Findings indicate the extent of risk to schoolchildren in the typical school building types found in a fast-growing municipality in far west Nepal.

A scenario can tell a story of a probable-but-hypothetical disaster. By showing specific consequences–to people, buildings, infrastructure, and land–this tool can make complex data understandable for decision-makers, most of whom are not specialists in technical fields.

Two Kathmandu hospitals had been assessed for disaster preparedness just before the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha earthquake. Pre- and post-earthquake findings are compared.

Scenarios of a plausible earthquake quantify impacts, including more than 50% of schools damaged, and guide communities to reduce extreme risk before a disaster.

Mansons trained hands-on to build bearing walls and reinforced concrete frames, applying Nepal’s building code that addresses reinforcement in simpler buildings.

Technical review and field testing of a World Health Organization (WHO) tool to screen hospitals’ vulnerabilities to multiple hazards as well as their level of emergency and disaster preparedness.

Prioritized short and long-term changes to improve post-disaster function of hospitals that provide critical medical services for a large number of people.

Technical information about likely lethality of earthquakes in 21 cities-- including vulnerable aspects of the built environment, schools and hospitals--to help the cities prioritize risk mitigation efforts.

One objective was to quantify and plan how to mitigate the high vulnerability of public schools. This led to hands-on training and seismic retrofit of many schools.