Disasters and Reconstruction in a Mountain Tourism Area: A Case from 2015 Nepal Earthquake in Solukhumbu, Nepal

Abstract

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on 25 April 2015, followed by its largest aftershock of magnitude 7.3 on May 12. This series of earthquakes killed nearly 9,000 people and injured more than 22,000 others, damaging more than 800,000 buildings across Nepal. This paper provides ethnographic material on the situation at the time of the earthquake and its aftermath in Village P, located in a mountain tourism destination in the Solukhumbu District of eastern Nepal. By tracing the recovery process of the village, I argue that recovery from the earthquake damage was accomplished mainly through a network established by the tourism industry and that several characteristics of mountain tourism destinations have positively affected the process. Based on such data, I explain that the vulnerability that characterizes mountainous terrain is also linked to its resilience and argue that disaster prevention measures, and development projects in general, in mountainous areas should be promoted using an approach that takes advantage of the intrinsic resilience of mountainous environments.