32. Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –

“bank” means, any bank licensed under the provisions of the Banking Act, No. 30

of 1988;

“buildings” include a structure under construction, partly constructed, or fully constructed as a house, an apartment or a condominium property for human occupation or evacuation center, or a house for resettlement used in disaster management that is in a state of either occupied or vacant or a school, an educational institution, a hotel, an office, a hall, a place of worship, a shop, a shopping complex, a factory or a warehouse of commercial interest or any other similar place where general public may gather;

“early warning” means, the process to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, and communities threatened by a hazard to prepare and to act appropriately and in suffi cient time to reduce the possibility of harm or loss;

“fi nance institute” means, an institute licensed under the provisions of the Finance

Business Act, No. 42 of 2011;

National Building Research Institute

“Geotechnical instability” means, the instability caused by subsoils that as a result of the circumstances of its composition or a change in environmental conditions has the potential to expand, collapse, disperse or undergo excessive settlement under relatively low stress conditions and cause failure of buildings and structures built on it;

“Geotechnical Stability Assessment Report”

means, a document regarding geotechnical stability concerns, issues in respect of any construction or development activity involving deep excavation, underground excavation, ground improvement work, retaining structures, or substructure construction work which may adversely affect the subject site, adjoining properties and the proposed development, subject to geotechnical assessment on ground slope angle, geological and geotechnical characteristics, geological formation, characteristics of rock discontinuities, behaviour of subsurface water, potential for surface water stagnation, and effect of dewatering and includes necessary conditions, guidelines, technical advice and mitigation measures as may be appropriate;

“hazard zonation map” means, a map that is prepared identifying the area prone to hazards, indicating zones having different levels of susceptibilities and may in addition contain information related to the particular hazards such as sketches of evacuation routes and shelters, evaluation of disaster possibility and frequency, warning and evacuation systems, distribution of settlements, and other basic information related to disaster;

“landslide” means, any type of mass movement including land subsidence created or to be created due to human activities or natural causes;

“landslide danger zone” means, an exclusion zone declared by the Institute for a specific period of time to prevent activities taking place therein, including human occupation that may endanger the lives of persons or cause injury and property damage in a particular area subject to an imminent danger of a landslide disaster;

“Landslide Risk Assessment Report” means, a document issued in respect of any construction or development activity in an area prone to landslides, and includes necessary guidelines, technical advice and mitigation measures as may be appropriate;

“Minister” means the Minister to whom this Act is assigned under Article 44 or 45 of the

Constitution; and

“relevant authorities” includes every ministry, department, provincial council,

National Building Research Institute provincial ministry and department, and local authority and project approving agencies empowered to approve project proposals for implementation.