Five months after the April earthquake, the government has finally endorsed the Earthquake-Affected Buildings Operation Permit Directive 2015. This allows the government to force private builders to take corrective actions to ensure safety of the residents if the buildings are deemed vulnerable from a safety point of view. With this directive in place, the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), the focal government agency on building construction in urban areas, now has the much needed regulations to address the issue of safety in the quake affected buildings. Until now private developers have been reluctant to tear down residential and commercial buildings affected by the earthquake.  This directive will be applied to the quake damaged buildings, including the government as well as private owned buildings such as hospitals, apartment buildings, shopping malls, schools and hotels.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, the DUDBC had immediately carried out assessment of damaged buildings in the Capital, and had marked them with coloured stickers—green (livable), yellow (livabale after repair)and red (unlivable). But DUDBC officials were frustrated by their inability to force private developers for action despite their assessments recording safety risks. Many residents have also complained about unsafe structures in their neighbourhood. Some have even formed committees to put pressure on the government and developers. But in the absence of regulations, little or no initiative had been forthcoming

The new directive makes it mandatory for the owners of the affected buildings to submit construction permits, construction completion certificates, building plan approval certificates and the Detailed Damage Evaluations to the DUDBC. And to ensure proper implementation, the government has made it mandatory that only the buildings receiving operation permit from the DUDBC will be financed through banks or other financial institutions, and the assets of owners could be seized if they fail to abide by the directive. This is a welcome initative which should have come much earlier.

Hundreds of families in the Capital resided in tall apartment buildings before the earthquake, and after the quake almost all of those buildings were given yellow stickers, with two buildings even getting red stickers. While the builders have obviously tried to convince residents that the apartments are safe, the residents are not easily buying this for obvious reasons—making them understandably hesitant to move back. This new directive has the potential to assure wary citizens of their safety by clarifying the condition of the buildings and ensuring proper corrective measures where needed. But just passing the directive alone would not be adequate. DUDBC needs to be given adequate resource and personnel to efficiently enforce the new directive. As this is an important responsibility dealing with the issue of public safety, the government needs to make sure that there is no half-hearted implementation.