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The earthquake impact on telecommunications infrastructure in Nepal: a preliminary spatial assessment
Author(s) -
Parajuli Jitendra,
Haynes Kingsley E.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
regional science policy and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.342
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1757-7802
DOI - 10.1111/rsp3.12075
Subject(s) - interoperability , aftershock , telecommunications , government (linguistics) , geography , business , computer science , seismology , geology , linguistics , philosophy , operating system
This paper examines the spatial clustering and correlation of epicentres of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake and its spatial relationship to the telecommunications infrastructure of Nepal. Ripley's K function analysis suggests that epicentres of the main earthquake shock and aftershocks and base stations of worldwide Interoperability for microwave access are generally clustered. However, the cluster patterns decline over distance. Moran's I statistics further suggested that the epicentres and base stations at the district level are spatially significant and positively correlated. As Nepal is one of the most earthquake‐prone countries in the world, this paper recommends that the Government of Nepal, operators, and other concerned parties should identify the importance of telecommunications infrastructure and develop a critical infrastructure plan including location and redundancy options to mitigate and minimize the detrimental impacts of earthquakes and other disasters on telecommunications services in the country.