Thousands Dead or Injured in Nepal
April 27, 2015
On Saturday, April 25, Nepal was hit with a large earthquake. As of this morning, April 27, the death count was around 3,600 people. More than 6,000 people were injured. About 80 percent of Nepal is hills, valleys, or mountains. The highest mountain range in the world, the Himalaya, is in Nepal, of which Earth’s highest mountain, Everest, is part. Eighteen of those killed were climbers at Mount Everest. The powerful earthquake, at a magnitude of 7.8, caused an avalanche on Everest that obliterated many of the dozens of tents that form the base camp used by climbers. The camp was full at this time of year, as the climbing season for the mountain is April and May.
The epicenter of the quake was some 50 miles northwest of Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu. The capital was badly hit by the earthquake; many people were killed, others buried in rubble, and many landmark buildings were destroyed. The aftershocks were also very strong, some of them at a magnitude of 6.7, even on the following day, April 26. A large percentage of people in the city slept outside in the cold on Saturday night, making many streets impassable. Hospitals in Kathmandu were overwhelmed by the size of the disaster, and patients lay outside of the hospital with IV drips in their arms when there were no more beds available.
Because of Nepal’s geography and the continuing aftershocks, rescue efforts were difficult and humanitarian aid from other nations had not yet reached Nepal a day later. The situation in the rural regions nearer to the epicenter were not known, as travel in the mountainous areas is difficult at the best of times. But, many feared the death count could escalate once rural areas were reached by rescuers.
Earthquakes are caused by the energy created when the plates that make up Earth’s crust—the tectonic plates—collide with each other or slip past each other. Over decades, centuries, or more, this energy builds, until the plates suddenly move, creating shock waves that shake the ground. So it is with Nepal, which sits atop the boundary of the Indian-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Indian-Australian plate has been grinding into the Eurasian plate for hundreds of thousands of years. Currently, the Indian plate slides about 2 inches (5 centimeters) per year to the north. This tectonic action pushes Earth’s crust to lift up, forming the Himalaya in the process.
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