SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION BEFORE MATERIAL RECONSTRUCTION.
“The disaster revealed the demand for better preparedness on the community level for all kinds of disasters”.
Natural hazards are the main cause for the most common and devastating disasters in Nepal and the country is extremely vulnerable to damage due to its relatively natural environment, diverse topography and active tectonic plates (CEDMHA, 2017).
Nepali project 2019 started in fall of 2018 with the first team meetings. The actual coursework started in January 2019. The Sustainable Global Technologies Studio course had a pilot project for Nepal in the previous year 2018. The Project Report and observations of last year’s team work were very valuable base for the Nepali Project 2019, as we continued the research towards better understanding in communications. Nepali Project 2019 was also the first joint student case under PBL South Asia project, aiming to make curriculum reforms through Problem Based Learning pedagogy in Nepal and Bhutan for its partner institutions.
The field trip took place from February 16th to March 2nd, 2019; this time focused in the city of Kathmandu and Dhungentar village, located in the Nuwakot District, north of Kathmandu.
A cohesive community was considered essential both for disaster response and recovery. As external help often took several days to arrive, the communities’ ability to self-help and mutual support was highlighted. It was also seen, that NGO and government promises of aid could have led to dependency, and that the expectations of the help were greater than the available resources. (Hall & Lee, 2017).
