7.5 Mag earthquake Nepal - Upgraded to 7.9 USGS

Post removed. Sorry it's wayyy past my bedtime. The avalanche I was describing was from a year ago last week.

CNN is reporting that at least 150 people have died so far , not including injuries ..


edition.cnn.com...

Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs says more than 150 people have died in the capital, Kathmandu, following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake.

what a horror for these people and they are i believe the worst earthquake ready country in the world . . Nepal is high up the mountains of asia. yet. it happens and me and my gf forsaw a major people killing quake about a month or so ago. . i believe this may have been it . tho we re still due for a mag 8 plus quake sometime this year.
the norm is one a year .

updated from the USGS S website..

the offical mag of the Nepal quake is at a mag 7.8

comcat.cr.usgs.gov...

Although a major plate boundary with a history of large-to-great sized earthquakes, large earthquakes on the Himalayan thrust are rare in the documented historical era. Just four events of M6 or larger have occurred within 250 km of the April 25, 2015 earthquake over the past century. One, a M 6.9 earthquake in August 1988, 240 km to the southeast of the April 25 event, caused close to 1500 fatalities. The largest, an M 8.0 event known as the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake, occurred in a similar location to the 1988 event. It severely damaged Kathmandu, and is thought to have caused around 10,600 fatalities.

a reply to: aboutface

I noticed the anniversary date was so close. I was having a hard time determining which one I was actually getting info on.

EVEREST UPDATE

ok I can't post source or quote proper, tags aren't working for me . I tried fixing my browser issue but it didn't fix
It's from associated Press

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A senior mountaineering guide says an avalanche swept the face of Mt. Everest after the massive earthquake, while government officials say at least 30 people have been injured on the mountain.

Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association says that the avalanche apparently occurred between the Khumbu Icefall, a rugged area of collapsed ice and snow, and the base camp where most climbing expeditions have their main camps.

While details are unclear with communications limited to the Everest region, Tshering says the avalanche did not appear to have hit the base camp itself.

Nepal's Home Ministry, meanwhile, says 30 people have been injured on the mountain, though it was not clear where those injuries have taken place.

Can't edit above either . Apologies.
Just wanted to add I posted earlier in this thread on Everest that the mid base camp got wiped out on the south face I believe

It's hard to discern from the last avalanche in 2014 , easy to mix up the two . That one destroyed a base camp.

a reply to: aboutface

Thought so lol. Easy to do. Really hard to tell which is which. I even saw some pics and hesitated posting those since they might be last years

EVEREST NEWS
Source: www.explorersweb.com...

Time

Everest Southside Avalanche:
Romanian climber Alex Gavan tweeted about a huge avalanche coming down Pumori and reaching Everest southside BC. "Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people up the mountain," the message says it all. Not everything is smooth in the area.

IMG Team reported that all climbers and Sherpa from the group are safe.

Everest Northside Trembled but Safe:
Adrian Ballinger tweeted about rockfall and avalanches from Everest Northside, however, without any damage. "Lots of rock and ice falling. We all ok. Hoping more exposed South Side also ok."

The earthquake is as always followed by aftershocks. "Strong aftershocks continuing here on North Side of #Everest," says Adrian.


1330hrs Nepal time

Photos are starting to arrive about damage in Kathmandu. Sherpa families are also reporting damage in Khumu area.

Climbers are reported as missing on Everest Southside as a "Mid Camp" was swept away. Ivan Braun says, a rescue mission has been launched.


1345hrs Nepal Time

Apparently all climbers on Everest Northside are safe.
Avalanches and rockfalls, but Marco and team are also safe at Dhaulagiri BC.

1400hrs Nepal Time

"Annalisa, Sebastiano, Mario and Marco are fine... But the base camp is devastated," updated the Italian team from Everest BC.

