7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal

[Simfan34]

Accidentally deleted the thread. Death toll has been rapidly climbing, was 150 when I woke up, 1000 when I first posted it, and now 1,457. Not the biggest earthquake in the country's history though- a 8.3 magnitude one struck in 1934.

[Simfan34]

Kathmandu's historic Durbar Square, a World Heritage site, has been completely destroyed:

Before:


After:

[Simfan34]

The Dharara Tower has also been destroyed along with half the buildings in the capital.

Most of the camps of Mount Everest have been badly hit as well. Many climbers and Sherpas are stuck, or worse due to an earthquake induced Avalanche.

Much of this was destroyed in the 1934 earthquake so I assume they'll rebuild again.

[Simfan34]

According to a 1990s study I found an earthquake around the level of the 1934 quake could be expected to have a death toll of 18,000-20,000. So this is what we could expect, although I worry it will be far higher. I don't know how many buildings there are in Kathmandu but they estimated 53k would be destroyed while reports are saying half have been.

Meanwhile an advocacy group cites a study that claims:

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Sounds disturbingly close to what has happened.

[Simfan34]

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http://www.lebret-irfed.org/spip.php?article787

!!!

[Simfan34]

This really doesn't sound good:

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/experts-had-warned-for-decades-that-nepal-was-vulnerable-to-a-killer-quake/2015/04/25/0275959e-eb78-11e4-9a6a-c1ab95a0600b_story.html

[Simfan34]

The death toll, at least, seems far below the figures I was quoting yesterday.