10 Nepal Earthquake Facts - WMNews Ep. 25
After the worst natural disaster to hit the country in 80 years, Nepal is forced to rebuild with the help of international aid.Welcome to WatchMojo News, the weekly series where we break down news stories that might be on your radar. In this installment, we're counting down 10 crucial facts you should know about the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
10 2015 Nepal Earthquake Facts - WMNews Ep. 25
#10: Where Did the Earthquake Occur? The Epicenter
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At a little before noon local time on April 25th, 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Lamjung, Nepal, with its epicenter about 21 miles east-southeast of the district. Multiple areas were affected, with the earthquake felt in regions outside of Nepal, notably Northern and Northeast India, Tibet, Bangladesh and Bhutan. According to the American scientific agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, the area where the earthquake struck is one of the Earth’s most seismically hazardous regions. The area suffered several aftershocks, with one on April 26th, 2015 reaching a magnitude of 6.7. The South Asian country hadn’t been hit by such a potent natural disaster since the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake.
#9: What Is Nepal Known For? The Mountain
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Officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, this landlocked country is the 93rd largest country in the world by land mass and is home to the highest point on Earth: Mount Everest. Nepal struggles with pervasive poverty and a fragile tourism economy, relying especially on the tourism surrounding Mount Everest. While the word Sherpas specifically refers to an ethnic group from the Himalayas who are also elite mountaineers, these people, along with others of different ethnicities that act as guides and climbing supporters, can be provided by the local population to help explorers and tourists on their climbing expeditions. Sherpa guides can earn up to $5,000 a year, a drastic sum as compared to the national average salary of $600. Furthermore, freezing temperatures, avalanches and inexperienced climbers lead to a high death toll of over 250 deaths each year. Despite these factors, the government is making progress and has made a commitment to graduate the nation from its least developed country status, as categorized by the United Nations, by 2022.
#8: What Is the Extent of the Damage? The Rubble
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The 2015 Nepal earthquake destroyed many historic buildings, including several UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the Kathmandu Durbar Square and the Dharahara tower. There have also been numerous aftershocks, leading to small avalanches, further damage and widespread panic among the population. Landslides have made it impossible for aid workers or the government’s armed forces to reach rural villages. Accounts of complete destruction and obliteration have reached the outside world through first hand accounts from villagers who were outside of the destruction zone when the earthquake occurred, as well as those who were airlifted to nearby hospitals. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that recovery efforts will cost over $5 billion, which is more than a quarter of the country’s gross domestic profit.
#7: What Is the Death Toll? The Casualties
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By the end of April 2015, the death toll had climbed to over 5,000, with over 10,000 injured civilians. Within a week of the event, many hard-hit rural areas had yet to be reached because they are extremely isolated. Rescue efforts continued for days, as search parties attempted to find the missing among the rubble. The earthquake sparked an avalanche on Mount Everest, making it the deadliest day on the mountain, with the highest number of fatalities to date at 19. Some climbers were airlifted by helicopter off of Everest but many remained for several days. According to state officials, 90% of Nepal’s troops were involved in search and rescue operations across the country.
#6: What Is the International Community’s Response? The Donations
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The International community’s response has been quick and extensive, most notably the humanitarian mission called Operation Maitri, which was launched by India’s government and armed forces within minutes of the quake. Numerous governments and humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children, and more also pledged aid in the form of monetary donations, supplies, food, aid workers such as doctors and nurses, and desperately needed emergency shelter. Unfortunately, efforts have been hampered by the fact that Nepal’s only international airport, located in the capital of Kathmandu, has become overrun, with cargo and civilian planes clogging the already small runway. This has significantly slowed down the transfer of vitally needed supplies, although military aircraft with rescue personnel were given landing priority.
#5: Have Natural Disasters Hit Nepal Before? The Avalanche
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On January 15th, 1934, Nepal suffered one of the worst earthquakes in its history, as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake ripped through the country and its close neighbor Bihar, India. Almost all buildings and homes within the area collapsed, with large cracks appearing and leading to extensive liquefaction of the ground. Approximately 11,000 people died in Nepal, with more than 7,000 deaths recorded in Bihar. Another natural disaster of note occurred on April 18th, 2014, when Nepal experienced a massive avalanche on Mount Everest, killing sixteen Nepalese guides near Everest Base Camp. The avalanche was triggered when a large serac, or block of glacial ice, broke off above the Khumbu icefall. Similar in size to a large mansion, the estimated 31.5 million pound block of ice quickly launched the avalanche. In February of 2015, the Nepali authorities announced a change in the normal route up Everest, citing the need to make climbing the mountain more secure.
#4: Where Are the World’s Earthquake Hot Spots? The Zones
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There are several zones worldwide that scientists have labeled high risk in terms of earthquakes. According to Brian E. Tucker, president of the non-profit organization GeoHazards, the U.S., New Zealand, Japan, Turkey and Chile contain high-risk zones due to the tectonic plates they reside upon. These countries have taken the necessary steps to prepare their buildings, have built stronger political response teams and have highly developed economies. This is in sharp contrast to poorer nations with high population density, however, which lack emergency response plans and have shabbily constructed cities. These include cities in Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia and Peru, which lie on hundreds of fault lines and are home to millions of people and thus would suffer untold economic and political hardships if an earthquake were to occur there in the future.
#3: Can We Predict Future Earthquakes? The Big One
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There is currently no way to accurately predict on what day or at what time an earthquake will occur, only that it will happen in the future in a specific location as the Earth is in a state of self-organized criticality, meaning that any small earthquake can lead to a bigger event. However, scientists still foretell large earthquakes occurring in various parts of the world. They use a variety of methods to predict earthquakes, which include studying possible precursors to the event, animal behavior, spikes in radon emissions from rocks, and the occurrence of smaller earthquakes preceding the larger one. They also study fault lines and subduction zones that run within the Earth’s crust. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey believes there is a 37% chance that America’s Pacific Northwest will be hit by a magnitude 8 or stronger earthquake in the next half century, an anticipated megathrust quake that has been informally called “The Big One.” This is because the region is found within the Cascadia subduction zone: an over 620 mile long fault zone that runs from Vancouver Island in Canada to northern California in the United States.
#2: Can You Make a City Earthquake-Proof? The Building Codes
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Earthquake engineering is the scientific field that attempts to limit the seismic risk of earthquakes to protect society, nature and man-made environments. This includes buildings, homes, bridges and more. There are numerous major earthquake engineering research centers around the world that perform earthquake and model-based simulations, including the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation. These tests focus on the construction of the building, the structure, the materials, and their reaction to seismic vibration. In order to make existing structures resistant to earthquakes, one can employ the technique of seismic retrofitting, which allows for the introduction of advanced materials and strategies, with the goal of increasing the performance of the structure during an earthquake as well as other natural phenomena like tropical cyclones and tornadoes.
#1: How Will Nepal Recover? The Future
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As helicopters began to reach remote areas of Nepal in the days and weeks following the event, relief efforts escalated following what was Nepal’s worst natural disaster in more than 80 years. UN resident coordinator Jamie McGoldrick stated that the earthquake affected 8 million people with at least 1.4 million requiring food assistance. In addition, the current government of Nepal is fraught with unpredictability as it has not been fully functional since 2008, with splinter political groups continuing to vie for power. As one of Asia’s poorest nations, and with over 40% unemployment rate, it could take Nepal years to recover from the 2015 earthquake.
