The Gorkha earthquake on April 25, 2015 had significantly affected the livelihood of people and the overall economy in Nepal. The earthquake had caused damage to about half a million private and public buildings, apart from damage to other infrastructures including schools, hospitals, roads, hydropower, irrigation canals, etc. The earthquake had affected the lives of 8 million people. With significant numbers of actors and stakeholders involved in the reconstruction process, no significant relief has reached the ground or is observable even after 3 years of the disaster. The government has formed National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) as the focal authority for the reconstruction process which is leading the reconstruction process with line agencies and other stakeholders. The longitudinal study was carried out through semi-structured interviews with the engineers working under NRA, local people and social mobilizer, group discussions, and field observation from June 2015 to August 2016 focusing on challenges for timely and quality reconstruction. The research also reviews the experiences from past events in similar social and political condition. This study concludes that the situation was the result of larger institutional gaps as the absence of local government, lack of coordination, bureaucratic hurdles and political transition, weak governance and cross-cutting issues as accessibility, manpower shortage, knowledge gap and other socio-cultural aspects. Authors supplement that the good governance and strategic incorporation of social and cultural aspects of reconstructions along with the technical cross-cutting issues like skilled labour, resources availability and construction knowledge could help to expedite the reconstruction process.

On 3 November 2023, a moment magnitude ( M W ) 5.7 (Local Magnitude, M L 6.4) earthquake struck the western region of Nepal, one of the most powerful seismic events since 1505 in the region. Even though the earthquake was of moderate magnitude, it caused significant damage to several masonry buildings and caused slope failures in some regions. The field reconnaissance carried out on 6–9 November by the study team, following the earthquake, conducted the first-hand preliminary damage assessment in the three most affected districts—Jajarkot; West Rukum; and Salyan. This study covers the observed typical structural failures and geotechnical case studies from the field study. To have a robust background understanding, this paper examines the seismotectonic setting and regional seismic activity in the region. The observations of earthquake damage suggest that most of the affected buildings were made of stone or brick masonry without seismic consideration, while most of the reinforced concrete (RC) buildings remained intact. Case histories of damaged buildings, the patterns, and the failure mechanisms are discussed briefly in this paper. Significant damage to Khalanga Durbar, a historical monument in Jajarkot, was also observed. Medium- to large-scale landslides and rockfalls were recorded along the highway. The motorable bridge in the Bheri River suffered from broken bolts, rotational movement at the expansion joint, and damage to the stoppers. The damage observations suggest that, despite the existence of building codes, their non-implementation could have contributed to the heavy impact in the region. This study highlights that the local population faces a potential threat of subsequent disasters arising from earthquakes and earthquake-induced landslides. This underscores the necessity for proactive measures in preparedness for future disasters.