The British-funded aid study – conducted by Miyamoto International, a California-based structural engineering company – revealed that the damage to the Annapurna region was not as bad as initially feared.
Miyamoto International conducted the study three months after the occurrence of the two destructive earthquakes that killed more than 9,000 people.
Though the Nepalese Government has welcomed the report’s outcome, it has received criticism by some tour operators. They argue that it is a flawed report, prepared with great haste based on a week’s fieldwork.
The trekking and mountaineering operators have expressed that they did not make any consultation with them during the field studies despite their geographical and practical knowledge of the two regions.
Whereas the Miyamoto officials have insisted that they had taken the consultation of representatives from trekking and mountaineering companies.
Nepal Trekking Agents Association President Ramesh Dhamala said, “Such assessments need to have the involvement of stakeholders like us to have any credibility.”
