Nepal 2015
Social impacts
Deaths/ injuries
8800 fatalities from the Gorkha earthquake
Over 22,000 people in Nepal were injured
160 deaths in other countries (mostly in India)
Avalanches on Mt Everest killed 20 climbers
Displacement of people
More than 2.8 million people were displaced from Kathmandu valley (many were migrants from remote areas of Nepal)
1 million people needed food assistance
Increase in trafficking women and girls from the poorest families, who were homeless to South Asian brothels
Classes/ groups
Lower caste Tibeto-Burman were hardest hit as they lived in the higher slopes of the Himalayas (lots of landslides and difficult to send aid)
Single women struggled to get food and medical aid as most of this was controlled by men
Monuments
Damaged the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bhaktapur
Destroyed the 9 storey tall Dharahara Tower (one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in the Himalayas)
Political impacts
Economic impacts
Damage
Aid
Asian Development Bank provided US$200 million of aid for reconstruction
Cost of US$10 Billion to the National economy (US Geological Survey)
Tourism makes up 10% of the economy
Tourism sector badly hit, with Everest being closed for the 2015 climbing season
Nepal's government, businesses and individuals lacked the capital reserves to cope with the scale of the damage
Levels of debt increased as a result of borrowing
Agriculture
Distrupted the planting season ahead of the arrival of the monsoon
Longer-term impacts of the earthquake in terms of food security
Political instability
Earthquake occurred following a period of instability, including assassinations and coups
Had shown signs of moving into a more settled period
Earthquake and it's economic aftermath have undermined progress towards peace and greater democracy
Aid
Received emergency aid for longer term reconstruction from a range of countries: ACs, EDCs and LIDCs
Indonesia sent assistance from its military, including personnel and aircraft
Aid from India caused international tensions as they were accused of trying to use the humanitarian aid as a way of self-promotion in the region
Tectonic setting
Nepal is situated on the boundary of the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate, in a collision zone
As the plates grind against each other, pressure builds and is released in the form of earthquakes
The geological structure of valleys
in Nepal increase seismic risk
Pre-historic lakes filled many of the valleys and they have left behind hundreds of metres of relatively soft sediment
In the Kathmandu valley, the depth of sediment reaches 600m
As seismic waves pass through this material, they are amplified, causing structures to swing violently
Depending on the water content of the soil at the time of an earthquake, liquefaction can be a major hazard
What
25th of April 2015
11:56 local time
Epicentre was 90km northeast of Kathmandu
Focus was 15km deep
Magnitude
7.8Mw
51 aftershocks equal to or above 5Mw
A slip along the main frontal thrust fault in the collision zone
5 aftershocks above 6Mw
An aftershock of 7.3Mw in May 2015
Tremors were felt in China and neighbouring Indian states
Hazards caused
Many landslides
Snow and ice avalanches caused (some on Everest)
473,000 houses were destroyed or badly damaged