Posts Tagged ‘Nepal’
Nepal, Katmandu, and frequent murderous and devastating earthquakes
NEW DELHI — A powerful earthquake shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu, killing more than 1,900 people, flattening sections of the city’s historic center, and trapping dozens of sightseers in a 200-foot watchtower that came crashing down into a pile of bricks.
As officials in Nepal faced the devastation on Sunday morning, they said that most of the 1,931 deaths occurred in Katmandu and the surrounding valley, and that more than 4,700 people had been injured.
But the quake touched a vast expanse of the subcontinent. It set off avalanches around Mount Everest, where at least 17 climbers died. At least 34 deaths occurred in northern India. Buildings swayed in Tibet and Bangladesh.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, struck shortly before noon, and residents of Katmandu ran into the streets and other open spaces as buildings fell, throwing up clouds of dust. Wide cracks opened on paved streets and in the walls of city buildings. Motorcycles tipped over and slid off the edge of a highway.
A deadly earthquake shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu, and set off avalanches around Mount Everest.
By Rajneesh Bhandari and Colin Archdeacon on Publish Date April 25, 2015.
By midafternoon, the United States Geological Survey had counted 12 aftershocks, one of which measured 6.6.
Seismologists have expected a major earthquake in western Nepal, where there is pent-up pressure from the grinding between tectonic plates, the northern Eurasian plate and the up-thrusting Indian plate. Still, witnesses described a chaotic rescue effort during the first hours after the quake as emergency workers and volunteers grabbed tools and bulldozers from construction sites, and dug with hacksaws, mangled reinforcing bars and their hands.
Though many have worried about the stability of the concrete high-rises that have been hastily erected in Katmandu, the most terrible damage on Saturday was to the oldest part of the city, which is studded with temples and palaces made of wood and unmortared brick.
Four of the area’s seven Unesco World Heritage sites were severely damaged in the earthquake: Bhaktapur Durbar Square, a temple complex built in the shape of a conch shell; Patan Durbar Square, which dates to the third century; Basantapur Durbar Square, which was the residence of Nepal’s royal family until the 19th century; and the Boudhanath Stupa, one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in the Himalayas.
For many, the most breathtaking architectural loss was the nine-story Dharahara Tower, which was built in 1832 on the orders of the queen. The tower had recently reopened to the public, and visitors could ascend a spiral staircase to a viewing platform around 200 feet above the city.
Epicenter of earthquake
with an estimated
magnitude of 7.8
China
Smaller quakes in
the hours afterward
NEPAL
Mount Everest
Pokhara
Areas of
strong shaking
Katmandu
India
100 miles
Epicenter of earthquake
with an estimated
magnitude of 7.8
China
Smaller quakes in
the hours afterward
NEPAL
Mt. Everest
Pokhara
Areas of
strong
shaking
Katmandu
India
100 miles
The walls were brick, around one and a half feet thick, and when the earthquake struck, they came crashing down.
The police said on Saturday that they had pulled about 60 bodies from the rubble of the tower. Kashish Das Shrestha, a photographer and writer, spent much of the day in the old city, but said he still had trouble grasping that the tower was gone.
“I was here yesterday, I was here the day before yesterday, and it was there,” he said. “Today it’s just gone. Last night, from my terrace, I was looking at the tower. And today I was at the tower — and there is no tower.”
Kanak Mani Dixit, a Nepalese political commentator, said he had been having lunch with his parents when the quake struck. The rolling was so intense and sustained that he had trouble getting to his feet, he said. He helped his father and an elderly neighbor to safety in the garden outside and then had to carry his elderly mother.
“And I had time to do all that while the quake was still going on,” Mr. Dixit said. “It was like being on a boat in heavy seas.”
Photographs
Nepal’s Landmarks, Before and After the Earthquake
The earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25 flattened sections of Katmandu’s historic center, where many structures were made with bricks.
Roger Bilham, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, said the shaking lasted about one minute, although it continued for another minute in some places.
For years, people have worried about an earthquake of this magnitude in western Nepal. Many feared that an immense death toll would result, in part because construction has been largely unregulated in recent years, said Ganesh K. Bhattari, a Nepalese expert on earthquakes, now living in Denmark.
He said the government had made some buildings more robust and reinforced vulnerable ones, but many larger buildings, like hospitals and old-age homes, remained extremely vulnerable. “There is a little bit of improvement,” he said. “But it is really difficult for people to implement the rules and the regulations.”
