Health and Safety Issues in Post-Disaster Waste Management: A Case Study in Nepal

Natural disasters frequently occur, endangering those not adequately prepared, and impacting the health and safety of those involved in the recovery process. While studies have been conducted regarding health and safety protocols post-disasters, these rarely portray the critical conditions in developing countries. Such studies identified multiple types of hazardous waste that are generated post-disasters; however, safe and sustainable waste management is still a significant challenge, especially in developing countries. Additionally, health and safety trainings are rarely given priority during disaster waste management (DWM), resulting in severe consequences. The exposure to hazardous waste causes life-threatening health issues (i.e., cancer, and dermatitis). This study identifies major health and safety issues in current DWM practices by utilizing the case study of Nepal's 2015 earthquake especially as it is still undergoing its recovery process. Since a major earthquake and several aftershocks damaged multiple districts in Nepal, large amounts of hazardous waste (i.e., lead, mercury) generated had the potential to harm human health significantly depending upon the duration of exposure. These mismanagement actions pertaining to disaster waste demonstrate the high potential to impact human health and safety adversely. Unfortunately, in developing countries many local volunteers, without prior training to handling hazardous waste and proper knowledge of personal protective equipment (PPE), were involved in DWM. This paper contributes to the literature of health and safety issues during DWM in developing countries by (1) conducting more than a hundred semi-structured interviews with people involved in post-DWM to recognize means of managing disasters; and (2) determining barriers and catalysts of implementing safety protocols, to identify key health and safety threats. The results of the study can be utilized to promote safer hazardous waste management post-disasters.