Assessment of seismic vulnerability of health infrastructure in Uttarakhand: An earthquake prone Himalayan province of India

Vulnerability assessment of 36% healthcare facilities in the province of Uttarakhand that has high probability of witnessing a large magnitude earthquake in near future reveals 67.02% to be put to disuse immediately after an earthquake. Healthcare facilities in Pithoragarh, Haridwar, Almora, Tehri Garhwal, Champawat and Nainital districts are observed to be particularly vulnerable and this is to make mobilisation of medical response a major challenge and result in escalated loss of human lives, enhanced trauma of the earthquake affected population and consequent civil discontent. The earthquake is estimated to cause economic loss of US$ 37.06 million to the surveyed health infrastructure alone. An investment of US$ 17.94 million is assessed as being required for ensuring seismic resilience in the surveyed health infrastructure which in turn is estimated to save critical medical instruments and facilities worth US$ 19.12 million that would otherwise be lost under collapsing buildings. Having identified non-compliance of building codes, poor quality of construction and lack of maintenance as being the factors enhancing vulnerability of healthcare infrastructure it is recommended to undertake measures for (i) prioritised demolition and reconstruction of Grade 5 buildings, (ii) detailed assessment and phased retrofitting of Grade 4 and Grade 3 buildings, (iii) effective and strict compliance of building bye-laws, (iv) stringent punitive measures for life threatening lapses in public buildings, (v) mechanism for routine vulnerability assessment and corrective maintenance of public buildings, and (vi) making disaster safety a precondition for operating any healthcare facility and linking it to their licensing.