case study - Nepal earthquake

Question 1

background information, Nepal

Answer 1

April 25th 2015, 11:56am
80km northwest of Kathmandu
magnitude 7.8
very shallow focus - 15km
indian and eurasian plate margin

Question 2

primary impacts, Nepal

Answer 2

Social
- shaking felt across Nepal, parts of India (78) and China (25)
- 9000 deaths
- 700,000 houses damaged in Nepal
- UNESCO site destroyed

Question 3

secondary impacts, Nepal

Answer 3

Social
- lack of clean drinking water, damage to sources
- 19 killed in Mt Everest landslide

Economic
- short term loss in tourism income
- long term agricultural losses
- $5.17b damage

Question 4

immediate responses, Nepal

Answer 4

• 90% of Nepals military deployed in search and rescue
• UN sent £270m emergency relief
• NGOs such as UNICEF supplied water and purification tablets
• tent cities set up

Question 5

long term responses, Nepal

Answer 5

• Oxfam ‘cash for work’ schemes payed local people to help reconstruction
• winter survival kits given out
• aid from many countries such as £73m from UK
• Oxfam trained people to construct shelters
• world bank grant allowed gov to ent money to 100k families

Question 6

evaluation of Nepal

Answer 6

many deaths and homelessness
after 3 months - 503,000 food insecure
after 1 year - 4 million in shelters

however could have been worse
- monsoon season was not bad, less rain than expected
- fewer landslides than expected, ancient rock was stronger then expected
- overall less damage to Kathmandu

Question 7

why is Nepal vulnerable?

Answer 7

human
- economic - LIC with low GNI
- social - rapid population growth with high population density
poor quality buildings and infrastructure
- political - issues with corrupt government

physical
- Kathmandu on river sediment, amplified seismic waves
- on destructive margin