsible for the remaining funding, and all the technical aspects of the project, such as designing earthquake resistant buildings, making drawings and preparing estimates. Materials are very expensive in the mountains, so we try to recycle as many stones and wooden elements as possible, to reduce the costs.

By adding simple provisions we can considerably strengthen the whole structure. To learn more about these basics, you can take a look here and here.

Before and during the whole construction period, we give extensive training to the local masons and carpenters. Here we focus on how to properly handle the materials and how to apply them, in order to achieve the highest quality possible. More information regarding this can be found here.

After finishing the school, we paint all earthquake resistant measures on the outside of the walls. With red paint we mark the position of all horizontal bands, and with black paint we show how and where the vertical steel bars are incorporated. Then in the Nepali language, we write down and explain exactly what is inside the walls. This way the building becomes a full scale advertisement and promotion of earthquake resistant construction principles. The knowledge stays in the villages, and they can practice it on their houses and other future structures.

Between 2007 and 2012 we have built an impressive number of 56 new earthquake resistant classrooms and repaired another 26 rooms, in 14 different remote mountain villages.

Our Partners for these projects

All projects were executed together with our local partner SEED Foundation, and with full participation of the local villages.

Chairman Damodar Bhakta Thapa of SEED Foundation truly understands the earthquake resistant construction principles and he is able to continue the work independently. To us, that is the most important achievement of our presence in Nepal!

The schools in Bhirchowk, Thumki, Phalangkot en Syastri are co-financed by our Dutch partner Impulsis.
The schools in Deurali, Mahjibesi, Makaikhola, Gahate, Mugri en Mugribesi are fully financed by CWS Hong Kong.
The school in Kalikastan is executed and financed by World Vision from Pokhara, for whom we have arranged the technical support.
The schools in Dargauntar and Khalte are fully financed by Smart Shelter Foundation.

All mentioned figures include the costs of construction training, which we always give before we start constructing the schools.

Our Sponsors for these projects

Jawi Sportschool, Charles Looijestijn Financieel Adviseur, SdB Recruitment, Lions Club (all in Alphen aan den Rijn), W. Verwer, W. van Triet, S. Benus, Heembouw, Tine en Piet Bak, Jan en Imelda Wegman, Inbo Rijswijk and Inbo Drachten, Liselot Langer and many, many more!

open-schools