Nepal - Gorkha Earthquake

Question 1

Tectonic Setting

Answer 1

• Situated in middle of the collision zone where Indo-Australian plate meets the Eurasian plate
• Geological structure of valleys in Nepal increases seismic risk, pre-historic lakes filled many of the valleys and their legacy is hundreds of metres of relatively soft sediment
• In Kathmandu valley, depth of sediment reaches 600m
• As seismic waves pass through this material, they are amplified, causing structures to swing violently

Question 2

Features of Earthquake

Answer 2

• April 2015
• 7.8 Mw
• Slip along the main frontal thrust fault in the collision zone
• Epicentre 90km north-east of Kathmandu , focus 15km away
• 51 aftershocks equal to, or above, 5 Mw and five aftershocks above 6 Mw including a 7.3 Mw shock in May
• Tremors felt across neighbouring Indian states and into China
• Snow and ice avalanches caused, including on Everest

Question 3

Social Impacts

Answer 3

• 8800 fatalities
• 22,000 injuries
• 160 deaths in other countries, mainly India
• More than 2.8 million people displaced
• Estimated 1 million people required food assistance
• Impacts felt unevenly by different ethnic groups, lower-caste Tibeto-Burman were hardest hit as they tended to live on higher slopes in the Himalayas, locations were severely affected and difficult to access for relief aid

Question 4

Economic Impacts

Answer 4

• US Geological Survey put cost to the national economy at $10 billion
• Tourism which accounts for around 10% of the economy, was badly hit, with Everest closed for the 2015 climbing season
• Asian Development Bank provided $200 million of aid for reconstruction
• Nepal’s government, businesses and individuals lacked capital reserves to cope with the scale of damage caused by the earthquake, as a rest of borrowing, levels of national debt increased

Question 5

Political Impacts

Answer 5

• Politically unstable pre-earthquake
• Earthquake and its economic aftermath have undermined progress towards peace and greater democracy
• Nepal removed emergency aid for longer-term reconstruction from a range of countries, including EDCs and LIDCs as well as ACs - Indonesia for example sent assistance from its military aircraft and personnel to operate them
• International aid created tension with India, which was accused of trying to use its humanitarian aid was a way of self-promotion within the region

Question 6

Modifying Vulnerability

Answer 6

National Society for Earthquake Technology (1993) and Disaster Preparedness Network (1996) are Nepalese organisation which aim to reduce risk:
- Mapping of high-risk shake zones
- Building codes introduced
- Encouraging households to have a ‘go bag’ containing items eg. dried foods, bottles of water, whistle
- Introducing education programmes
- Organising annual earthquake awareness day

Question 7

Modifying Loss

Answer 7

330 humanitarian agencies involved in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, included UN, EU and NGOs such as Red Cross, Christian Aid and Shelter

Question 8

Successes

Answer 8

• Given magnitude of quake and casualty figures, several experts have concluded that impacts could have been much greater, eg. risk maps for the city of Bharatpur suggested that as many as 30% of inhabitants could have been killed, however there were no deaths in the city
• Throughout Nepal, people benefitted from educational programmes and earthquake building codes

Question 9

Limitations

Answer 9

• Away from Kathmandu and the central valley, Nepal’s mountainous topography hindered attempts to get emergency aid to remote villages
• Spread of educational information was limited for rural, isolated groups