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The purpose of this paper is to examine how social capital operated in the lives of 15 respondents from Lalitpur following the massive 1934 Kathmandu Valley earthquake. Based on experiences of the survivors, it attempts to understand how individuals and families utilized their social capital in the aftermath of the earthquake, and rebuild their lives and communities.

This is a qualitative study based on non-structured interviews and discussions with disaster victims on their own locality. Following Padgett's (2008) grounded theory approach, flexible method of data collection is adopted through interactions with respondents and following up on important cues or patterns as additional data emerged.

Participants described a process through which they relied on bonding, bridging and linking social capital in different stages of earthquake response and recovery. Close ties or bonding social capital were important for immediate support, but bridging and linking social capital offered pathways to longer term survival and wider neighbourhood and community revitalization. This paper also discusses how social capital inclusion in pre-disaster communities might be helpful to strengthen their response capacity.

As the study participants were less than ten years old when the earthquake happened, they might have omitted or overlooked some important details about the event. The findings are based not only on participant's own memories, but they also shared stories told by their parents which were the indirect experiences.

This study indicates the potential value and need for including bonding, bridging and linking social capital and traditional social networks in disaster planning. A key outcome related to disaster policy would be what institutional condition or combinations of different dimensions of social capital may serve the public for better disaster response and recovery.

This study has paid attention to how social capital might be useful in disaster risk reduction both in post-disaster phase and in pre-disaster condition which may be rare in disaster studies. It also provides an insight into how community-based disaster management can take into account pre-existing social systems and traditional social networks to build local capacities.

This paper aims to explore how different risk perceptions of experts, institutions and laymen have to be taken into consideration if non-governmental organizations and donors want to include the community in disaster risk reduction. Otherwise, community-based disaster risk management will not be community-based.

This research is based on an intensive literature review, as well as a four-month felt study in Kathmandu (November 2011-February 2012). This study explores, from a social constructive point of view, the relationship among international, national and local actors in the effort to conduct disaster risk reduction in Nepal through a community-based approach.

The Kathmandu Valley is at risk of being hit by an earthquake at anytime. If an earthquake hits, it will cause total devastation. Although the Nepalese are aware of the risks of a potential earthquake, very few have begun preparations. The author finds that the lack of preparation is partly caused by different risk perceptions among experts, institutions and laymen.

Involving the community in disaster risk reduction today is widely accepted as the right way to work with disaster risk reduction. But, rarely the question is made: are we really involving the community by taking their risk perception serious, and not just accepting the risk perceptions from experts and institutions of science as being the right way to perceive disaster risk. The author finds that there is a tendency to ignore the community in community-based earthquake preparedness in Nepal.

The purpose of this paper is to increase public participation in the reduction process of growing disaster risk in developing countries by making optimum benefit from the richness of Islamic teaching toward developing an effective and scientifically sound risk communication and education plan that blends with historical traditions, religious beliefs and indigenous knowledge.

The paper presents the correlation between the guiding principle of earthquake risk reduction and the views of Islam on disaster, earthquake, God's bounty, the earth, good deeds, as well as human behavior, safety and vitality in order to clear existing misconceptions and it shows the issues of environment protection, risk management, safety and human life in terms of religious teaching.

The dissemination of this type of knowledge has helped to clear the misconceptions and increase people's understanding of and knowledge about disaster‐related issues; as a necessary step in the process of disaster risk reduction and improving safety and development, all of which can be viewed as demonstrations of God's love for humankind.

It is the first time that this noble correlation between religion and risk reduction has been explained in a paper, and it is expected to open the road for research and discussion on this topic.

This paper aims to develop an appropriate earthquake disaster management system for Iranian schools with a main focus on non‐structural problems of schools during disasters.

A framework is proposed for disaster management planning regarding earthquakes in three phases: before, during, and after an earthquake. A detailed description of the proposed management system is also presented with special application to schools, focusing mainly on non‐structural problem.