1415hrs Nepal Time
Eric Arnold describers the earthquake scene at Everest BC in his blog post. "Lying in my tent seems like someone is shaking my tent, a joke Ritchie I think. Not much later, the shaking of the tent over in the shaking of the ground. Harder and harder. I realize earthquake !! When I opened my tent zipper I see three sides gigantic avalanches come down. Behind me from the Lingtren from the icefall and Pumori. The avalanche from the Icefall-Nuptse is gigantic. Not much later I realize that the cloud base camp is going to hit. Arnold beckons me, come to the mess tent. I run the 20 feet to the tent, mid avalanche cloud touches me. I am totally lost direction and walk against Moulay his tent. Then I storm into the tent. My ears are filled to the brim with snow. In five seconds, I look like the abominable snowman. It is now an hour after the avalanche. Details about the victims, I do not know. Our plan to walk to Pumori BC was not happy today. From which side was a huge avalanche."

Sky news reporting base camp pictures from Malaysian mountaineers

Sky News

Raj, if you're on ATS, your old neighbor hopes your family is all right.
You're strange enough, you probably are on here.

Omg, how awful!! I pray for all the people affected by this! Terrible pictures!

You know, there were hundreds of pilot whales and dolphins that washed ashore Japan a couple weeks ago. I know it's not India but Japan is off Asia coast.

There has been a connection between this and earthquakes. Japan's citizens were very worried about another earthquake. Could this have been the one?

according to the wall street journal the death toll is up to almost 500 people and climbing , what a major shame .

www.wsj.com...

A spokesman for the Nepali police, Kamal Singh Bam, said 449 people were confirmed dead, but he said that the number was expected to climb.

Reporting +500 died in Nepal and 8 bodies recovered from Everest Avalanche

An official with Nepal's mountaineering department, Gyanendra Shretha, said the bodies of eight people had been recovered and an unknown number remain missing or injured.

originally posted by: texasgirl
You know, there were hundreds of pilot whales and dolphins that washed ashore Japan a couple weeks ago. I know it's not India but Japan is off Asia coast.

There has been a connection between this and earthquakes. Japan's citizens were very worried about another earthquake. Could this have been the one?

Some scientists think some animals, including these, can sense some kind of electromagnetic wave that emanates from faults, from the high stress that has built up just before a quake. I think this is possible.

However, the stress release of this quake was quite far from Japan. Maybe however stress was building up upon multiple systems, including near Japan, and happened to release in the Himalayas? Both locations are on the edge of the Eurasian plate. But where the quake occurred in Nepal borders the Indo-Australian plate, and Japan borders the Pacific Plate for the most part. Very interesting subject but very speculative.

Another Quake!

Seems to be quite a few right now going off... wonder if this will be the biggest this year or more to come?? After all, its only end of April!

And those Whales washing up on shore the other week, sure were telling us something.

a reply to: violet

I heard about this over the radio and this is not an ideal place for a quake to strike. The infrastructure would not be the best and the aftershocks could result in avalanches.

Our best wishes go out to those at the roof of the world.

Latest Tally: 758 dead. Estimated.

news.sky.com...

Hundreds of people have been killed after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Nepal causing extensive damage in the capital Kathmandu. At least 758 have been confirmed dead across the country following the strongest quake to hit Nepal in 80 years, according government officials. The quake toppled Kathmandu's iconic nine-storey Dharahara tower, with rescuers left scrambling to reach some 50 people reported to have been trapped under the rubble.

7.9 at only 11km depth?

Jeez Louise, that is going to be a terrifying experience (think of the geology of the region). I would expect many aftershocks from that, shaking already unstable rock.

As to Everest, i hate to say it but i can't imagine they are top of the authorities list at the moment - particularly given the state of the capital.

I am a bit suprised by some of the local reaction though about the fact they don't really experience many earthquakes there. It is a highly tectonic region with 2 plates clashing together (the world's tallest mountain range being a clue). This suggests the earthquake must have been building for a long long time

Since the OP is not being updated, I figured I would post a death toll update:

Updated again
1021 (970 Nepal, 12 China, 36 India and 3 Bangladesh)

In the meantime darkness has fallen over Kathmandu. Due to the state of the roads the limited material available for Search and Rescue, the rescue operation will get into big difficulties until daylight. As seen on many pictures, almost all rescue efforts are done by bare hands. This is a VERY NEGATIVE outlook for the near future.

Not looking too good
source