Kunda Dixit, the editor of The Nepali Times, said that Nepal was still emerging from many years of turmoil — a decade-long war with Maoist insurgents, followed by chronic political uncertainty — and that contingency planning for events like earthquakes had often taken a back seat to “present disasters.”
“The government hasn’t been able to get around to a lot of things, not just disaster preparedness,” Mr. Dixit said.
Earthquake in Nepal Kills Hundreds
An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.8 shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu, flattening sections of the city’s historic center.
By Reuters on Publish Date April 25, 2015.
Saturday’s earthquake struck when schools were not in session, which may have reduced the death toll. But there was not yet a full picture of the damage to villages on the mountain ridges around Katmandu, where families live in houses made of mud and thatch.
As night fell, aftershocks were still hitting, prompting waves of screaming. Many residents sat on roads for much of the day, afraid to go back indoors, and many insisted that they would spend the night outside despite the cold. Thousands camped out at the city’s parade ground. The city’s shops were running short of bottled water, dry food and telephone charge cards.
Toward evening, hospitals were trying to accommodate a huge influx of patients, some with amputated limbs, and were running short of supplies like bandages and trauma kits, said Jamie McGoldrick, resident coordinator with the United Nations Development Program in Nepal. Water supplies, a problem under normal circumstances in this fast-growing city, will almost certainly run short, he said.
Search and rescue personnel will face the challenge of reaching villages nearer the quake’s epicenter, about 50 miles northwest of Katmandu, where damage may be catastrophic.
Secretary of State John Kerry said the American ambassador to Nepal, Peter W. Bodde, had issued a disaster declaration that would allow $1 million in humanitarian assistance to be available immediately. A disaster response team and an urban search-and-rescue team from the United States Agency for International Development will also be deployed, he said in a statement,
China and India, which jockey for influence in the region, have pledged disaster assistance.
On Mount Everest, several hundred trekkers were attempting an ascent when the earthquake struck, setting off avalanches, according to climbers there. Alex Gavan, a hiker at base camp, called it a “huge disaster” on Twitter and described “running for life from my tent.” Nima Namgyal Sherpa, a tour guide at base camp, said in a Facebook post that many camps had been destroyed.
Tremors from the quake were felt across northern India, rattling bookcases and light fixtures as far away as New Delhi. Electricity was switched off for safety reasons in the Indian state of Bihar, where three deaths were reported in one district, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, India’s minister of skill development, told reporters in New Delhi. Two deaths were reported in another district.
The region has been the site of the largest earthquakes in the Himalayas, including a 2005 quake in the Kashmir region and a 1905 earthquake in Kangra, India.
Stand By Me: Nepal
Posted on: May 15, 2015
Stand By Me: Nepal
Claire Davidson and I will be leaving Nepal tomorrow after three weeks here that we will never forget. Talk about bittersweet.
We arrived on the afternoon of April 24th.
The next day, as we were exploring the ancient capital of Bakhtapur with Ajay Uprety, the earthquake hit.
We were almost crushed by a falling building, and spent the rest of that day sprinting through Bakhtapur’s narrow streets, running from square to square through the destroyed 800-year-old city, to escape the recurring terror of the aftershocks.
We walked for several hours and eventually made our way back to our hotel, which had partially collapsed, and set up camp.
We immediately started mobilizing International Medical Corps‘ response with the help of a handful of strangers-come-friends who shared our campsite and who wanted to help.
Over the days that followed, more staff and volunteers arrived, and our response scaled up.
We chartered helicopters to reach the most remote villages, and we worked to bring safe water and sanitation facilities to displaced persons living in camps in Kathmandu and in destroyed villages around the epicentre.
Our team and our reach grew before our eyes as the global Facebook community generously contributed to our efforts.
On May 12th, we experienced yet another earthquake.
I was in Gorkha District with Ivy Caballes Registered Nurse, Remi Drozd, Lara Phillips and our team running a mobile medical unit when the building we were in partially collapsed and the hills around us started sliding away.
We flew back to Kathmandu with Tara Yip-Bannicq and linked up with Claire and other colleagues to immediately start assessments – going first to Bakhtapur, where Claire, Ajay and I were the day of the first earthquake.
We worked late into that evening, setting up a field post-op unit close to one of the hospitals we are supporting in Kathmandu.
Claire and I came to Nepal on vacation.
Actually, April 25th was the start of her two-month sabbatical! We certainly didn’t have the experience we expected, but we’re both grateful that we had this time here, and that we were able to contribute in some small way.
