Foreword

Nepal is a country that stands at 11th rank in the world with respect to vulnerability to
earthquake hazards. In this context UNDP/BCPR (Bureau of Crisis Prevention and
Recovery) with the support of Government of Japan initiated an Earthquake Risk
Reduction and Recovery Preparedness (ERRRP) program in five high risk South Asian
countries: Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. ERRRP Project is being
implemented by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MPPW) in close
coordination with other line ministries and Programme Municipalities. ERRRP project is
engaged in carrying out various activities related to Earthquake safe constructions,
Earthquake preparedness and recovery planning in five municipalities of Nepal located in
different development regions. They are Biratnagar, Hetauda, Pokhara, Birendranagar
and Dhangadhi.

The ultimate aim of the project is sustainable earthquake disaster mitigation in Nepal by
better training and capacity building of professional engineers in earthquake engineering.
As we all know, earthquakes do not kill people but poorly designed or constructed
buildings do. A properly designed, detailed and constructed structure can resist an
earthquake of high intensity. But in Nepal, due to lack of manpower and technical
competence, regulatory agencies are lagging behind to properly enforce seismic design
Codes and standards.

The Department of Urban Development and Building construction is the main agency
responsible for the implementation of the Building Act. National Building Codes
including the NBC 105: Seismic Design of Buildings in Nepal are developed as
provisioned by the Act. This manual is therefore expected to be useful for the department
in future conduction of training programs on "Structural Analysis and Earthquake
Resistant Design of Buildings Using SAP 2000 and Nepal National Building Code" for
Municipal and other professional engineers, designers, architects etc.

This manual has been developed by the ERRRP project with professional input from the
National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) and is based on the
experiences gained by the project during conduction of similar trainings in its 5 project
municipalities. This document is assumed to serve as a standard training curriculum and
ready-to-use training material that covers a wide range of seismicity, its design,
assessment and will considerably help in implementation of Building Codes.

This manual is being prepared in two separate volumes to ensure easiness of its use.
Volume I covers the theoretical aspects of seismicity, earthquake resistant design and
assessment and general provisions of National Building Code whereas the Volume II
covers its practical aspects including computer based applications.