Post-earthquake rehabilitation : a case of Jamune village, Thokarpa, Nepal

Abstract

Place, a where dimension, is formed by people’s interaction with their physical settings. ‘Sense of Place’ describes the quality of people’s relationships and associated values with a place. In order to evoke a sense of place, there has to be community values associated with the space. In 2015, a devastating earthquake and many aftershocks hit the states of Nepal. The earthquake caused near destruction of its major urban and rural areas. In this context, it is likely that the approach to reconstruction of the devastated villages may be dominated by promoting pre-fabricated structures and concrete bunkers. This may lead to the destruction of vernacular landscape and such changes may have negative and irreparable effects on the survival of traditional knowledge systems. The contextual setting in which disaster management decisions take place can be better influenced if local knowledge of building, spatial planning and use of local resources are given due consideration. This will capacitate the rural communities to recover from their losses. An ideal hill home is one with thick stonewalls, a ground floor storage and cattle room, upper story bedrooms and kitchen, a spacious courtyard, veranda, and cosy sheds for livestock. The design is holistic—suited to the everyday needs of farmers. But, as aftershocks continue to shake Nepal, confidence in traditional building materials (stone, wood, bamboo, earth) and techniques is eroding due to opinions that identify the architecture of Nepal’s hills as a reason for the massive loss of life and property. The critical point that arises is if these techniques can be improved to recreate familiar villagescapes in these earthquakes affected areas. Nepal has enough local knowledge and technologies to construct homes suited to their livelihoods and appropriate to an earthquake-prone environment. The earthquake can be a great opportunity to enhance skills ofvi the people, so they can build their own homes that are not only hazard resistant but also more comfortable and suited to contemporary context. This report is a culmination of an undergraduate architecture thesis project on Post-Earthquake Rehabilitation of Jamune village, Thokarpa, Nepal. It investigates how the traditional knowledgebases can be combined with seismic resilient techniques potentially making local materials a viable option to recreate familiar village-scapes in these earthquakes affected areas.