We’re leaving Nepal with heavy hearts, as there is still an enormous amount of work to be done.
But we’re leaving our work in good hands, and we will continue to stand by Nepal from afar. We look forward to coming back under better circumstances, and to once again experiencing the beauty and kindness of this country.
Earthquakes in Nepal and India
Posted on: April 30, 2015
Earthquakes in Nepal and India
NEW DELHI — A powerful earthquake shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu, killing more than 5,000 people (The PM claimed over 10,000 perished so far, flattening sections of the city’s historic center, and trapping dozens of sightseers in a 200-foot watchtower that came crashing down into a pile of bricks.
As officials in Nepal faced the devastation on Sunday morning, they said that most of the deaths occurred in Katmandu and the surrounding valley, and that more than 4,700 people had been injured. But the quake touched a vast expanse of the subcontinent. It set off avalanches around Mount Everest, where at least 17 climbers died. At least 34 deaths occurred in northern India.
Buildings swayed in Tibet and Bangladesh.
By midafternoon, the United States Geological Survey had counted 12 aftershocks, one of which measured 6.6.
Seismologists have expected a major earthquake in western Nepal, where there is pent-up pressure from the grinding between tectonic plates, the northern Eurasian plate and the up-thrusting Indian plate.
Still, witnesses described a chaotic rescue effort during the first hours after the quake as emergency workers and volunteers grabbed tools and bulldozers from construction sites, and dug with hacksaws, mangled reinforcing bars and their hands.
Though many have worried about the stability of the concrete high-rises that have been hastily erected in Katmandu, the most terrible damage on Saturday was to the oldest part of the city, which is studded with temples and palaces made of wood and unmortared brick.
Four of the area’s seven Unesco World Heritage sites were severely damaged in the earthquake: Bhaktapur Durbar Square, a temple complex built in the shape of a conch shell; Patan Durbar Square, which dates to the third century; which was the residence of Nepal’s royal family until the 19th century; and the Boudhanath Stupa, one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in the Himalayas.
For many, the most breathtaking architectural loss was the nine-story Dharahara Tower, which was built in 1832 on the orders of the queen. The tower had recently reopened to the public, and visitors could ascend a spiral staircase to a viewing platform around 200 feet above the city.
Epicenter of earthquake
with an estimated
magnitude of 7.8
China
Smaller quakes in
the hours afterward
NEPAL
Mount Everest
Pokhara
Areas of
strong shaking
Katmandu
India
100 miles
Epicenter of earthquake
with an estimated
magnitude of 7.8
China
Smaller quakes in
the hours afterward
NEPAL
Mt. Everest
Pokhara
Areas of
strong
shaking
Katmandu
India
100 miles
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, struck shortly before noon, and residents of Katmandu ran into the streets and other open spaces as buildings fell, throwing up clouds of dust. Wide cracks opened on paved streets and in the walls of city buildings. Motorcycles tipped over and slid off the edge of a highway
Thoughts are with the people of Nepal. Magical kingdom- I spent 3 months there as a medical student.
Hot posts this week (March 17/2014)
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- Camlari, child-girl slave system in Nepal
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- Political leaders: Dressed for war drags
A few of the “45 Most powerful pictures” in BuzzFeed for 2012
1. A boy in Nepal being evicted from his home
A boy cries as he holds his sister in his lap after a confrontation with squatters and police personnel in Kathmandu, Nepal.
2. A couple discovering their family records survived Hurricane Sandy
Rosemary McDermott and her husband opened a safe containing a family genealogy in the Breezy Point section of Queens.
They salvaged the safe from the basement of Rosemary’s mother’s home after Superstorm Sandy.
3. Mars
Thanks to Curiosity, this is one of the clearest images of Mars ever taken.
4. Felix Baumgartner’s 24-mile free-fall from space
5. A man being pepper-sprayed directly in the face
Israeli border police officers use pepper spray as they detain an injured Palestinian protester during clashes on Land Day in March.
Security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to break up groups of Palestinian stone-throwers as annual Land Day rallies turned violent.
A Tibetan exile runs through a street during a protest against the upcoming visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
7. A Bolivian woman taking on a group of riot police
Thousands of people with crutches and in wheelchairs protested against the government of Bolivia in February. They were protesting what they believe to be an inadequate welfare system.
