The Nepal
Earthquake of 25th April, 2015
Background
·
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a HDI of
0.540 (145th in the world) and a GDP
of $649 per annum. Nepal is an LDC, as
recognised by the UN.
·
The earthquake occurred at 11:26 (local time) on Saturday the 25th
of April
·
Estimated at 7.8 to 7.9 on the Richter scale.
·
Aftershocks followed, one at 6.7 on Sunday the 26th of
April
·
On 12 May 2015 at 12:35
another massive aftershock occurred with a
moment magnitude of 7.3. The epicenter was near
the Chinese border between the capital of
Kathmandu and Mt. Everest. More than 200 people
were killed and more than 2,500 were injured by
this aftershock
Causes
It was approximately 80 km to the northwest of the
Nepalese capital of Kathmandu
The earthquake occurred as the result of thrust
faulting on or near the main frontal thrust
between the subducting India plate and the
overriding Eurasia plate to the north.
The Indian plate is converging (colliding) with
Eurasia at a rate of 45 mm/yr towards the
north-northeast, driving the uplift of the
Himalayan mountain range.
The earthquake's effects were amplified in Kathmandu as it sits on the
Kathmandu Basin, which contains up to 600 m of
sedimentary rocks, representing the infilling of
a lake.
The earthquake was also predicted by
seismologist Vinod Kumar Gaur in 2013 who stated
"Calculations
show that there is sufficient accumulated energy
[in the Main Frontal Thrust], now to produce an
8 magnitude earthquake. I cannot say when. It
may not happen tomorrow, but it could possibly
happen sometime this century, or wait longer to
produce a much larger one."
Much of the population in
this region live in houses that are highly
vulnerable to earthquake shaking: unreinforced
brick masonry and the like. (Source)
History of Earthquakes in the area;
This is an area on a major plate boundary with a
history of large-to-great sized earthquakes.
However, large earthquakes on the Himalayan
thrust are rare in the documented historical
era. Just four events of M6 or larger have
occurred within 250 km of the April 25, 2015
earthquake over the past century. One, a M 6.9
earthquake in August 1988, 240 km to the
southeast of the April 25 event, caused close to
1500 fatalities. The largest, an M 8.0 event
known as the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake,
occurred in a similar location to the 1988
event. It severely damaged Kathmandu, and is
thought to have caused around 10,600 fatalities.
Effects -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32479909
http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/nepal-earthquake/
|
Social |
Economic |
Environmental |
|
8,632 dead (Official death toll) 19,009 injured (Official) Worst
earthquake in Nepal in more than 80
years
Temperatures dip in Nepal at night, and
people chose to sleep outside due to
aftershocks or houses collapsing Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless with entire villages
flattened 1.7 million children had been driven out into the open |
Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage sites in
the Kathmandu Valley, including some at
the Changu Narayan Temple and the
Dharahara Tower. Thousands of houses were destroyed across many districts of the country Harvests reduced or lost this season U.S. Geological Survey initially estimated economic losses at 9 percent to
50 percent of gross domestic product,
with a best guess of 35 percent. Short term loss of tourist revenue, a major industry in Nepal, is expected |
The
earthquake triggered avalanche on Mount
Everest, killing 17 people. Estimates
put the number of trekkers and climbers
at base camp at the time of the quake at
up to 1000 The steep
valleys of the area suffered many
landslides, the village of
Ghodatabela
was covered killing 250 people |
Responses
SHORT TERM
1.
Tent cities
sprung up in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal
2.
Responses
were criticised as slow - the hardest hit
Gorkha-Lamjung epicentre area was visited by
helicopter the day after the earthquake and
hundreds were feared dead in this area
3.
90 percent of soldiers
from the Nepalese army mobilised to worst hit
areas, but efforts were hampered by landslides
and damaged infrastructure
4.
On May 1st
international aid agencies like Médecins Sans
Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the Red
Cross were able to start medically evacuating
the critically wounded by helicopter from
outlying areas.
5.
GIS tool “Crisis mapping” was used to coordinate the response
6.
Surgeons and inflatable hospitals were used (source)
The foreign secretary, Philip
Hammond, has issued a statement in response to
the earthquake in Nepal:
“My thoughts are with the people of
Nepal
and everyone affected by the terrible loss of
life and widespread damage caused by the
earthquake.
We are in close contact with the Nepalese government. The British
Embassy in Nepal is offering our assistance to
the authorities and is providing consular
assistance to British Nationals.”
LONG TERM
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided a
USD$3 million grant to Nepal for immediate
relief efforts; and up to USD$200 million for
the first phase of rehabilitation.
Aid was donated by a huge number of countries.
The UK gave
£73 million, of which £23 million
was donated by the government and £50 million
was donated by the public.
The UK also provided 30 tonnes of
humanitarian aid and 8 tonnes of equipment.
Finally, the UK offered expert help by
sending around 100 search and rescue responders,
medical experts, and disaster and rescue experts
deployed by the Department for International
Development; engineers from the British Army's
Brigade of Ghurkhas (ironically, Nepalese
soldiers working in the British Army); three
Chinook helicopters (returned unused by the
Nepali government).