On 25 April, a
7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal followed by hundreds of aftershocks.More than 5,000 schools were completely damaged. Solukhumbu was one of the worst earthquake affected districts in Nepal.A huge proportion of schools were collapsed or severely damaged due to the earthquake.Schools that were still standing were being used as shelters by the displaced populations.Fortunately the earthquake hit on Saturday as there is no school.If it was so hit during the week thousands of children's lives would have been lost.
As the Project Manager along with my team we focused on providing quality construction to create safe environment for the quality education.The project intended to demonstrate a people-centred,
cost-effective, environment-friendly earthquake resistant school building
reconstruction strategy that ensure sustainable quality construction for the
earthquake-affected communities.
The total number of completed classrooms to date are 72 with 55 from AHF,5 from SSiN and 12 from Peter D.Nichols which has benefited 6000 students in lower Solukhumbu region.
As the Engineer of my community ,my focus was to develop earthquake awareness capacity,improve the seismic safety of the school building and improve the educational environment.
With the support of the Engineers and Architects from Australia new light gauge steel structure design was introduced in Nepal. The new classrooms are well insulated against sound and heat, with enough exit space,proper lighting and enough space for students to perform the daily activities.
As the Engineer of my community ,my focus was to develop earthquake awareness capacity,improve the seismic safety of the school building and improve the educational environment.
With the support of the Engineers and Architects from Australia new light gauge steel structure design was introduced in Nepal. The new classrooms are well insulated against sound and heat, with enough exit space,proper lighting and enough space for students to perform the daily activities.
 |
| Completed Light Gauge Steel Frame building at Garma School,Solukhumbu |
My rebuild memories in photographs:
Damaged School buildings and the students studying inside the temporary learning centres build as immediate shelter for the classes (Note: 19 TLCs were built within a month in 16 schools)
Works during the construction phase
Completed Classrooms
Students in the safe classrooms
A community hall as a shelter to the community
My Rebuild Team:
Ben,David , Tom and me
Pushkar,Sheru Singh,me and Emily
Sujit,David,Neill and me
Chris,me,Richard and Mahadev
Howard,me and David Carolan
Laurent Gervious
My General Manager -Ujjwal Amatya and me
Gary ,me and Gary's hiking friend with Basa School Family
Stott Solukhumbu in Nepal chairperson-Dr.Gyaneshwor Rai
Peter D.Nichols ,USA and me
With Neill Johanson ,Principal ,Davenport Campbell
Team Australia TTW Engineering,HASSELL Arhitechts,David Francis,Davenport Campbell and Australian Himalayan Foundation with prestigious Good Design Awards 2018
Thanks everyone for such a wonderful support and time for the communities in Solukhumbu.
With kind regards and Namaste,
Suman Rai
Project Manager(Engineer)
REED Nepal
