February 7, 2016 - AUSTRIA - Five Czech skiers were killed in a huge avalanche that swept away their
group of 17 in the Austrian skiing region of Tyrol on Saturday, police
said.
The avalanche, which the regional TV station ORF Tirol said was 2 km
(1.25 miles) wide and 5 m (16 feet) deep, came down shortly after noon
at the Wattener Lizum region, about 40 km (25 miles) southeast of
Innsbruck.
Two people were injured but out of acute danger, while 10 others survived unharmed, police said.
An avalanche warning sign is pictured in
Wattental valley in Austria's skiing region of Tyrol February 6, 2016.
The experienced Czech skiers were taking part in a so-called "freeride
camp" and had been repeatedly warned about the danger by locals,
according to ORF.
The entire skiing region had been on a 'level three' avalanche alert,
out of a maximum five, and several avalanches were also reported
elsewhere. - Reuters.
February 5, 2016 - KASHMIR - Officials say 10 Indian soldiers are feared dead after an avalanche hit a
military post on the Siachen Glacier in the disputed Himalayan region
of Kashmir.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the families of the soldiers on Twitter Thursday night.
The avalanche hit the military post on Wednesday in the northern part of
the glacier, trapping the soldiers under a mass of snow.
Since then, army and air force teams have been searching for the
soldiers, army spokesman Col. S.D. Goswami said. He said the chances of
finding survivors are "very remote."
The army is yet to retrieve their bodies.
Avalanches and landslides are common in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.
The two nations also dispute their undemarcated border through
the Siachen Glacier at an elevation of nearly 19,000 feet (5,800
meters).
Thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops are stationed in the freezing
Himalayan terrain, where more troops have died from the grueling
conditions than from hostile fire.
Last month, four Indian soldiers on foot patrol were killed by an avalanche in the same region.
In 2012, an avalanche in the Pakistan-controlled part of the glacier killed 140 people, including 129 soldiers.
The two countries have discussed ways to demilitarize the Siachen Glacier, without success. - The Japan Times.
January 31, 2016 - BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA - An avalanche near McBride, B.C., has killed five snowmobilers, say local authorities.
RCMP say they were notified of two separate GPS beacon activations in
the Renshaw area east of McBride around 1:30 p.m. PT, at which point
they activated the Robson Valley Search and Rescue Team. There were at
least three separate groups of snowmobilers caught in the slide, say
RCMP. Six to eight people lost their snowmobiles and had to be shuttled
off the mountain.
"We are a small and mostly tight-knit community," McBride Coun. Sharon
Reichert said. "We live in a rugged country where many in the community
enjoy the outdoors. That comes with danger, and today, our worst fears
have been realized." RCMP said search and rescue technicians were on the
scene almost immediately, and a helicopter was deployed.
This photo taken near Fernie, B.C., on Dec. 30, 2008, shows the area where several avalanches killed eight snowmobilers.
Donita Kuzma, the regional coroner with the BC Coroners Service, said
police conducted interviews with people as they came down the mountain
to see if there were any other snowmobilers still missing. "It's a very
busy time of year with snowmobilers," said Kuzma, adding that there were
many of them in the area for the weekend. BC Emergency Health Services
said it also transported one person to hospital in stable condition.
Human-triggered avalanche
Avalanche Canada said it had received a report of what appears to be a
"very large, significant avalanche event" in the North Rockies. "There
are layers of concern in the snowpack in many parts of this region (and
others) and a fairly significant weather event added rain and snow to
the snowpack over the last few days," said Karl Klassen with Avalanche
Canada.
"This may have produced stresses in the snowpack capable of producing
large avalanches and this condition could take several days to settle
and bond." Klassen said the avalanche was human-triggered. - CBC News.
January 29, 2016 - UNITED STATES - 11 have died this month, in Washington, Colorado, Wyoming and
elsewhere, due to 'poor snow structure' and increased interest in
backcountry skiing
This year has been a deadly one for avalanches. Ten people have died in
the past 10 days, and a total of 14 have died this snow season in the
US, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. With 11
deaths this month, it's the highest death rate for January since 2008
and the second worst January in 20 years.
There were four deaths just last weekend alone, with one person killed
in Washington state, two skiers killed in Wyoming and one snowmobiler
killed in the Whitefish Mountains.
But the spike in fatalities has not occurred because of an increased
number of avalanches, according to avalanche forecaster Spencer Logan of
the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. The center's data shows that
the number of avalanches recorded this season "are not out of the
ordinary". Rather, Doug Chabot, director of the Gallatin National Forest
Avalanche Center believes the high death rate is due to a "perfect
storm" of conditions.
Some areas in the west have "poor snow structure", meaning they
have weak snow layers, or snowpacks, which can easily lead to avalanches
when they can't support the weight of heavier snow on top of them.
