No abstract

PurposeThe poor quality of construction work in war-affected regions is a significant issue. The large-scale destruction to the existing infrastructure from the war necessitates cost and time-efficient delivery of construction projects during and post-war to bring normalcy to affected lives and places. Consequently, there is always a tendency to finish construction projects in the shortest possible time on a limited budget without following the proper quality management processes. However, the poor quality of construction projects continues to affect the country's development, growth, credibility, reputation, and public safety for several years after the war. To this end, the present study was conducted to evaluate the significant attributes and factors contributing to the poor quality of construction projects in the war-affected Afghan construction sector.Design/methodology/approachA total of 31 attributes influencing construction project quality were ranked based on 110 completed survey responses collected from Afghan construction professionals. Moreover, independent samples t-test, Spearman's rank correlation test, and exploratory factor analysis were conducted.FindingsThe study found a moderate consensus between clients and contractors on attributes' rankings. In addition, the independent samples t-test showed statistically significant differences in means values of responses from clients and contractors for eight attributes. Based on factor analysis, 19 important attributes (median value greater than or equal to four) were classified into 4 latent factors – (1) poor-quality assurance and control, (2) unethical practices, (3) design and drawing errors, and (4) knowledge and skills gap.Originality/valueEvaluating the factors affecting the quality of construction projects will help clients, government departments, and construction practitioners improve the construction quality management practices. The findings will also inform the policies and procedures of international aid providers.

The 22 June 2022 Mw 6.2 Khōst, Afghanistan, earthquake struck killing more than 1700 people and devastating the region. For studying this earthquake, we computed the coseismic deformation fields of the earthquake using the Sentinel-1 Terrain Observation with Progressive Scans Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). The InSAR results show that the maximum coseismic displacement in the satellite line of sight direction reaches up to 39 cm. We determined the geometric parameters of the fault and coseismic slip distribution from these InSAR measurements. The best-fitted fault model shows that the rupture occurred on a right-lateral strike-slip fault with a strike of 203.7° and a dip of 68°. The most slip is concentrated at a shallow depth within the upper 10 km with the maximum slip of ∼3 m at 2.5 km depth. The maximum slip produced by this earthquake is significantly larger than the slip produced by several other similar earthquakes with similar magnitudes, implying that the focused shallow slip is likely the reason for the significant damage in the earthquake. The heavy rainfall was recorded during the earthquake period, which resulted in complicated fringes in coseismic interferograms close to the earthquake in time. Because a positive spatial and temporal correlation with the earthquake occurrence can be seen, the rainfall may have potential contributions to the earthquake, which deserves additional analysis in future. Combined with the potential effects of the 2015 Mw 7.5 Hindu Kush deep-seated earthquake, the seismicity in Afghanistan is the result of the ongoing subduction of the Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate along their west boundary.