Understanding recovery process of small- and medium-scale enterprises after 2015 Nepal earthquake and impact on resilience building

Small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nepal SMEs are the backbone of Nepalese economy and account for more than 90% of total industrial establishments. Two consecutive earthquakes in 2015 within a span of month caused direct and indirect damages to the tune of 19 million USD to the productive sector. The chapter is based on the fieldwork conducted in January 2016 in the Balaju industrial area of Kathmandu, which was one of the most severely damaged areas in the Kathmandu Valley with an aim to understand the process of recovery covering predisaster conditions, the impact and recovery process and if it is leading to development of resilience for future disasters using Norris Resilience Framework. The findings suggest that a majority of the SMEs follows recovery trajectory while only one follows a resistance trajectory. Further, it is seen that insurance is not a very effective risk transfer mechanism in the postdisaster phase and without any external support structural recovery leads to recreation of vulnerabilities.