These can be caused by long periods of no snowfall, according to Logan
who said the Rocky Mountains recently saw "a period of relatively dry
weather". And while Chabot says weak layers of snow are fairly common,
the snowpacks have been "especially weak" this year.
"It would kind of be like building a big house on top of a crumbling foundation. It's not going to work," Chabot said.
On top of that, large numbers of people have been going into the
backcountry to ski, snowboard and snowmobile. Backcountry skiing is "a
growing recreation segment", according to Chabot. As more people traipse
through non-regulated ski areas that have not been groomed for
avalanche control with explosives, it's more likely that someone will
hit a weak spot in the snow.
"The weight of one person hitting a weak spot, a spot that's especially
weak, can create a big avalanche," Chabot said. "It's hard to believe
but an 150 pound person can trigger the side of a mountain and an
avalanche. Until you've seen it, you think it's impossible but it's
not."
Those killed by avalanches over the past few weeks have been "a mixed
group activity-wise", according to Mike Rheam, avalanche forecaster for
the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center. They've ranged from
skiers and snowboarders to hikers and snowmobilers. The incidents have also been widespread, with fatalities in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Washington and Alaska.
Avalanches can be caused by a number of factors, but Chabot believes
"the theme is the same this year" across the West, with weak snow layers
giving out. While the Rockies commonly see weak layers of snow because
of cold and dry weather, the Pacific Northwest can see large snowfall
followed by rain, which can either flush out lower layers or become
crusty and weak itself.
There's also been a more widespread risk of avalanches across the West, according to Rheam.
"Usually there's specific areas where the avalanche hazard might be
heightened and other areas where it can be low," he said. "This year
everyone's getting snow and everyone seems to have some avalanche
hazard."
Despite these dangers and the high number of fatalities, people are free
to travel the backcountry as they please. Logan believes "one of the
great joys is that you are responsible for yourself and you get to make
the decisions". However forecasters continue to warn the public about
the dangers of potential avalanches, especially since many of the deaths
have involved "flawed decision making", according to Rheam.
"If you're going to go into the backcountry, you need gear and you need
education," Chabot said. "It's imperative and so we really encourage
people to get both." - The Guardian.
January 14, 2016 - ITALY - Residents of the town of Cervinia in northwest Italy learned firsthand what a "near miss" means as a gigantic wall of snow was about to devour the popular ski resort.
On January 12 a huge, 300-meter-wide block of snow came off from the Jumeaux peak, which is almost 4,000 meters high, and plummeted toward the town until it stopped just short of the residential area.
Miraculously, no one was hurt.
As a result of the avalanche, an enormous white powder cloud covered the resort, to the extent that the sun was not visible at one moment.
*RESORT OF THE DAY #29* - #Cervinia in Italy! Powder day after 45cm of fresh snow overnight!
Twitter: Ski Club GB
"Everyone who witnessed it was really scared, but fortunately there was no damage to homes or roads," La Stampa reported Deborah Camaschella, the mayor of the Valtournenche district, which includes Cervinia, as saying.
Although the avalanche did not come as a complete surprise, the volume of snow was unexpected for the residents and was "too close for comfort," the mayor said.
WATCH: Massive avalanche in Italy.
On January 11, the day before the huge Cervinia avalanche, another beautiful yet scary snowfall was filmed in the village of Bessans in southeast France. Luckily, no injuries or damage was reported on that occasion, either. - RT.
Search and rescue crews work after an avalanche hit several houses in Longyearbyen, Norway, Saturday Dec. 19. 2015. It is unclear about the number of people
caught in the avalanche but authorities are calling for volunteers with shovels to help in the search to locate victims. AP
December 19, 2015 - NORWAY - Several people were injured and several others missing on Saturday after
an avalanche buried about 10 houses on the Svalbard archipelago in the
heart of the Norwegian Arctic, local officials said.
"Several people have been injured and hospitalised. Some people are
also missing," the region's government said on its website. "All
available human resources are mobilised for the rescue operation."
A spokesman for the rescue services said four adults and two children
were hospitalised but that their injuries were not life threatening.
Around 10 brightly-coloured wooden houses, typical of the style found in
the archipelago, were buried by the avalanche which happened at around
11:00 am (1000 GMT).
Witnesses said the snow had shifted the houses set on hillsides about 20 metres.
One resident, Kine Bakkeli, told NRK public television that she had
managed to escape through a window. "It's complete chaos here," she
said.
Rescuers, police and residents using spades raced to clear houses buried
under a thick layer of snow in the hope of finding the missing. It was
not known how many people were missing.
A team of doctors was planning to set out from the Norwegian city of Tromsø for Longyearbyen, Svalbard's main town.
Emergency accommodation has been set up in a youth centre and the town's church.
Weather conditions have been harsh since Friday with authorities warning people to take care in high winds. - The Local.
