KATHMANDU: Mukunda Bhattarai, a seismologist working at the Earthquake Measurement and Research Center under the Department of Mines and Geology, has been awarded the PhD degree.

The Tokyo University of Japan on Tuesday conferred the PhD on Bhattarai. He has been working at the Centre for the past 20 years.

In his doctorate thesis, Bhattarai has evaluated the seismic risk of the Kathmandu Valley after the Gorkha earthquake in April 2015 and studied the damage it could do to the physical infrastructure in coming days in the event of an earthquake.

Bhattarai had carried out research for doctorate in March 2016. Born in 2031 BS at Subarnakhal village development committee of Arghakhanchi, Bhattarai did post-graduation from International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, Japan and studied Master of Disaster Management at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo.