top of page

Nepal Earthquake Desk Program

Nepal is located in one of the most seismically active areas in the world. Based on government and GeoHazards International (GHI) data, a vast number of school buildings are highly vulnerable to heavy damage or collapse. No child should have to risk their lives to get an education.

Image-empty-state.png

Key Safety Design Elements of the Earthquake Desk. A shock table test demonstrated how the Desks can perform when subjected to a collapsing building of heavy stone masonry and slate roofing.

GHI is supporting Nepal in improving school safety, through longer-term solutions like constructing safer, new schools and strengthening existing vulnerable buildings. However, at the current rate of schools being replaced or strengthened, it will take close to 200 years to make all school buildings safe. In the meantime, there are many schoolchildren who remain at high risk from building damage or collapse during earthquakes.


To protect the lives of schoolchildren, GHI is leading an innovative initiative to develop, manufacture, and place Earthquake Desks into Nepal’s seismically vulnerable schools. The Earthquake Desks provide a practical, potentially life-saving, interim solution for students during earthquakes, until the buildings themselves can be made safer. The specially engineered Desks offer a space under which students can take shelter when shaking starts, providing protection from heavy falling debris.

Image-empty-state.png

The shock table test of the Nepal Earthquake Desks. Top left shows the full-scale structure (two stone masonry walls and a slate roof) built onto a table that is then struck by a large pendulum (blue frame with man touching the mass that will strike the table), causing the structure to collapse (top right). The bottom left picture shows two sizes of Earthquake Desk standing amid the rubble and roof timber beams, after the slate roofing was removed. The bottom right picture shows four blue water jugs placed under an Earthquake Desk to suggest where children would be taking cover during an earthquake. All Earthquake Desks retained the open ‘safety zone’ underneath and sustained only cosmetic damage.

There are two sizes of Earthquake Desks that were built in Nepal, one for smaller, younger students and another for high school students. Prototypes of both have been tested to determine how they can perform in real classrooms. Compression tests were conducted to better understand  the Desks’ ultimate capacity. A shock table test demonstrated how the Desks can perform when subjected to a collapsing building of heavy stone masonry and slate roofing.


Through stakeholder workshops in Dhangadhi (far western Nepal) and Kathmandu (capital city in central Nepal), our team shared the concepts and sought feedback and partnerships for long-term adoption of Earthquake Desks in Nepal. The workshops included live demonstrations with a mass of rocks weighing 700 kg (over 1,500 lbs) dropped onto an Earthquake Desk from 3 m above (a typical one-story building height) to show its impact capacity. The drop demonstrations were live in front of key stakeholders and school children, and showed that the Earthquake Desks can maintain a safety zone despite the heavy impact. These events were well-received by local- and national-level stakeholders, generating strong interest and enthusiasm for advancing this initiative.


Three local manufacturers have been carefully trained on the highly precise process of crafting the Earthquake Desks. GHI and multiple partners are working toward the production of larger volumes of Earthquake Desks while reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and maintaining careful standards for quality. All project partners are keen to get this highly practical “safety gear” into as many vulnerable schools as possible. Ultimately, our goal is for local leaders and schools to be able to easily procure locally manufactured, high-quality Earthquake Desks independently.

GeoHazards International wishes to acknowledge and sincerely thank all those who are helping make this goal a reality.


Partners on the Earthquake Desk Nepal Project

  • Ido Bruno and Arthur Brutter (Earthquake Desk Designers)

  • National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (Technical support and local implementation coordination)

  • Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering (Engineering insight and testing laboratory)

  • Marc Veletzos, PhD (Testing engineer)

  • ARUP (Modeling and virtual simulations)

  • Engineering Advisory Group (Structural engineering advice)

  • Godawari Municipality, Kailali (Local government alignment)

  • Verisk corporation (Project funding)

  • Private foundation (Project funding)

bottom of page