November 15, 2015 - ANATOLIA, TURKEY - Meteorological officials warned citizens to be careful and cautious, being particularly alert for high avalanche danger.
In Erzurum 173 village roads are closed due to snow, and 117 were closed in Ardahan, for a total of 290.
Highways teams continue to work for the opening of village roads so that transport can resume.
Also yesterday, Erzurum Regional Directorate of Highways 12 and Erzurum
Metropolitan Municipality were stranded due to snow and subsequently
rescued.
May 16, 2015 - KATHMANDU, NEPAL - A 5.7 magnitude earthquake has struck in Nepal, sending tremors across Bihar and parts of northern India.
Buildings shook throughout the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar regions on
Saturday, as the the US Geological Survey recorded a "shallow quake"
about 76 km east south east of the capital Kathmandu.
Centering on Nepal, the quake is the third so far this month and lead to
fresh panic among those trying to rebuild after an earthquake killed
8,000 people in April and leveled more than 250,000 homes throughout the
region.
There has been no reports yet of deaths from this most recent quake,
though at least 17 people are thought to have been killed in northern
India.
USGS shakemap intensity.
Some 117 persons were killed, and more than 1000 were injured, when a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on May 12.
The quake shook neighbouring countries including India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. - Independent.
Tectonic Summary - Seismotectonics of the Himalaya and Vicinity
Seismicity in the Himalaya dominantly results from the continental
collision of the India and Eurasia plates, which are converging at a
relative rate of 40-50 mm/yr. Northward underthrusting of India beneath
Eurasia generates numerous earthquakes and consequently makes this
area one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth. The
surface expression of the plate boundary is marked by the foothills of
the north-south trending Sulaiman Range in the west, the Indo-Burmese
Arc in the east and the east-west trending Himalaya Front in the north
of India.
The India-Eurasia plate boundary is a diffuse boundary, which in the
region near the north of India, lies within the limits of the
Indus-Tsangpo (also called the Yarlung-Zangbo) Suture to the north and
the Main Frontal Thrust to the south. The Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone is
located roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an
exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin. The narrow
(less than 200km) Himalaya Front includes numerous east-west trending,
parallel structures. This region has the highest rates of seismicity
and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by
movement on thrust faults. Examples of significant earthquakes, in this
densely populated region, caused by reverse slip movement include the
1934 M8.0 Bihar, the 1905 M7.5 Kangra and the 2005 M7.6 Kashmir
earthquakes. The latter two resulted in the highest death tolls for
Himalaya earthquakes seen to date, together killing over 100,000 people
and leaving millions homeless. The largest instrumentally recorded
Himalaya earthquake occurred on 15th August 1950 in Assam, eastern
India. This M8.6 right-lateral, strike-slip, earthquake was widely felt
over a broad area of central Asia, causing extensive damage to
villages in the epicentral region.
The Tibetan Plateau is situated north of the Himalaya, stretching
approximately 1000km north-south and 2500km east-west, and is
geologically and tectonically complex with several sutures which are
hundreds of kilometer-long and generally trend east-west. The Tibetan
Plateau is cut by a number of large (greater than 1000km) east-west trending,
left-lateral, strike-slip faults, including the long Kunlun, Haiyuan,
and the Altyn Tagh. Right-lateral, strike-slip faults (comparable in
size to the left-lateral faults), in this region include the Karakorum,
Red River, and Sagaing. Secondary north-south trending normal faults
also cut the Tibetan Plateau. Thrust faults are found towards the north
and south of the Tibetan Plateau. Collectively, these faults
accommodate crustal shortening associated with the ongoing collision of
the India and Eurasia plates, with thrust faults accommodating north
south compression, and normal and strike-slip accommodating east-west
extension.
Along the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of
south-eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, the India plate
translates obliquely relative to the Eurasia plate, resulting in a
complex fold-and-thrust belt known as the Sulaiman Range. Faulting in
this region includes strike-slip, reverse-slip and oblique-slip motion
and often results in shallow, destructive earthquakes. The active,
left-lateral, strike-slip Chaman fault is the fastest moving fault in
the region. In 1505, a segment of the Chaman fault near Kabul,
Afghanistan, ruptured causing widespread destruction. In the same
region the more recent 30 May 1935, M7.6 Quetta earthquake, which
occurred in the Sulaiman Range in Pakistan, killed between 30,000 and
60,000 people.
On the north-western side of the Tibetan Plateau, beneath the
Pamir-Hindu Kush Mountains of northern Afghanistan, earthquakes occur
at depths as great as 200 km as a result of remnant lithospheric
subduction. The curved arc of deep earthquakes found in the Hindu Kush
Pamir region indicates the presence of a lithospheric body at depth,
thought to be remnants of a subducting slab. Cross-sections through the
Hindu Kush region suggest a near vertical northerly-dipping subducting
slab, whereas cross-sections through the nearby Pamir region to the
east indicate a much shallower dipping, southerly subducting slab. Some
models suggest the presence of two subduction zones; with the Indian
plate being subducted beneath the Hindu Kush region and the Eurasian
plate being subducted beneath the Pamir region. However, other models
suggest that just one of the two plates is being subducted and that the
slab has become contorted and overturned in places.
