THE NEPAL EARTHQUAKE 2015

Nabaraj Sharma,

1 MSc. Student, Department of Public Health and Disaster Engineering, School of

Engineering, Pokhara University, [email protected]

ABSTRACT
The Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake of magnitude 7.8, occurred at 11:56 NST on 25 April
2015 with an epicenter 77 km northwest of Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, that is
home to nearly 1.5 million inhabitants, and at a focal depth of approximately 10-15km.
The mainshock destroyed a large number of buildings and infrastructure in urban and
rural areas, and triggered numerous landslides in the mountain areas, blocking roads,
and hampering rescue and recovery activities. Buildings in Nepal are vulnerable to
seismic actions. Due to poor seismic performance, many buildings were damaged or
collapsed and these structural failures caused many fatalities. Historical monuments as
well as religious structures suffered tremendous damage induced by this earthquake.
The earthquake damage observations indicate that the majority of the damaged
buildings were stone or brick masonry structures with no seismic detailing underwent
serious damages, whereas the most of RC buildings were undamaged. Although the
majority of the existing buildings in Kathmandu were not directly affected by the long-
period ground motions, such seismic waves can pose serious risks to high-rise buildings.
Adequate earthquake engineering design considerations are essential for reducing
potential seismic risk to these structures.

Keywords: Aftershocks, subduction zone

INTRODUCTION subduction zone. The occurrence of

The Nepal earthquake of magnitude 7.8, Gorkha earthquake, less than 200 years
with an epicenter 77 km northwest of after the 1934 event, provides further
Kathmandu, occurring at an approximate evidence that large intra-plates underlie
depth of 15km, claimed the lives of 9000 the country. Kathmandu, which is situated
people and injured more than 23,000. It on a block of crust approximately 120 km
occurred at 11:56 Nepal Standard Time on wide and 60 km long, reportedly shifted
25 April, with a maximum Mercalli 3 m to the south in a matter of just 30
Intensity of IX (Violent) (Fig. 1). The seconds.
Gorkha earthquake appears to have been The destruction due to the mainshock
stronger than the 1934 earthquake, included damage to number of buildings
possibly making it the largest earthquake and infrastructure in urban and rural
recorded in Nepal in almost a century. The areas. The observations of the damage
earthquake occurred at the subduction pattern indicate that the majority of the
interface between the Indian plate and the damaged buildings were stone or brick
Eurasian plate along the Himalayan arc. masonry structures with no seismic
The earthquake rupture propagated from detailing. On the other hand, most of the
west to east and a strong shaking was RC buildings were undamaged. This was a
experienced in Kathmandu and the clear indication that adequate structural
surrounding areas. The capital was not design is the key to reduce the earthquake
completely taken by surprise as the risk in Nepal.
country sits astride a massive continental

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 advancement of the cement in Nepal, brick
AFTERSHOCKS or stone buildings are constructed with
A series of aftershocks began immediately cement mortar. Wooden buildings are
after the mainshock, at intervals of 15–30 popular near the forest areas in Nepal. In
minutes. A major aftershock of magnitude these buildings, wooden pillars are made
6.9 Mw occurred on 26 April 2015 in the out of tree trunks and walls are
same region at 12:54 NST, with an constructed with wooden planks or mud
epicenter located about 17 km south mortar plaster.
of Kodari, Nepal. Over thirty-eight
aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 Mw or According to the data obtained from the
greater occurred in the day following the census, mud-bonded brick or stone
initial earthquake, including the one of masonry buildings account for a major
magnitude 6.8 Mw. The major aftershocks portion of about 44.2%, followed by

include that of 7.3 Mw on 12 May and 6.7 wooden buildings accounting for 24.9%. In

Mw on 26 April. A total of 417 aftershocks urban areas for example, in Kathmandu

of 4Mw and above have been recorded as valley, buildings with cement-bounded

of 25 Nov 2015. The aftershocks triggered brick or stone account for 17.6%, followed
numerous landslides and rock or boulder by cement concrete at 9.9%. The

falls in the mountain areas, blocking roads, reinforced concrete (RC) building concept

and hampering rescue and recovery being a modern form of construction in

activities leading to further loss of life and Nepal, began in late 1970s. Most of the
property. conventional RC constructions are non-
engineered that is, not structurally
A major aftershock occurred in Nepal on designed, and thus lack sufficient seismic

12 May 2015 with a moment magnitude of resistance. The engineered RC buildings,

7.3, 18 km southeast of Kodari. The which are relatively new, often adopt the
epicenter was on the border of the two Indian standard code with seismic
Districts of Nepal, provisions.
Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk. This EFFECT OF EARTHQUAKE
occurred on the same fault as the larger
magnitude 7.8 earthquake of 25 April, due INFRASTRUCTURAL DAMAGES
east to the original quake. It struck at a The earthquakes caused widespread
depth of 18.5 kilometers and the tremors damages to transportation infrastructures
were felt as far as about 2400 kilometers (Fig. 2), primarily to that of roads.
away from the epicenter, in Chennai. According to the Nepal Department of
Roads the country has 15,000 kilometers
This earthquake induced many mass of strategic roads, which includes 21
movements in mountainous areas and highways and 208 feeder roads. The road
resulted in landslide lakes, which could be and highway network across Nepal was
another cause of secondary disasters. In heavily affected, with more than 2,000
addition, the earthquake also triggered a kilometers, either damaged or destroyed.
major avalanche on the south slopes of Mt. Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha and Nuwakot
Everest, located approximately 160km were the worst affected districts. The
east-northeast of the epicenter. severe cracking and debris-covered
roadways made it very challenging for
BUILDING TYPOLOGY OF NEPAL relief and rescue teams to initially reach
In Nepal, most of the masonry buildings some of the hardest-hit remote areas.
are constructed with walls made of sun-
dried or fired bricks or stone with mud Tribhuvan International Airport, which is
mortar, and the building frame is made of Nepal’s only international airport, near
wood. These types of buildings generally Kathmandu, closed briefly following both
have flexible floors and roof, and are earthquakes and some of the larger
prevalent in rural areas. The masonry aftershocks. The damage in the airport
materials are of low strength and thus are worsened immediately after the first
seismically vulnerable. With the earthquake due to the increased number

