@article{edc8c7cb03c94b40a72d494aaf64fc18,
title = "Reducing disaster risk to life and livelihoods by evaluating the seismic safety of Kathmandu{\textquoteright}s historic urban infrastructure: enabling an interdisciplinary pilot",
abstract = "Kathmandu{\textquoteright}s cities are exceptional architectural and artistic achievements, underpinned by centuries of seismic adaptation. They represent portals where heavens touch the earth and individuals commune with guiding deities; their tangible and intangible values promoting community cohesion. Kathmandu{\textquoteright}s skyline was dramatic-ally altered by the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake as almost 9,000 people died. Hundreds of monuments were damaged or collapsed, resulting in the cancelling of 32 per cent of tourist visits, a major GDP source. Following ODA pledges of US$2.5 billion, Nepal{\textquoteright}s Government approved the rehabilitation of many but there are tensions between interpretations of Sendai{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}Build Back Better{\textquoteright} framework and the preservation of the authenticity of Kathmandu{\textquoteright}s UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our interdisciplinary North–South partnership piloted the integration of archaeology and geoarchaeology with 3D visualisation, geotechnical and structural engineering to co-produce methodologies to evaluate and improve the seismic safety of historic urban infrastructure, reducing direct risk to life and livelihoods, while respecting and preserving authenticity and traditions and, in some cases, revitalising them.",
keywords = "earthquake, historic infrastructure, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, risk, seismic adaptation, UNESCO World Heritage Site, urban infrastructure",
author = "Coningham, {R. A.E.} and Acharya, {K. P.} and C. Barclay and R. Barclay and Davis, {C. E.} and C. Graham and Hughes, {P. N.} and A. Joshi and L. Kelly and S. Khanal and A. Kilic and T. Kinnaird and Kunwar, {R. B.} and A. Kumar and Maskey, {P. N.} and A. Lafortune-Bernard and N. Lewer and D. McCaughie and N. Mirnig and A. Roberts and V. Sarhosis and A. Schmidt and Simpson, {I. A.} and T. Sparrow and Toll, {D. G.} and B. Tully and K. Weise and S. Wilkinson and A. Wilson",
note = "Funding Information: Our post-disaster research and fieldwork across the Kathmandu Valley would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of team members from the Department of Archaeology (Government of Nepal), ICOMOS (Nepal), Tribhuvan University, Durham University, Newcastle University, the University of Stirling and University of Bradford, and other partners. The British Academy{\textquoteright}s Global Challenges Research Fund{\textquoteright}s Project {\textquoteleft}Reducing Disaster Risk to Life and Livelihoods by Evaluating the Seismic Safety of Kathmandu{\textquoteright}s Historic Urban Infrastructure{\textquoteright} (CI170241) sponsored the fieldwork as well as the co-design and installation of the Dhukuti museum display with additional financial support from UNESCOKathmandu, the Alliance de Protection du Patrimoine Culturel Asiatique, the Pashupati Area Development Trust and Durham University{\textquoteright}s Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS) and is now hosted by the Hanuman Dhoka Museum Development Committee (Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal). We are very grateful to these institutions as well as the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for their support in providing a high quality copy of a historic view of the Kasthamandap, to the Austrian Academy of Sciences for their partnership and Vienna-based symposium, and to the National Museum in Kathmandu for hosting our final, dissemination workshop. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the support and passion shown by Mr Rajesh Shakya and the other members of the Kasthamandap Reconstruction Committee, the master craftsmen and the ward members who are rebuilding the Kasathamandap. Funding Information: Mr Shakya{\textquoteright}s words in February 2019 demonstrate the realisation of the ambitions of a group of over 180 heritage experts, professionals and stakeholders who met at the {\textquoteleft}Heritage at Risk 2017: Pathways to the Protection and Rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage in South Asia{\textquoteright} Workshop in Kathmandu between 4 and 7 September 2017 (Coningham & Lewer 2019). Drawn from across South Asia and beyond, and coming from a wide range of disciplines, including conservation, planning, heritage management, economics and development, architecture and archaeology, they had discussed contemporary issues of the protection of heritage during natural disasters and conflict with community members, army, police, site managers and policy makers. Supported by UNESCO{\textquoteright}s Kathmandu Field Office, ICOMOS (International Commission on Monuments and Sites, Nepal), the Department of Archaeology (Government of Nepal) and Durham University{\textquoteright}s UNESCO Chair, the AHRC– GCRF funded delegates co-produced a number of key resolutions for the enhanced protection and rehabilitation of heritage following disasters. Of their fifteen key points, many of which reiterated the Department of Archaeology{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}Conservation Guidelines for Post-2015 Earthquake Rehabilitation{\textquoteright}, four are particularly relevant to this paper: Funding Information: Our post-disaster research and fieldwork across the Kathmandu Valley would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of team members from the Department of Archaeology (Government of Nepal), ICOMOS (Nepal), Tribhuvan University, Durham University, Newcastle University, the University of Stirling and University of Bradford, and other partners. The British Academy{\textquoteright}s Global Challenges Research Fund{\textquoteright}s Project {\textquoteleft}Reducing Disaster Risk to Life and Livelihoods by Evaluating the Seismic Safety of Kathmandu{\textquoteright}s Historic Urban Infrastructure{\textquoteright} (CI170241) sponsored the fieldwork as well as the co-design and installation of the Dhukuti museum display with additional financial support from UNESCO Kathmandu, the Alliance de Protection du Patrimoine Culturel Asiatique, the Pashupati Area Development Trust and Durham University{\textquoteright}s Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS) and is now hosted by the Hanuman Dhoka Museum Development Committee (Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal). We are very grateful to these institutions as well as the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for their support in providing a high quality copy of a historic view of the Kasthamandap, to the Austrian Academy of Sciences for their partnership and Vienna-based symposium, and to the National Museum in Kathmandu for hosting our final, dissemination workshop. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the support and passion shown by Mr Rajesh Shakya and the other members of the Kasthamandap Reconstruction Committee, the master craftsmen and the ward members who are rebuilding the Kasathamandap. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The British Academy 2019.",
year = "2019",
doi = "10.5871/jba/007s2.045",
language = "English",
volume = "7",
pages = "45--82",
journal = "Journal of the British Academy",
issn = "2052-7217",
publisher = "The British Academy",
number = "S2",
}
