After a week-long assessment made by the team comprising structural engineer, engineering geologist, a professional mountain guide and the officer of Annapurna Conservation Area Project – A Report on Post Quake Damage Assessment of Annapurna Trekking Region has been released.

The assessment funded by Samarth-NMDP and supported by UKAID was conducted from 25 June 2015 to 2 July 2015 on behalf of Government of Nepal through Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Civil Aviation. The proposal to conduct the Post Quake Damage Assessment in the most popular trekking region of Nepal was made by Intrepid Travels.

During the assessment of 220km of trails the helicopter flyover and the walking was done. The assessment was in made two levels; structurally & geo-technically. Because of weather constraints the stretch from Thorung Phedi to Thorung La Pass was not assessed.

Here we have the results of both aspects in brief.

Structural Assessment Results

The structural aspect of the assessment included the bridges and the buildings of Annapurna Region that involved the areas of Annapurna Circuit Trek from Bhulbhule to Birethanti & areas of Annapurna Base Camp Trek from Pothana to Annapurna Base Camp. Approximately thirty bridges on the trail and 250 accommodations were assessed. Only six accommodations were found structurally damaged during the quake 2015. Majority of minor structural damages in the accommodations were seen in the eastern part of Annapurna Circuit Trail, which lies closer to M 7.8 epicenter. The damages that include stone wall crack and crack in concrete columns can be repaired easily, says the report.

The google map image manifesting level of damages in different areas of Annapurna Trekking Region

In the figure above: The green and the blue lines in the map are the areas with no New Damages and the yellow line manifest moderate New Damages that took place during the quakes 2015.

Overall, only 3% of accommodations in Annapurna region has suffered repairable damages during the quake 2015. The bridges in the Annapurna suffered no damages during the quake.

Geotechnical Assessment

Most of the trails and villages covered in this assessment of the Annapurna Circuit and Annapurna Sanctuary Areas are undamaged by landslides following the 2015 earthquakes. However, few areas, which didn’t show damages recently fall under high risky areas because of the geographical locations.

In the Figure above: The green marks the percentage of undamaged structures and the red marks the
percentage of earthquake-damaged buildings in the 15 villages after the quakes 2015.

 Samarth-NMDP says, “In order to manage the risks associated with the hazards identified in the report, we recommend completing a detailed risk-assessment study. This will include assessment of likelihood of failure, occupancy of specific areas of trail and villages and combining these with hazard to assess the risk.”

Photos and News Credit to Samarth-NMDP