OVER 2,500 FEARED KILLED; ANOTHER 4,500 INJURED MANY TRAPPED IN DEBRIS; MORE THAN 60 DEAD IN INDIA

CALAMITY// A massive earthquake of magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale hit large parts of Nepal on Saturday, April 25 2015. It was strong enough to be felt all across northern and eastern parts of India, Bangladesh, China’s region of Tibet and Pakistan. The epicenter of the mainshock lies approx. 80 km north-west of the city of Kathmandu and the aftershocks spread south-eastwards over a distance of 150 km. More than 2,500 people have been feared killed and another 4,500 people (at the time of going to press) severely injured. These figures are likely to rise in the coming days. This was followed by another aftershock of 6.7 magnitude within 24 hours the next day which rattled the people of Kathmandu. People were seen running into the streets as they saw buildings sway. This was the worst to hit Nepal in 80 years so much so that it also touched off a deadly avalanche that hit the base camp of the climbers bound for Mt. Everest and killed another 24. Sixty one people have been injured as more bodies are being recovered. Nepal’s worst recorded earthquake in 1934 measured 8.0 and all but destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

“As a result of these earthquakes, Nepal Himalaya has lurched southwards with respect to India. Our understanding is that this present event will be followed by a sequence of aftershocks over the next several days to weeks and warrants extreme caution”, warns Professor Supriyo Mitra, Department of Earth Sciences, IISER Kolkata.

India responded quickly to the disaster with rescue and relief operations in Nepal following a high-level meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he said “Nepal’s pain is our pain.” The Indian embassy in Kathmandu was also damaged as the entire complex collapsed.