Shallow crustal earthquakes also occur in this region near the Main
Pamir Thrust and other active Quaternary faults. The Main Pamir Thrust,
north of the Pamir Mountains, is an active shortening structure. The
northern portion of the Main Pamir Thrust produces many shallow
earthquakes, whereas its western and eastern borders display a
combination of thrust and strike-slip mechanisms. On the 18 February
1911, the M7.4 Sarez earthquake ruptured in the Central Pamir
Mountains, killing numerous people and triggering a landside, which
blocked the Murghab River.
Further north, the Tian Shan is a seismically active
intra-continental mountain belt, which extends 2500 km in an ENE-WNW
orientation north of the Tarim Basin. This belt is defined by numerous
east-west trending thrust faults, creating a compressional basin and
range landscape. It is generally thought that regional stresses
associated with the collision of the India and Eurasia plates are
responsible for faulting in the region. The region has had three major
earthquakes (greater than M7.6) at the start of the 20th Century, including the
1902 Atushi earthquake, which killed an estimated 5,000 people. The
range is cut through in the west by the 700-km-long,
northwest-southeast striking, Talas-Ferghana active right-lateral,
strike-slip fault system. Though the system has produced no major
earthquakes in the last 250 years, paleo-seismic studies indicate that
it has the potential to produce M7.0+ earthquakes and it is thought to
represent a significant hazard.
The northern portion of the Tibetan Plateau itself is largely
dominated by the motion on three large left-lateral, strike-slip fault
systems; the Altyn Tagh, Kunlun and Haiyuan. The Altyn Tagh fault is
the longest of these strike slip faults and it is thought to
accommodate a significant portion of plate convergence. However, this
system has not experienced significant historical earthquakes, though
paleoseismic studies show evidence of prehistoric M7.0-8.0 events.
Thrust faults link with the Altyn Tagh at its eastern and western
termini. The Kunlun Fault, south of the Altyn Tagh, is seismically
active, producing large earthquakes such as the 8th November 1997, M7.6
Manyi earthquake and the 14th November 2001, M7.8 Kokoxili earthquake.
The Haiyuan Fault, in the far north-east, generated the 16 December
1920, M7.8 earthquake that killed approximately 200,000 people and the
22 May 1927 M7.6 earthquake that killed 40,912.
The Longmen Shan thrust belt, along the eastern margin of the Tibetan
Plateau, is an important structural feature and forms a transitional
zone between the complexly deformed Songpan-Garze Fold Belt and the
relatively undeformed Sichuan Basin. On 12 May 2008, the thrust belt
produced the reverse slip, M7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, killing over
87,000 people and causing billions of US dollars in damages and
landslides which dammed several rivers and lakes.
Southeast of the Tibetan Plateau are the right-lateral, strike-slip
Red River and the left-lateral, strike-slip Xiangshuihe-Xiaojiang fault
systems. The Red River Fault experienced large scale, left-lateral
ductile shear during the Tertiary period before changing to its present
day right-lateral slip rate of approximately 5 mm/yr. This fault has
produced several earthquakes greater than M6.0 including the 4 January 1970, M7.5
earthquake in Tonghai which killed over 10,000 people. Since the start
of the 20th century, the Xiangshuihe-Xiaojiang Fault system has
generated several M7.0+ earthquakes including the M7.5 Luhuo earthquake
which ruptured on the 22 April 1973. Some studies suggest that due to
the high slip rate on this fault, future large earthquakes are highly
possible along the 65km stretch between Daofu and Qianning and the 135km
stretch that runs through Kangding.
Shallow earthquakes within the Indo-Burmese Arc, predominantly occur
on a combination of strike-slip and reverse faults, including the
Sagaing, Kabaw and Dauki faults. Between 1930 and 1956, six M7.0+
earthquakes occurred near the right-lateral Sagaing Fault, resulting in
severe damage in Myanmar including the generation of landslides,
liquefaction and the loss of 610 lives. Deep earthquakes (200km) have
also been known to occur in this region, these are thought to be due to
the subduction of the eastwards dipping, India plate, though whether
subduction is currently active is debated. Within the pre-instrumental
period, the large Shillong earthquake occurred on the 12 June 1897,
causing widespread destruction. - USGS.
NASA Earth Observatory map by Joshua Stevens using information produced by DLR's Remote Sensing
Technology Institute, based on data from ESA Sentinel-1A satellite and the Copernicus Program.
