4.b. case study nepal impacts people experience as a result of earthquake activity

location and background

earthquake prone country. on average it receive 2 7-8 Mw earthquakes every 40 years and 1 8+ Mw every 80 years. however earthquake records are much less complete than in countries such as japan or indonesia and many of the small seismic events have gone unrecorded. as in japan earthquakes and their risks are embedded within nepalese culture, tradition and folklore.

situated in the middle of the collision zone where the indo australian plate meets the eurasain plate. as these plates grind against each other pressure builds up and energy is released as earthquakes. geological structure of valleys in nepal increases seismic risk. pre historic lakes filled many of the valleys and theit legacy is 100s of metres of relatively soft sediment. in kathmandu valley the depth of sediment reaches 600m. as seismics wave pass through this material, they are amplified, causing structures to swing violently. depending on the water content of the soil at the time of the quake, liquefaction can be a major hazard

gorkha earthquake

25th april 2015 a major earthquake struck nepal. 7.8 Mw; a slip along the main frontal thrust fault in the collision zone; epicentre- 90km NW of kathmandu; focus= 15km; 51 aftershocks equal to or above 5 Mw and 5 aftershocks above 6 Mw including 7.3 Mw shock in may 2015; tremors felt across neighbouring indian states and into china; many landslides caused; snow and ice avalanches caused including on everest

reasons why people live in tectonically active locations

fertile land is common with the mountain weathering creating nutrient rich soils along with rivers flowing from the himalayas deposit sediments that are good for agriculture- supporting crops like rice, wheat and maize. economic opportunities are available in the kathmandu provides jobs, services and education, attracting migrants from rural areas. tourism linked to the himalayas and mount everest provides income too through climbing and guiding. there is also limited alternative locations with nepal being a mountainous country. many communities have lived in the same areas for generations meaning relocation is difficult. low incomes can mean a lack of mobility and cultural/historic ties create attachment.

impacts people experienced

some 8800 fatalities resulted from the earthquake and just over 22,000 people were injured. there were 160 deaths in other countries, mainly in india. avalanches on everest killed 20 climbers. more than 2.8 mil people were displaced from the kathmandu valley. many were migrants from remote areas of nepal, who then moved away from the kathmandu region after the quake. some 470,000 houses were either destroyed or badly damaged and an estimated 1 mil people required food assistance. one particularly disturbing social impact concerned an increase in trafficking women and girls from the poorest families, who were homeless to south asian brothels

the social impact of the earthquake was felt unevenly by different ethnic groups. the lower caste tibeto burman were hardest hit as they tended to live on the higher slopes in the himalayas. these locations were severely affected by landslides and were also difficult to access for relief aid. single women were also disadvantaged and struggled to obtain emergency food and medical aid- most aid was controlled by men and women were often discriminated against