At least 71 killed as 7.9 magnitude earthquake hits Nepal

Wall Street Journal graphics; AP & Getty photos; Fox News ^ | Published April 25, 2015 | Foxnews.com

[topher]

BREAKING NEWS – At least 71 people died after a powerful magnitude-7.9 earthquake shook Nepal’s capital and the densely populated Kathmandu Valley around noon Saturday, Nepal's Home Ministry says.

Sky News also reports that at least 50 people are trapped underneath rubble of the city’s iconic Dharahara Tower, one of Kathmandu’s landmarks built by Nepal’s royal rulers in the 1800s and a UNESCO-recognized historical monument.

[rdl6989]

Over 900 dead:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/25/nepal-earthquake-nation-worst-tremor-80-years-kathmandu-live-updates

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

does anyone know if Obama is going to make a trip there to oversee the damage? then blame it on hmm? what or who would he blame it on?

What does this have to do with Bush, Obama, Clinton or fracking?

[Red in Blue PA]

Good question.

Some morons cannot leave politics alone for even 5 minutes.

[ColdOne]

thank you for those photos

[Red in Blue PA]

Massive earthquake rattles Nepal (updated)

http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/04/25/massive-earthquake-rattles-nepal/

[ColdOne]

BREAKING: Death toll in #Nepal Earthquake rises to over 1,400 – Finance minister - @SputnikInt

[EDINVA]

Last I saw it was over 700, and counting. Before it’s done, this may well rank up with the ‘04 tsunami in terms of lives lost.

[SE Mom]

It’s disconcerting to go to a major event/disaster thread and immediately have to wade through the petty and nonsense posts. I rarely comment on it because it hijacks the thread and results in more bs- I just accept it as part of internet life but it’s damned irritating;)

[SE Mom]

Oh man...may God be with these people.

[ozarkgirl]

It’s disconcerting to go to a major event/disaster thread and immediately have to wade through the petty and nonsense posts. I rarely comment on it because it hijacks the thread and results in more bs- I just accept it as part of internet life but it’s damned irritating;)

Wise words. It's just as disconcerting when every other post is someone chastating the ones who post the nonsense. :) I greatly enjoy the pictures showing us the tremendous devastation. Well, I'm not sure "enjoy" is the proper word but you know what I mean.

[ozarkgirl]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22feed%22%3A%221day_m25%22%2C%22search%22%3Anull%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22autoUpdate%22%3Atrue%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3Atrue%2C%22timeZone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B24.347096633808512%2C-278.690185546875%5D%2C%5B30.50548389892728%2C-267.198486328125%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%7B%22plates%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%7B%22list%22%3Atrue%2C%22map%22%3Atrue%2C%22settings%22%3Afalse%2C%22help%22%3Afalse%7D%7D

Wow, that’s quite an address but I wanted to show just how many earthquakes are hitting that area. Lots of other good sized earthquakes other than the super big one.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

Well, I'm not sure "enjoy" is the proper word but you know what I mean.

No, I don't.

[ozarkgirl]

I find them interesting and informative.

[Red in Blue PA]

This is the Nepal I know......

Ayal Weiner-Kaplow, another American visiting Baktapur, said water wasn’t flowing in the city and most of the remaining food was dried junk food and crackers. He wandered around in search for something to eat until he came upon a restaurant.

“A restaurant owner filled us up - all of our bottles - and gave us potatoes, bread, and chicken, refused payment adamantly,” he said. “I was actually moved to tears.”

http://abcnews.go.com/International/hundreds-dead-massive-earthquake-strikes-nepal/story?id=30577374

[ozarkgirl]

Also I noticed in the pictures that there were goods just laying around, it didn’t appear they had looted - at least not yet. Some places in America, those goods would have all been gone despite the horror of the event.

[Red in Blue PA]

Nepal is one place on this planet where the poor still have dignity.

[Cvengr]

I've been cramming for the seismic exams. The photos reveal quite a bit about the actual quake and types of structures damaged.

Observe this photo. It appears the shear walls in the unreinforced masonry structure survived, but the perforated front wall acting as a chord failed in this building. Meanwhile, the ceiling and roof diaphragms were adequately supported by the thicker shear walls, with minimal collectors on the front. Looks like the front wall was more brittle than the semi-rigid timber diaphragms and failed near its base, collapsing without bringing down the rest of the structure.

Also note the water tank / HVAC compressor on the light frame structure to the rear right, also would have experienced profound lateral forces due to the minimal support and sloshing anticipated, but it and the corresponding structure survived intact.

The upper photo is intriguing. Note the Soft story and out-of-plane vertical loading in the cantilevered deck adjacent to the fallen concrete structure. That concrete structure obviosly under went tremendous lateral forces, such hat it fell off the structure below it without obviously collapsing the structure, yet, even the tank remained intact as it slid off its elevated foundation and overturned resting on the tree below.

Technically, the Response Modification Coefficient, R, may not decrease as one goes up in the structure height,...as appears to have been obeyed,..concrete structure probably had an R of 3-5, while the lower story had a light frame structure with an R of about 2.5. Meanwhile the System Overstrength, (Omega) and Deflection Amplitude Factors, (C) are not allowed to decrease as you go down, but by more recent codes must correspond to R. Concrete structure probably had a C of about 3-5, while the lower stories had a C of about 2 - 2.5.

Results are the deflections above were even greater than a normal story drift due to types of bldg systems used in combination. I suspect the anchorages of the concrete structure failed, perhaps a non-building structure, maybe a water tank, and it traveled off the roof.

The bldgs were built for seismic loadings, intentionally or not, as their columns and main shear walls remained sound, at least in these photos.

[huldah1776]

prayers for former Marine SSgt Charlie Linville who was climbing Mt Everest. He lost his lower leg in Afghanistan.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/04/17/ex-us-marine-who-lost-leg-plans-everest-climb.html

[Cvengr]

Here's another interesting photo/design/failure. Note the highway bridging behind the failed section, which appears to be of similar design, but it didn't fail.

The foreground on the right appears to differ from the rear by pinning in the highway on the right, while the left slabs slid off their corbels / ledger, sliding to the left and dropping off the ledger. Vehicles on the far lane drove off the elevated highway, while those closer slammed into the exposed ledger.

[Cvengr]

The above saari structure fared fairly well. ;^)