Caption by Mike Carlowicz, with thanks to Fernando Rodriguez Gonzalez
and Thomas Fritz (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) and Eric
Fielding (NASA JPL).
May 14, 2015 - NEPAL - On April 25, 2015, the Earth moved violently in Nepal. A magnitude
7.8 earthquake killed more than 8,000 people, injured at least 19,000,
and displaced hundreds of thousands in cities and villages near the
Himalayas. The quake destroyed infrastructure and homes, both modern and historic, while triggering landslides on Mount Everest, near the village of Langtang,
and in several other locations around Kathmandu. The Gorkha earthquake
has been called the worst natural disaster in Nepal since a magnitude 8.0 earthquake in 1934.
The Gorkha earthquake changed the shape of the Earth—literally—by
raising up and dropping landscapes by several meters. Along a 90 by 30
kilometer (55 by 20 mile) swath of land in Nepal, a fault along the
edges of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates slipped as much as 6 meters (20 feet).
The release of stress in Earth’s crust had devastating effects felt in
Nepal, India, China, and Bangladesh. Satellite and ground-based sensors
are now revealing the extent of the jolt.
In the days before and after the event, the synthetic aperture radar
(SAR) instrument on the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1A satellite
acquired observations of the displacement of land in Nepal and
surrounding regions. On each pass, Sentinel-1 measured the distance
between itself and the ground, at a slight angle. Scientists at the
German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or
DLR) assembled those new SAR measurements and compared them to previous
radar passes over the same area. The results are shown in the land
displacement map above.
The DLR team derived their data by measuring the changes in the
amplitude of radar waves reflected off of the landscape before and after
the earthquake. In areas shaded in red, Sentinel-1 detected movement
toward the satellite (in the line-of-sight direction) of as much as 1.4
meters (4.6 feet). Shades of blue depict movement away from the
satellite. Areas in yellow showed little change. Because the satellite
was looking at Nepal from an angle, that land movement technically could
have been vertical or horizontal. But measurements using the Global
Positioning System (GPS) and other sensors have confirmed that nearly
all of the ground movement was up or down, meaning the land surface was
uplifted or subsided.
Scientists affiliated with the Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis
project (ARIA)—a collaboration between NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and the California Institute of Technology—also contributed to studies
of the Gorkha quake. The team used both GPS measurements and SAR data
from the ALOS-2 satellite (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to create
their own maps of ground displacement. The ARIA team also worked on experimental “damage proxy maps,” which use SAR and other satellite measurements to broadly assess where structures have been damaged.
Two weeks after the Gorkha event, a major aftershock shook up the
Himalayan region along the same fault. A 7.3 magnitude earthquake on
May 12, 2015, struck to the east of the Gorkha epicenter and killed at
least 68 more people. In a scientific paper published in March 2015,
researchers had noted that the region was one of the few sections of
the Himalayan front that had not seen a major earthquake in several
hundred years and seemed to be overdue.
Scientists at ESA, DLR, and JPL are continuing to monitor the
Himalayan landscape with an eye on both scientific understanding and
utility for emergency responders and civil leaders.
May 13, 2015 - MOUNT EVEREST, HIMALAYAS - A Mount Everest climber shared footage of deadly avalanche descending on Base Camp, killing and maiming dozens of alpinists and Sherpas.
The one behind the camera does not realize till the very last moment the true danger of what’s happening.
The video lasting 46 seconds was made with an iPhone immediately after the first and most powerful tremor on April 25, at a camp where Everest climbers collect strength before their next advance towards the peak.
The man rushed out of a tent to take a look around after the quake and filmed the very moment of an avalanche walloping the tents.
“I was in shock and disbelief during this whole filming ordeal, not being aware that roughly 20 fellow porters, Sherpas and climbers had just died and about 50 had been critically injured in my immediate camp,” climber Chimu wrote in an annotation to the video.
WATCH: Massive avalanche at Mount Everest Base Camp.
The videographer survived the avalanche and together with HIMEX (Himalayan Experience) teammates took part in the subsequent rescue operation.
WATCH: Another video taken in the Everest Base Camp shows the moment the avalanche came down. [WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE]
May 12, 2015 - NEPAL - A 7.3-magnitude quake has rocked Nepal, followed by two major
aftershocks. At least 37 people have been killed in the country and over
1,000 injured. It comes weeks after a disastrous quake left over 8,000
people dead, affecting millions.
The US Geological Survey initially said another quake with a magnitude of 6.3 also struck 21 miles of Ramechhap, Nepal with a depth of 9.3 miles.
Shockwaves were felt as far away as the Indian capital, Delhi, and
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
WATCH: Strong earthquake shakes Nepal.
Sixteen others were killed in India after rooftops or walls collapsed onto them, according to the country's Home Ministry. Chinese media reported one death in Tibet.