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of planes bringing aid and relief workers The shallow depth of the earthquake and
into the country. The runway sustained the nature of Kathmandu valley has
cracks, but was able to be almost fully contributed to the high losses in the capital
utilized. of Nepal. It is noticeable that the quality
of construction and materials of buildings
National Society for Earthquake is very poor. Many recently built reinforced
Technology (NSET) reported that out of concrete structures failed in a pan-cake
35,000 public and private schools, only mode due to improper column-beam
350 to 400 have been retrofitted. 160 connections. Furthermore, many brick
public school buildings survived the structures collapsed or heavily damaged
earthquake in Kathmandu valley because due to the use of poor mortar material and
they were part of a school safety program, tie-beams and slabs within the walls.
which includes retrofitting. It has also been
reported that 400 health posts, or (b) Damage to Monuments and
community health centers were destroyed Cultural Heritage
in the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, with an In Kathmandu, earthquake damage to old
additional 300 damaged and three districts historical buildings were severe, whereas
hospitals which collapsed. However, the damage to the surrounding buildings was
World Health Organization reported that limited. Historic buildings and temples
the 2015 Gorkha earthquake and its were destroyed, leaving massive piles of
aftershocks failed to disrupt the services at debris in streets (Fig. 4). In the Durbar
Kathmandu’s largest public hospitals, as Square of Kathmandu, a large number of
these hospitals had been retrofitted for heritage sites and structures were
safety, which involves everything from destroyed, except a few survived, such as
repairing cracks in walls to installing the Kumari House, and the Pashupatinath
seismic belts and roof bracing, and has Temple which survived.
been an important part of preparedness
plans. Studies showed that many temples and
monuments that were restored in the
STRUCTURAL DAMAGES recent past performed much better in this
earthquake. There were also many historic
(a) Damages to Buildings of
structures that were resilient because
Most of the damaged buildings were stone
their design, the type materials of used
or brick masonry structures with wooden
and the engineering of their construction.
frames. The RC frame buildings performed
The impacts provide an insight to some
well in this earthquake. This indicates that improvisations in reducing risks to
ground motion intensity experienced in infrastructures such as retrofitting, good
Kathmandu was not so intense, in
design and engineering, and use of good
comparison with those predicted from
building materials.
probabilistic seismic hazard studies for
Nepal. Majority of the existing buildings in
Also destroyed in Kathmandu was the
Kathmandu were not directly affected by
nine-story Dharahara (Bhimsen) Tower
the long-period ground motions, but such
that once stood more than 60 meters (200
seismic waves can pose serious risks to feet) tall. The tower which was originally
high-rise buildings (Fig. 3). built in 1832 and had a viewing deck on
the eighth floor. It was reconstructed
Some buildings that were severely
following the earthquake that struck
damaged by the mainshock collapsed Kathmandu in 1934.
during major aftershocks. In the mountain
areas, numerous villages were devastated Historical monuments as well as religious
by the sequence of aftershocks and major structures associated with Buddhism
landslides were triggered. These landslides suffered tremendous damage induced by
blocked roads, disconnecting remote the 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Fig. 5). Most
villages. of these structures were of masonry type
using bricks and earth-mortar as a
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bonding agent. However, three of the
monument zones - the Durbar Squares at
Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur - were
almost fully destroyed as they suffered
extensive and irreversible damage. In spite
the tremendous losses, a surprising
number of the ancient monuments
withstood the tremors and are still
standing today.

SUMMARY

Nepal lies in one of the most active seismic

zones between Indian plate and Eurasian
plate along the Himalayan arc. History
shows that every 70-80-year Nepal hits by
a Earthquake with more than 7 magnitude.
Therefore, to minimize the its devasting
effect, it is almost necessary to create
Public awareness simultaneously to build
more seismic resistance infrastructure with
Build Back Better concept by using the
National Building code.

REFERENCES
[1] Ömer Aydan and Resat Ulusay (2015), “A Quick
Report On The 2015 Gorkha(Nepal) Eartquake And
Its Geo-engineering Aspects”
[2] “25 April 2015 Gorkha Earthquake Disaster Risk Reduction
Situation Report”, DRR sitrep 2015‐002 – June 2, 2015, UNISDR The
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
[3] B. Gutenberg and C. F. Richter (1942),
“Earthquake Magnitude, Intensity, Energy, and
Acceleration (Second Paper)”
[4] T.G. Sitharam, J.S. Vinod (2015), “Nepal
Earthquake of April 25, 2015”, International Journal
of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, 6(1),81-90,
January-June 2015

Fig.1 Satellite imagery of the earthquake affected areas

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 Fig.2 Bridge failure (Infrastructural Damage)

Fig.3 Total district-wise damage to houses (Source: Nepal Disaster

Risk Reduction Portal & Impact Forecasting)

Fig.4 Damaged heritage site at Bhaktapur Darbar square.

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Fig.5 Kal Mochan Ghat: before and after (ICIMOD)