8. The Waldo Canyon fire
The Waldo Canyon fire burns an entire neighborhood near the foothills of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In June, Colorado endured nearly a week of 100-plus-degree days and low humidity, creating a devastating formula for volatile wildfires across the state.
9. Outside the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado
Storm clouds gather above a memorial for the victims in the shooting across the street from the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in July.
10. Anti-gay hate crimes in Ukraine
Unidentified people beat Svyatoslav Sheremet, head of Gay-Forum of Ukraine, in May.
Sheremet was attacked after meeting with members of the media to inform them that a scheduled gay parade was canceled due to threats of violence from neo-Nazis and other hate groups.
The attackers ran off when they realized members of the media were documenting the attack.
11. People who lost family members during the uprising in Egypt react to Hosni Mubarak’s prison sentence
Relatives of people who died during Egypt’s revolution react after a court sentenced President Hosni Mubarak to life in prison in June.
12. Kicking riot police in Greece
A man in Greece kicks riot police back.
13. Family being forced to go back to Myanmar
Mohammad Rafique, a Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, begs a Bangladeshi coast guard official not to send his family back to Myanmar.
14. Nik Wallenda tightroping over Niagara Falls
Nik Wallenda tightroped over Niagara Falls on a 2-inch-wide wire. He’s the first person to ever cross directly over the falls from the U.S. into Canada.
15. The father saving his daughter’s life in Syria
A Syrian man carries his wounded daughter outside a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo in September. Syrian troops shelled several districts in Aleppo and clashed with rebels.
16. Manhattan without lights
Before and after shots of Manhattan after Hurricane Sandy. Nearly 200,000 people lost power in downtown Manhattan for about a week.
17. A little Palestinian girl vs. an Israeli soldier
A Palestinian girl tries to punch an Israeli soldier during a protest against the expansion of the nearby Jewish settlement of Halamish.
18. The Space Shuttle Enterprise flying above New York City
19. The wedding held during a monsoon in Manila
Ramoncito Campo kisses his wife Hernelie Ruazol Campo on a flooded street during a southwest monsoon that battered Manila, Philippines, in August.
The newlywed couple pushed through with their scheduled wedding despite severe flooding that inundated wide areas of the capital and nine nearby provinces.
Adonis Diaries 
Nepal Earthquake: Stand By Me
Posted by: adonis49 on: January 8, 2021
Stand By Me: Nepal
Posted on May 15, 2015
Claire and I came to Nepal on vacation.
Actually, April 25th was the start of her two-month sabbatical!
We certainly didn’t have the experience we expected, but we’re both grateful that we had this time here, and that we were able to contribute in some small way.
Claire Davidson and I will be leaving Nepal tomorrow after three weeks here that we will never forget. Talk about bittersweet.
We arrived on the afternoon of April 24th.
The next day, as we were exploring the ancient capital of Bakhtapur with Ajay Uprety, the earthquake hit.
We were almost crushed by a falling building, and spent the rest of that day sprinting through Bakhtapur’s narrow streets, running from square to square through the destroyed 800-year-old city, to escape the recurring terror of the aftershocks.
We walked for several hours and eventually made our way back to our hotel, which had partially collapsed, and set up camp.
We immediately started mobilizing International Medical Corps‘ response with the help of a handful of strangers-come-friends who shared our campsite and who wanted to help.
Over the days that followed, more staff and volunteers arrived, and our response scaled up.
We chartered helicopters to reach the most remote villages, and we worked to bring safe water and sanitation facilities to displaced persons living in camps in Kathmandu and in destroyed villages around the epicentre.
Our team and our reach grew before our eyes as the global community generously contributed to our efforts.
On May 12th, we experienced yet another earthquake.
I was in Gorkha District with Ivy Caballes Registered Nurse, Remi Drozd, Lara Phillips and our team running a mobile medical unit when the building we were in partially collapsed and the hills around us started sliding away.
We flew back to Kathmandu with Tara Yip-Bannicq and linked up with Claire and other colleagues to immediately start assessments – going first to Bakhtapur, where Claire, Ajay and I were the day of the first earthquake.
We worked late into that evening, setting up a field post-op unit close to one of the hospitals we are supporting in Kathmandu.
We’re leaving Nepal with heavy hearts, as there is still an enormous amount of work to be done.
But we’re leaving our work in good hands, and we will continue to stand by Nepal from afar. We look forward to coming back under better circumstances, and to once again experiencing the beauty and kindness of this country.
See More
Tracy Chapman: “Stand By Me” – David Letterman Tracy performs the classic Ben E. King song.
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