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Hello

I could put you in touch with a localish (Bangladesh) engineer; Tim Khan FICE has much experience in Katmandhu having done the seismic retrofit of the French School there.

I am Engineering Director of a UK engineering consultancy and we could do pro-bono inspections for you.

I have some local knowledge and I would imagine the local building code is rarely applied an enforced.

I was involved with inspections of garment factories in Bangladesh in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster. What we found was that

a) buildings had not been designed for wind loading or seismic loading b) buildings had not been built to drawings c) materials were not as strong as specified.

Nepal will be very similar to Bangladesh. There is obviously a difference between tall reinforced concrete buildings and low rise, masonry vernacular buildings but an experienced Engineer would know what to look for and could quickly assess many buildings and make recommendation.

My experience of lay people looking at buildings is that they either

1) panic unnecessarily 2) are too cavalier about a crack!