A tragedy is waiting to unfold in Kathmandu. The city of 3 million is highly prone to earthquakes due to its location on an ancient lake basin filled with soft sediments above the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates that created the Himalayas. The city is dangerously underprepared: if a major earthquake occurred today, loss estimates include at least 100,000 deaths, twice that number severely injured, and 1.5 million rendered homeless. The motivating question for the paper is: How can losses in Kathmandu from a major earthquake be reduced? Section 1 offers a study of the plate tectonics, the local geology with an emphasis on the possibility of liquefaction, and an analysis of available Earthquake prediction technologies. Section II offers four concrete policy measures to reduce losses based on this analysis. These policy prescriptions are made keeping in mind the limited resource availability in Nepal and the current political uncertainty in the country.