USGS earthquake location.
The quake hit near the town of Namche Bazaar, close to Mt. Everest. It was originally given a magnitude of 7.4 by the US Geological Survey (USGS), but was later downgraded to 7.3.
"This is a really big one," Prakash Shilpakar, the owner of a handicrafts shop in Kathmandu, told Reuters. Shilpakar was trying to call his parents in the town of Bhaktapur, which was destroyed in the devastating April earthquake.
USGS shakemap intensity.
Rescue helicopters have
been sent to mountain areas, where landslides and collapsed
buildings may have buried people, the Nepalese government said.
TheSindhupalchowk and Dolkha districts
were the worst hit, according to Home Ministry
officialLaxmi
Dhakal.
It comes just a few weeks after a devastating 7.8-magnitude quake
left over 8,000 people dead and almost 18,000 injured.
Around eight million people in Nepal, which has a total
population of 28 million, have been affected by the disaster, the
UN estimated.
Local residents walk past collapsed houses after the April 25 earthquake
in Sankhu on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, May 11, 2015.
(Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha)
Some two million people still need tents, drinking water, food
and medicine.
The latest tremor struck near the base camp for Everest, and was
felt across the country, including the capital, Kathmandu.
Everest Base Camp was
evacuated after an avalanche caused by the last quake killed 18
climbers. Mountaineers subsequently canceled this year's Everest
season.
Shockwaves were also felt as far away as northern India and
Bangladesh.
Subway services have been halted in India’s New Delhi and
Calcutta following the latest quake.
Tuesday’s quake was deeper than the one in April, measuring at a
depth of 18.5 kilometers
(11.5 miles) versus the earlier one at 15 kilometers (9.3 miles).
Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage. - RT.
Tectonic Summary
The May 12, 2015 M 7.3 Nepal earthquake (SE of Zham, China) occurred as the result of thrust faulting on or near the decollément associated with the Main Himalayan Thrust, which defines the interface between the underthrusting India plate and the overriding Eurasia plate to the north. At the location of this earthquake, approximately 80 km to the east-northeast of the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, the India plate is converging with Eurasia at a rate of 45 mm/yr towards the north-northeast – a fraction of which (~18 mm/yr) is driving the uplift of the Himalayan mountain range. The May 12, 2015 event is the largest aftershock to date of the M 7.8 April 25, 2015 Nepal earthquake – known as the Gorkha earthquake - which was located 150 km to the west, and which ruptured much of the decollément between these two earthquakes.
While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area. Events of the size of the May 12, 2015 earthquake are typically about 55x30 km in size (length x width). The April 25, 2015 M 7.8 mainshock had approximate dimensions of ~120x80 km, directed from its hypocenter eastwards, and towards Kathmandu. The May 12, 2015 earthquake is located just beyond the eastern end of that rupture.
The boundary region of the India and Eurasia plates has a history of large and great earthquakes. Prior to April 25, four events of M6 or larger had occurred within 250 km of this area over the past century. One, a M 6.9 earthquake in August 1988, 140 km to the south-southeast of the May 12 event, caused close to 1500 fatalities. The largest, an M 8.0 event known as the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake, ruptured a large section of the fault to the south of this May 2015 event, and east of the April 2015 mainshock, in a similar location to the 1988 earthquake. It severely damaged Kathmandu, and is thought to have caused around 10,600 fatalities. Prior to the 20th century, a large earthquake in 1833 is thought to have ruptured a similar area as the April 25, 2015 event. To date, there have been close to 100 M3+ aftershocks of the Gorkha earthquake. In the first two hours after the May 12 event, six further aftershocks have occurred, to the southwest-to-southeast of that earthquake.
Seismotectonics of the Himalaya and Vicinity
Seismicity in the Himalaya dominantly results from the continental
collision of the India and Eurasia plates, which are converging at a
relative rate of 40-50 mm/yr. Northward underthrusting of India beneath
Eurasia generates numerous earthquakes and consequently makes this
area one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth. The
surface expression of the plate boundary is marked by the foothills of
the north-south trending Sulaiman Range in the west, the Indo-Burmese
Arc in the east and the east-west trending Himalaya Front in the north
of India.
The India-Eurasia plate boundary is a diffuse boundary, which in the
region near the north of India, lies within the limits of the
Indus-Tsangpo (also called the Yarlung-Zangbo) Suture to the north and
the Main Frontal Thrust to the south. The Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone is
located roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an
exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin. The narrow
(less than 200km) Himalaya Front includes numerous east-west trending,
parallel structures. This region has the highest rates of seismicity
and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by
movement on thrust faults. Examples of significant earthquakes, in this
densely populated region, caused by reverse slip movement include the
1934 M8.0 Bihar, the 1905 M7.5 Kangra and the 2005 M7.6 Kashmir
earthquakes. The latter two resulted in the highest death tolls for
Himalaya earthquakes seen to date, together killing over 100,000 people
and leaving millions homeless. The largest instrumentally recorded
Himalaya earthquake occurred on 15th August 1950 in Assam, eastern
India. This M8.6 right-lateral, strike-slip, earthquake was widely felt
over a broad area of central Asia, causing extensive damage to
villages in the epicentral region.