There is a need to emphasise on a national‐level contingency planning that includes developing and designing detailed plans for a proper response and training of relevant personnel. Another important issue, which needs special attention is the material which should be taught to the commanders of emergency activities at various levels in order to help them to control an effective emergency situation.

By using the “emergency management system” proposed in this paper for Iranian schools the authorities can make sure that they have utilized all of their resources for an efficient disaster risk management. It is hoped that other developing countries can also benefit from the proposed programme.

The originality of this paper is in the comprehensiveness of the “emergency management system” proposed for the schools, and the approaches it suggests for constructing the “safety culture” in society.

This paper aims to examine the socio-spatial transformation of earthquake-affected neighbourhoods as a setting for understanding post-disaster recovery trajectories of people, their opportunities for achieving housing recovery and their housing recovery outcomes.

Adopting a case study approach, this paper focuses on two neighbourhoods located in old urban areas of the city of Bhuj, India. The authors map the transformation of the built environment from before the earthquake, immediately after the earthquake and 10 years after the earthquake. While explaining the morphological changes of the built environment, the authors examine the associated changes in the social fabric of the neighbourhoods by explaining who stayed in their neighbourhoods, who moved out or moved in and who were displaced after the earthquake.

The authors explore the role of post-disaster public policies, including urban planning, in these changes and in shaping the opportunities of households and individuals for achieving recovery. These policies are compared and contrasted with other urban disaster responses to provide a better understanding of the possibilities of achieving more just recovery outcomes.

This paper contributes to the scant literature on post-disaster planning in cities of developing countries.

Nepal is confronted by an increasing number of natural- and human-induced disasters, making it the most disaster-prone country in the world. Landslides, floods, droughts, fires, thunderbolts, blockades, and earthquakes, among others, occur frequently. All these disasters take a high toll on people and cause heavy damage to physical properties worth billions of dollars every year. One of the recent examples in the history of disasters was the devastating earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015 taking away human lives, destroying physical infrastructures, altering cultures, challenging institutions, and devastating the hope and ambitions of people. Thirty-three of the Nepal’s 75 districts were affected, at different degrees, and 14 out of 33 were badly damaged by the two major earthquakes on the 26th of April and the 12th of May 2015. This chapter provides a reflective dialogue on the current state of the disaster-recovery process with a focus on the delivery of recovery services aiming to (1) understand how key actors are responding to disaster-recovery works in Nepal and (2) identify knowledge gaps in the disaster response policy and research arenas in managing future disasters in Nepal.

The topic of the paper is a description of basic elements of the philosophy of un/natural disasters generally, and specifically basic elements of multiple simultaneous un/natural disasters which is motivated by a series of disasters that hit Croatia all over 2020. The topic is presented in the following way: in the first part, case of Croatia 2020 is described in short; in the second part, elements of the philosophy of un/natural disasters are described; and based on the first and second part in the third part, the possibility of the philosophy of multiple simultaneous un/natural disasters which seem to be applicable to the case of Croatia 2020 is described. Elements of philosophy that are described are ontology, epistemology, a theory of action, and ethics. The purpose of the paper is to research the possibility of clarification of basic philosophical concepts in the context of disasters, namely existence-in, appearance/reality-in, knowledge-of, certainty-in, human action-in, habits-in, and morality and ethics of disasters. Research limitations relate mostly to conceptual-morphological research that hugely relies on facts of the case and on statistical and scientific data on disasters.

Nepal's urban population is estimated to be around 15 percent. This is a tremendous increment considering that the urban population some 50 years back was just around 3 percent. The rapid increase in urban population in the last five decades has resulted in unplanned and haphazard urban growth. Urbanization causes a shift in employment, from the agricultural sector to the nonagricultural sector. However, in Nepal, despite the increase in the urban population, the economy is still largely dictated by the agricultural sector. Urbanization is creating and adding new risks to the existing risks from natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and flooding. Building a culture of safety is the key to building resilience of communities to disasters and the involvement of the community in managing risks is instrumental in reducing the adverse impacts of these disasters. Public awareness in dealing with disasters and in responding to emergency situations can save a great number of lives.