ABSTRACT
Over 500,000 buildings were identified by the Nepal Government as fully damaged and approximately 300,000 buildings as partially damaged, including both private and Government buildings. This chapter is intended to provide a brief overview of the observed damage types for cultural heritage sites in Kathmandu Valley, and more information is available in other literature. Many of the temples in Kathmandu Valley that were destroyed or badly damaged by the 2015 earthquakes were located in the three main Squares: Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. Selective examples of observed damage to temple towers in Bhaktapur. Clay brick unreinforced masonry (URM) construction practice was widely variable amongst inspected buildings. In Nepal, mud mortar is typically manually mixed on-site using shovels, hands and feet. Newer commercial and mid-rise URM buildings are present in more affluent areas and consist of well fired clay brick and cement-based mortar URM construction with RC floor and roof diaphragms.