The Tibetan Plateau is situated north of the Himalaya, stretching
approximately 1000km north-south and 2500km east-west, and is
geologically and tectonically complex with several sutures which are
hundreds of kilometer-long and generally trend east-west. The Tibetan
Plateau is cut by a number of large (greater than 1000km) east-west trending,
left-lateral, strike-slip faults, including the long Kunlun, Haiyuan,
and the Altyn Tagh. Right-lateral, strike-slip faults (comparable in
size to the left-lateral faults), in this region include the Karakorum,
Red River, and Sagaing. Secondary north-south trending normal faults
also cut the Tibetan Plateau. Thrust faults are found towards the north
and south of the Tibetan Plateau. Collectively, these faults
accommodate crustal shortening associated with the ongoing collision of
the India and Eurasia plates, with thrust faults accommodating north
south compression, and normal and strike-slip accommodating east-west
extension.
Along the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of
south-eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, the India plate
translates obliquely relative to the Eurasia plate, resulting in a
complex fold-and-thrust belt known as the Sulaiman Range. Faulting in
this region includes strike-slip, reverse-slip and oblique-slip motion
and often results in shallow, destructive earthquakes. The active,
left-lateral, strike-slip Chaman fault is the fastest moving fault in
the region. In 1505, a segment of the Chaman fault near Kabul,
Afghanistan, ruptured causing widespread destruction. In the same
region the more recent 30 May 1935, M7.6 Quetta earthquake, which
occurred in the Sulaiman Range in Pakistan, killed between 30,000 and
60,000 people.
On the north-western side of the Tibetan Plateau, beneath the
Pamir-Hindu Kush Mountains of northern Afghanistan, earthquakes occur
at depths as great as 200 km as a result of remnant lithospheric
subduction. The curved arc of deep earthquakes found in the Hindu Kush
Pamir region indicates the presence of a lithospheric body at depth,
thought to be remnants of a subducting slab. Cross-sections through the
Hindu Kush region suggest a near vertical northerly-dipping subducting
slab, whereas cross-sections through the nearby Pamir region to the
east indicate a much shallower dipping, southerly subducting slab. Some
models suggest the presence of two subduction zones; with the Indian
plate being subducted beneath the Hindu Kush region and the Eurasian
plate being subducted beneath the Pamir region. However, other models
suggest that just one of the two plates is being subducted and that the
slab has become contorted and overturned in places.
Shallow crustal earthquakes also occur in this region near the Main
Pamir Thrust and other active Quaternary faults. The Main Pamir Thrust,
north of the Pamir Mountains, is an active shortening structure. The
northern portion of the Main Pamir Thrust produces many shallow
earthquakes, whereas its western and eastern borders display a
combination of thrust and strike-slip mechanisms. On the 18 February
1911, the M7.4 Sarez earthquake ruptured in the Central Pamir
Mountains, killing numerous people and triggering a landside, which
blocked the Murghab River.
Further north, the Tian Shan is a seismically active
intra-continental mountain belt, which extends 2500 km in an ENE-WNW
orientation north of the Tarim Basin. This belt is defined by numerous
east-west trending thrust faults, creating a compressional basin and
range landscape. It is generally thought that regional stresses
associated with the collision of the India and Eurasia plates are
responsible for faulting in the region. The region has had three major
earthquakes (greater than M7.6) at the start of the 20th Century, including the
1902 Atushi earthquake, which killed an estimated 5,000 people. The
range is cut through in the west by the 700-km-long,
northwest-southeast striking, Talas-Ferghana active right-lateral,
strike-slip fault system. Though the system has produced no major
earthquakes in the last 250 years, paleo-seismic studies indicate that
it has the potential to produce M7.0+ earthquakes and it is thought to
represent a significant hazard.
The northern portion of the Tibetan Plateau itself is largely
dominated by the motion on three large left-lateral, strike-slip fault
systems; the Altyn Tagh, Kunlun and Haiyuan. The Altyn Tagh fault is
the longest of these strike slip faults and it is thought to
accommodate a significant portion of plate convergence. However, this
system has not experienced significant historical earthquakes, though
paleoseismic studies show evidence of prehistoric M7.0-8.0 events.
Thrust faults link with the Altyn Tagh at its eastern and western
termini. The Kunlun Fault, south of the Altyn Tagh, is seismically
active, producing large earthquakes such as the 8th November 1997, M7.6
Manyi earthquake and the 14th November 2001, M7.8 Kokoxili earthquake.
