Demolition industry aids Nepal clear-up

Disaster Waste Recovery will shortly begin training personnel who will then support building owners in central Nepal in their own demolition efforts. Gabor Prudencio, a demolition engineer with the UK’s Brown and Mason, is in Sindupalchowk, Nepal, inspecting the typical types of damage to people’s homes. He is then going to be developing training material on safe demolition practice using locally available tools and materials.

Currently people are re-entering dangerous, unstable buildings to retrieve their belongings and start removal of some of the debris – all of which can lead to potential collapse of buildings and further loss of life.

News reports state that while many of the local structures made up of brick and stone have fallen or show evidence of cracking, almost all the area’s more modern structures constructed using even the most basic reinforced concrete remain standing. The two earthquakes were below 8 on the Richter scale, which is the threshold for reinforced concrete, with the initial larger quake measured at 7.8.

DWR’s Training of Trainers will start next week and it will report back on progress. DWR will also be distributing posters warning homeowners of key dangers relating to unstable buildings and relevant demolition hazards.

For those organisations that are planning demolition, debris and waste works in Nepal please get in contact with Aiden who can be reached on aiden@disasterwaste.org.