Case Study - Gorkha Earthquake

Himalayas

April 2015

• developing country

Causes:

• magnitude 7.9
• happened 90 km north-east of Kathmandu, in the middle of the collision zone where the Indo-Australian plate meets the Eurasian plate.
• the geological structure of valleys in Nepal increases the risk of earthquakes (pre-historic lakes filled many of the valleys so the sediment is soft)
• the depth of soft sediment reaches 600m deep in the Kathmandu valley → seismic waves that pass through this material are amplified, causing structures to swing violently

Impacts:

• 9,000 deaths and 22,000 injured
• Economic losses amounted to US$5 billion
• There were many landslides down the steep mountain slopes with killer snow and ice avalanches triggered on Mt. Everest (killed 20 people)
• Many rural villages were totally destroyed – over 450,000 houses were damaged
• More than 2.8 million people were displaced from the Kathmandu Valley, and there was an increase in the trafficking of homeless girls into the sex trade in South Asia

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Aid:

• An estimated 1 million people needed emergency food assistance
• The Asian Development Bank provided US$200 million of aid for reconstruction
• Locations high in the Himalayan Mountains could not be accessed for many days and relief aid was slow arriving
• There was severe gender discrimination in the receipt of aid with thousands of women going without

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Geopolitics

• Nepalese government aid was hindered by political turmoil before and after the event
• More geopolitical issues arose as neighbouring countries (e.g. India and Indonesia) competed with each other for greater influence within Nepal

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