Nepal marks '12th National Earthquake Safety Day'

The 12th National Earthquake Safety Day (NESD) was observed throughout the nation with the slogan “Let’s reduce the earthquake risk, enhance the safety of community, and build safer schools, hospitals and houses” on Saturday.

Hundreds of people participated in various programmes in the Capital to commemorate the anniversary of the devastating 1934 earthquake. ‘Duck, Cover and Hold’ nationwide earthquake drill was conducted at 2.24 p.m in schools across the country to show joint solidarity towards preparedness for earthquakes.

Speaking at a function to mark the NESD, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal urged everyone to learn the lesson from the earthquake that battered Haiti killing tens of thousands of people.

He also directed the authority concerned to effectively implement the Nepal Building Code to reduce the vulnerability of the earthquake.
PM Nepal said that the present government is giving top priority to disaster risk management. He said that the government was spending around Rs 1 billion annually as compensation as well as relief to victims of natural disasters.

National Earthquake Safety Day is marked on January 16 every year since 1999 which coincides with the 76th anniversary of the last deadly earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale that rocked Nepal in 1934, claimed the lives of 8,500 people and destroyed a quarter of all houses.