Introduction

After the devastating earthquakes in 2015, Nepal was marred by a string of challenges on multiple fronts. While the international community and foreign governments provided Nepal with over pouring sympathy and financial aid, the Nepali leaders, bureaucrats and other crucial action-part citizens were ill-prepared for a catastrophe of such magnitude. This policy brief attempts to answer the efficacy of the vital international financial aid in the post disaster period. The author does so by outlining a few causes and consequences of the mismanagement that occurred during the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake. This policy brief also highlights the strategic overtures made by the neighboring countries. Disaster mismanagement was not only limited to Nepal, but it also exposed the weak disaster mechanism of the foremost regional body – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Disaster management is a pertinent issue as at present the world is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. In November 2023, an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 hit Nepal’s Jajarkot and Rukum West districts which reflects the country’s perennial risk of seismicity The Covid-19 pandemic and the 2015 and 2023 earthquakes have also questioned the future and prospective role of SAARC as an active regional body.

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