Posted on 04/25/2015 2:50:24 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Thousands dead is already being reported. For anyone wishing to build in earthquake prone areas, especially if lower cost and and temperature extremes is an issue, check out straw bale house construction.
If you are going to be involved in structures and seismic issues, urge you to check out straw bale home and building construction. Any place, particularly underdeveloped countries that grow wheat and rice and have straw supplies should make maximum use of their straw, especially for public buildings like schools and clinics. Bales can be pinned together with sharpened bamboo stakes if no rebar is available. Maximum flexibility, minimum weight, which is what kills so many where stone or adobe is the norm.
Here is the mother of all image/photo sites, with already hundreds of photos and some maps.
The Heroes Project
5 hrs ·
Everyone on our team is safe after the devastating earthquake that occurred near Katmandu early this morning. They are on the north side at Advanced Basecamp. Our hearts go out to the people of Nepal and their loved ones.
It’s pretty well documented that the peaks lift about an inch every time the tectonic plates move sideways. What fascinates me is these folks have to know that they are in the Indian/Asian plate crush zone. They don’t have bedrock to build on because even the rock moves and fractures. They don’t have any business building taller than one story and even that has to be flexible.
It’s noteworthy that the Chicoms built their trans-Himalaya rail road such that it could be easily repaired after a ground shift. Don’t know if they’ve gotten the tunnel doped out yet but they do want to build a modern silk road.
It’s a directional thing. The Indian Plate moves horizontally north, sliding under the Asian, with nominal vertical motion. Someplace to the north there was probably vertical “bucking” similar to the Fukushima and the Banda Aceh which were vertical motion. It’s clear from the pics available so far that the primary motion was sideways-—just basically flinging the buildings sideways. One can only design for that by making a pretty good guess which way the shove is coming from. Incidentally, the roadway pics I’ve seen show much more sliding sideways than bucking.
Just heard one of those killed in the quake at Everest was one of the CEO’s of Google......
Interesting post Cvengr.... another reason I like photos up is they tell a story to those with ‘trained eyes’ who can telll us their view of what’s happening and effects.
I don’t know if it will be as high as the number killed by the post earthquake tsunami in Japan. Anyone remember about how many were killed in Haiti. My admittedly falible memory says 1/4 million. That was certainly the toll for the Christmas tsunami a few years ago.
Check out my Comment 123 for the site to a huge number of Nepal earthquake photos and some maps. If you click on a photo it will often bring up secondary sites and more photos. Some will be for other similar, earlier events.
A 7.9 earthquake is a true nightmare.
The Sylmar and Northridge quakes in California were big enough at 6.7
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