Preface

Technology in earthquake resistant building construction has advanced tremendously in

last years and has demonstrated good practices in reducing impact of earthquakes. There
are number of earthquake codes and guidelines aimed towards safe building construction.
But many earthquake prone countries are still struggling with appropriate building
construction practices. The main reason behind this is the lack of proper knowledge in
earthquake resistant building design and construction.

Designers and supervisors play a vital role for the effective implementation of Building
Codes. Capacity building of all stakeholders thus is the key factor for earthquake risk
reduction. They need to take responsibility for motivating and convincing house owners
and constructors to apply earthquake resistant techniques by utilizing their technical
knowledge and skill. These trainings should focus more on practical basis. Engineers
should learn actual condition of construction sites and elaborate proposal based on actual
conditions.
Though earthquake engineering must be introduced in the regular course of civil
engineering, this manual is an exercise towards availing standard training curriculum that
covers major aspects of seismicity. I hope the contribution of this manual towards
achieving the national goal of reduced disaster risk will be considerable and be very much
useful in proper implementation of National Building Code of Nepal.

Ashok Nath Uprety

Director General
Department of Urban Development and
Building Construction