Jan 6, 2022

4 min read

Since the Great Earthquake of April 25th, KLL has been working nonstop to support relief, rescue as well as rebuilding efforts. One of those ways is to help make data collection more systematic. Today, we will share a few examples of how we have been helping collect data to facilitate reconstruction.

Cultural Sites Damage Assessment

The 25 April earthquake and the powerful aftershock of 12 May collectively damaged almost 500 monuments, more than 100 of which were completely destroyed.

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Kathmandu Living Labs is supporting the Department of Archaeology (DoA) and UNESCO to survey cultural sites to see which of the monuments need the quickest reinforcement. This Rapid Assessment is being conducted by volunteers who are trained to collect data include type of cultural heritage, level of damage, geolocation, and photographs of damage. Volunteers are using the KLL Collect application, which is derived from the Open Source ODK Collect application. The survey was originally developed by Joy Lynn Davis from UNESCO and Miriam Pokharel-Wood, a volunteer at KLL, and has been further modified with inputs from the Department of Archaeology.

To date, more than 90 volunteers have been trained, and detailed data has been collected about almost 200 monuments. This work has also been covered in the Nepali Times and the Kathmandu Post.

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Damage Assessment to Buildings

Thousands of buildings were destroyed by the 25 April earthquake and the following aftershocks. People were afraid to enter their house being not aware of the building condition and continuous aftershocks. Nepal Engineers’ Association (NEA) started the rapid building assessment, mobilising thousands of engineers around the kathmandu valley, collecting the building data and verifying if the house building is safe or not.

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KLL also helped NEA structure this data collection on building data using the mobile app KLL Collect as well as Ona.io. A “mobile app clinic” trained the engineers who were volunteering to go out and assess houses. Data on approximately 1,000 buildings were collected in this pilot effort.

Crowdfunding Update

We are REALLY close to hitting the 20% mark on our Indiegogo campaign; please help us reach it!

We updated our perks today based on feedback from the crowd. Head on over to the campaign to find out more.

Featured Volunteer of the Day

Time to meet our featured volunteer of the day. Our featured volunteer for today is Upasana Chalise. Here is more from Upasana…

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Who are you? Hello! Myself, Upasana Chalise. I am a medical microbiologist. I have recently completed my bachelor level in Medical Microbiology from Nobel College, Sinamangal, Kathmandu. My home town is Kapan, Kathmandu.

What were you doing during the earthquake? As I am preparing for GRE course, I was reading some flash card of GRE at the moment when the devastating earthquake of 25th April occurred.

Why are you here? As a youth it’s my responsibility to help and support my nation in such a pathetic and painful condition. After such a enormous demolishment, I was in search of a way to help. I went to Yellow house with my friends for volunteering through the advertisement shown on Himalayan television. But, we reached there late, so could not get plenty of options to choose the type of work. There were some remaining tasks written pamphlets posted on the wall. So our eyesight caught “DATA ENTRY ,, Contact SHITU: …..”. So this is how I reached buzz café.

What has your experience been? Quakemap worked as a great platform for me to help my country in the best possible way. I enjoyed a lot working on Quakemap with my co-workers. I must say, working with KLL was a great experience. I got a chance to explore my abilities and qualities as the work was totally different to my field. In fact, I learned a lot. A bond has been created between the team members and I could hardly forget any of these moments during my lifetime.