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7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

(OP)
Some links and photos:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/04/25/nepal-eart...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NEPAL_EA...
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/25/asia/nepal-earthquak...

Photos: http://www.foxnews.com/world/slideshow/2015/04/25/...

Looks like an avalanche hit the area betwween the ice fields and Everest Base Camp sweeping some of the base camp tents away.

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RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

I wonder if they have a working building code there. Pakistan had a huge earthquake a few years ago (80,000 + casualties) and USAID helped them in coming up with a building code. But basically they modified UBC 97 from what I understand.

RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

Many tens of thousands of sq miles of "nothing" up there to regulate or attach a building code to.

RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

That is where many of our U.S. garment companies have their manufacturing situated, isn't it? They were having issues with collapsing buildings without earthquakes...

"It is imperative Cunth doesn't get his hands on those codes."

RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

MacGruber,
You are probably thinking of nearby Bangladesh, which also felt this earthquake.

Many of the buildings in the Nepalese cities were destroyed in the 1934 earthquake, so a lot of building has occurred since then. But it is a very poor country which still depends on agriculture, and now tourism. The built environment is of poor quality, mostly unreinforced masonry and wood, not at all well tied together.

RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

(OP)
In the few photos I saw there was a lot of loose masonry bricks or blocks. No dangling reinforcement at all.

One of the buildings appeared to be a large concrete slab system of some type in which the columns or bearing walls had buckled away.

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RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

Tibet these days is not a country, but rather an autonomous region of China, at least according to the Chinese.

RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

(OP)
And a 6.7 aftershock followed.

Here's a quote from a news article:

Outside of the oldest neighborhoods, many in Kathmandu were surprised by how few modern structures collapsed in the quake.
The city is largely a collection of small, poorly constructed brick apartment buildings.

While aid workers cautioned that many buildings could have sustained serious structural damage,
it was also clear that the death toll would have been far higher had more buildings caved in.


So some "modern" buildings there did OK, which is good news in that it suggests our more modern ways of creating seismic resisting buildings has validity.
(that of course is supposing that these modern buildings they are referring to have specific seismic detailing inherent in them).

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RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

Prepare as best you can for total destruction, which is not saying much.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)


RE: 7.8 Quake in Nepal Saturday

Has anyone made an estimate for the area "raised" in elevation yet?

The Indian plate is bending down under the original Himalayan plate and Tibet plateau - which causes the mountains to rise of course, but do they know much of a bump over what area this earthquake represents in physical movement?

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