HOSTA, Julien, TIMSINA, Manish Raj, 2023. Detailed shelter response profile Nepal: local building cultures for sustainable and resilient habitats. Villefontaine : CRAterre. 71 p.

Abstract

This document introduces reference data on local building cultures and sociocultural strategies that result in people’s resilience. It also provides evaluation criteria that can help in elaborating locally adapted project- strategies. Context and details differ from place to place, and stakeholders benefit from the collected data to make comprehensive and accurate decisions. Thus, SRPs should not be considered exhaustive. They are a first level of information that needs to be deepened through field analysis of the specific intervention context. It remains essential to organize field surveys that will allow exchanges with local actors and inhabitants on the constraints and potentials of territories in terms of access to land, lifestyles, material and human resources, practices, knowledge, and construction capacities.

This Shelter Response Profile was produced from September 2022 to April 2023. The process was coordinated by CRAterre and Nepal Shelter Cluster. A group of Nepal based organizations have contributed to the process. Apart from local contributions, a dedicated literature review was achieved. This Profile has been revised by several international experts and Nepalese experts and shelter and housing actors in Nepal. This document summarizes and disseminates strengths of local building cultures, including a variety of hazard-resistant practices; considerations about disaster prevention, risk reduction and mitigation measures; environmental impacts; knowledge and experience developed by local communities; etc. These aspects have been identified, analysed and many of them validated over the years.