Kathmandu, May 3 -- The tragic death tolls from two recent earthquakes in the Greater Himalaya should give Kathmandu residents pause. Kashmir, 2005: more than 73,000. Sichuan, 2008: over 88,000.

In urban earthquake emergencies, few things are more critical than open space, but Kathmandu Valley has more people and less usable open space than ever before.

A 2020 International Organisation for Migration (IOM) report warns that many of Kathmandu's crucial disaster evacuation spaces have been 'reduced, encroached, transformed into non-usable areas or heavily built up', and says the Valley will suffer 'extreme difficulties' in the next big earthquake.

'Open spaces have not been recognised as vital city infrastructures that can be of great si...