Late Saturday night, the country of Nepal was hit by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake, followed by 12 aftershocks, with one reaching a magnitude of 6.6. Since the event, more than 4,000 deaths have been reported.
Within minutes, many of the country’s national monuments were reduced to rubble. Four of the seven UNESCO “Monument Zones” in Kathmandu Valley suffered severe damage, including the Dharahara Tower, which had recently been reopened to the public. At least 60 bodies were found buried in the rubble of the tower. Thousands have taken to social media to contact their loved ones, and the Nepalese government is scrambling to search the countryside for survivors. The surrounding mountains have been greatly affected as well, and 18 mountaineers, including five foreign nationals, an Australian, three Americans, and a Japanese man at the Everest Base Camp are reported dead, with dozens more injured. Helicopters have already rescued around 100 hikers.
The epicenter of the earthquake is thought to be located between Kathmandu, the country’s capital, and Pokhara, a city about 100 miles away, but closer to Pokhara. While most of the deaths are believed to have occurred in Kathmandu, the Nepalese Government has not yet finished checking rural areas in the surrounding valley. The effects of the earthquake were not limited to Nepal, however, and there have also been reports of a few deaths in Northern India and surrounding areas.
Much of the population is sleeping on the streets and in sewage pipes, afraid to go back into buildings for fear of a collapse, and doctors have had to treat patients outside of the hospital. The following comes from a Reuters report on the earthquake:
“‘We only have one operation theatre here. To be able to provide immediate treatment we require 15 theatres. I am just not able to cope,’ orthopedic surgeon said Dipendra Pandey said, an orthopaedic surgeon,, adding he had done 36 critical operations since Saturday.”
Many countries have pledged disaster assistance, including neighboring nations China and India. The UK has promised five million dollars in aid, and the United States has promised one million. In the following days, the death toll is expected to reach more than 5,000 as the Nepalese government finishes its sweep of the countryside.
The quake had been somewhat expected by geologists studying the area, due to the country bordering the Indian subcontinent. The entire area around the Himalayas has always been under extreme tectonic pressure, and geologists, only weeks before the event, discovered that the quakes in the area followed a fairly regular cycle of two major earthquakes followed by 700 years of relative silence. So far, the observation has held up, as there are historical reports of two major earthquakes occurring in Nepal around 700 years ago. In this cycle, Saturday’s earthquake is actually the second of the two, the first taking place in 1934, killing 17,000. Despite this, many geologists believe that the area isn’t safe yet, and advise that the country be wary over the next couple decades.
