The Knowledge to Decide

On the morning of 24 April, 2015 a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale rocked Nepal. With 8 million people affected and more than 4,000 feared dead, the estimated cost of reconstruction is more than USD5 billion. The scale of devastation is bound to have an economic impact on one of the poorest countries in the world, affecting industries as diverse as tourism, energy, agriculture and infrastructure. What will it take to get Nepal back on track? The level of devastation The damage wrought by the earthquake was felt across the breadth ot this small country. It damaged buildings in the capital city of Kathmandu. As a result of the many aftershocks, buildings and temples collapsed, with roads splitting wide open due to cracks. Heritage sites such as Kathmandu’s Dharahara Tower (known as Bhimsen tower) – a 19th century structure with nine floors – collapsed, with at least 50 people stuck in the rubble. Dozens of historical buildings, monuments and temples

Nepal – one of the poorest countries in the world – had a rude awakening when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on 25 April 2015. The impact was tragic. Casualties continue to rise, with immense damage to infrastructure. Will the nation be able to pick up the shattered pieces of its economy? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting shared his insights in China Daily – Asia Weekly. With the estimated cost of rehabilitation set to hit USD5 billion – a quarter of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD20 billion in 2014 – the economic impact of the earthquake is massive. According to United Nation’s data, 8 million people are directly in the line of fire. Both agriculture – with well over 70% of the population employed in this sector – and tourism have been badly afflicted. Perera opined that the disaster will also impact the nation’s ability to grow and transport fresh food – the agricultural sector alone accounts for 38% of GDP. Moreover,