About this portal

This data visualization portal provides information of social vulnerability, marginalization and exposure to multiple hazards including COVID-19 risk at the municipality level-the lowest administrative unit in Nepal. The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) approach was used to identify, quantify, and map the determinants and drivers of social vulnerability. To calculate the SoVI, 46 variables related to democratic participation, education, employment structure, gender, health service, and access, marginalization, migration, population structure, quality of the built environment, special needs populations, socioeconomic status, and urban/rural divide were used. Marginalization was defined based on gender, caste, ethnicity, religion, and inequality in terms of health services. A total of 29 different hazards belonging to hydro-meteorological (n=5), geological (n=3), environmental (n=2), biological (n=18), and technological (n=1) categories based on the universally adopted Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) was incorporated. Additionally, 12 different variables related to health infrastructure, access to health service, pre-existing epidemiology of acute and chronic diseases, and estimated cases of COVID-19 at municipality level was used to produce COVID-19 risk. Municipalities are then categorized in three categories.

This study supported by USAID/Nepal provides rigorous evidence, data, and analysis to identify the vulnerable and marginalized areas/communities of Nepal in light of the COVID pandemic using a risk-centered approach. It is implemented by the Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Nepal—a Kathmandu-based interdisciplinary research organization.

The research report, which consists of a detailed methodology, can be provided upon request.

Disclaimer: This visualization dashboard is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this dashboard are the sole responsibility of the Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (GIIS), Nepal and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Research team

Dr. Uttam Babu Shrestha (Team Leader), Dr. Sanam Aksha (Social Vulnerability Analysis), Dr. Janardan Mainali (Spatial Analysis), Dr. Suraj Bhattarai (Biological Hazard Analysis), Dr. Sujata Shrestha (Data Curation and Management), Dr. Asheshwor Man Shrestha (Data Visualization), Dr. Resham Thapa (Actuarial Analysis), Dr. Krishna Chandra Devkota (Multi-hazard Risk Analysis), Udaya Raj Adhikari (Actuarial Analysis), Kopila Rijal (GESI), Nirdesh Nepal (Multi-hazard Risk Analysis, Research Assistant), Shreyasha Khadka (GESI, Research Assistant), Dr. Mandira Lamichhane (GESI), Sanjeev Poudel (Political Economy, Research Assistant).

Dashboard user guide:

This dashboard is designed to interactively visualize social vulnerability, marginalization and exposure to multiple hazards including COVID-19 risk at the municipality level.

In the home tab, a variable for each province can be filtered using the “Filter by province” drop down list; the default is “All Provinces.” The data can be further filtered by selecting four radio button options: Social Vulnerability Index, Exposure to multi-hazards, COVID-19, Marginalization. If sub-categories for the selected option exist, they will be displayed below the radio buttons in a drop-down list. Select from the drop-down list to visualize a particular sub-category.

A summary breakdown of the hazard/vulnerability is displayed as a bar chart showing the total number of municipalities for each hazard/vulnerability/risk category for the selected geographic region. The cumulative values were categorized into three categories (high, medium and low) using standard deviation classification.

The province names disappear when the map is zoomed in and reappear when zoomed out. Hover over the map to display information on the location (Province, district and municipality name), and the selected hazard/vulnerability type. Click on a location to reveal more detailed information about the municipality. Zoom in and out of the interactive map using the zoom control at the top left (displayed as "+" and "-" buttons), scroll wheel or pinch in and out touch action. The inset map at the bottom right corner can be toggled by clicking on the arrow on the bottom right corner of the inset map.

This tab can be moved by clicking and dragging with a mouse.