The Haiyuan Fault, in the far north-east, generated the 16 December
1920, M7.8 earthquake that killed approximately 200,000 people and the
22 May 1927 M7.6 earthquake that killed 40,912.
The Longmen Shan thrust belt, along the eastern margin of the Tibetan
Plateau, is an important structural feature and forms a transitional
zone between the complexly deformed Songpan-Garze Fold Belt and the
relatively undeformed Sichuan Basin. On 12 May 2008, the thrust belt
produced the reverse slip, M7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, killing over
87,000 people and causing billions of US dollars in damages and
landslides which dammed several rivers and lakes.
Southeast of the Tibetan Plateau are the right-lateral, strike-slip
Red River and the left-lateral, strike-slip Xiangshuihe-Xiaojiang fault
systems. The Red River Fault experienced large scale, left-lateral
ductile shear during the Tertiary period before changing to its present
day right-lateral slip rate of approximately 5 mm/yr. This fault has
produced several earthquakes greater than M6.0 including the 4 January 1970, M7.5
earthquake in Tonghai which killed over 10,000 people. Since the start
of the 20th century, the Xiangshuihe-Xiaojiang Fault system has
generated several M7.0+ earthquakes including the M7.5 Luhuo earthquake
which ruptured on the 22 April 1973. Some studies suggest that due to
the high slip rate on this fault, future large earthquakes are highly
possible along the 65km stretch between Daofu and Qianning and the 135km
stretch that runs through Kangding.
Shallow earthquakes within the Indo-Burmese Arc, predominantly occur
on a combination of strike-slip and reverse faults, including the
Sagaing, Kabaw and Dauki faults. Between 1930 and 1956, six M7.0+
earthquakes occurred near the right-lateral Sagaing Fault, resulting in
severe damage in Myanmar including the generation of landslides,
liquefaction and the loss of 610 lives. Deep earthquakes (200km) have
also been known to occur in this region, these are thought to be due to
the subduction of the eastwards dipping, India plate, though whether
subduction is currently active is debated. Within the pre-instrumental
period, the large Shillong earthquake occurred on the 12 June 1897,
causing widespread destruction. - USGS.
A teddy bear lies on the top of debris as Indian rescue workers look for survivors and bodies trapped in a building in Katmandu.(Photo: Manish Swarup, AP)
May 11, 2015 - NEPAL - Nepal's prime minister said Tuesday the death toll from the
devastating earthquake that rocked the country Saturday could reach
10,000, and the United Nations estimated 8 million people have been affected.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala made the statement to Reuters as he appealed for tents and medicine and ordered rescue efforts to be stepped up. International aid has started arriving in the country.
The death toll from the magnitude-7.8 quake has soared past 4,700. Hundreds of thousands of people are sleeping outdoors and living in the open because they are homeless or out of fear of being inside amid aftershocks. It rained heavily Tuesday in the capital of Kathmandu, forcing people to find shelter wherever they could.
WATCH: Devastating Nepal earthquake aftermath.
Gautam Rimal, an official in rural Nepal, said 250 people are believed missing following a mudslide and avalanche in the isolated village of Ghodatabela, not far from the epicenter of the quake, the Associated Press reported.
Among those killed are 18 people, including four Americans, who died on Mount Everest after the quake triggered an avalanche that buried part of the base camp at the world's highest mountain.
WATCH: New video of Nepal earthquake shows building collapsing on motorists.
At least 61 people died in India, and 25 were reported dead in Tibet as tremors from the quake rippled across the region.
"The
government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing,"
Koirala told Reuters. "It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for
Nepal."
People walk in the street in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Photo: David Ramos, Getty Images)
Earthquake survivors prepare a meal before spending a night at an open shelter in Kathmandu. (Photo: Philippe Lopez, AFP/Getty Images)
Rajan,
a 37-year-old father of three, looks toward the building that
collapsed over his wife and two sons after being informed by Nepali
soldiers and Israeli rescue team IsraAid that the building where their
bodies are still trapped will be sealed off due to being unstable and in
danger of collapsing further. (Photo: Diego Azubel, European PressPhoto Agency)
With its sewage system badly damaged, carcasses rotting in the rubble
and thousands of people sleeping rough, experts say Nepal faces a race
against time to ensure a devastating earthquake does not trigger a
public health disaster. AFP
The death toll and the number of injured — which the
United Nations puts at nearly 7,000 — is expected to rise as
search-and-rescue teams reach remote areas in the Himalayan country.
American
doctor Rebecca McAteer, who is working in the quake zone, told the AP
that most rural people were working in the fields when the earthquake
hit around noon, meaning they escaped injury when buildings collapsed.
"In
some villages, about 90% of the houses have collapsed. They're just
flattened," she said. "The immediate need is getting support to where
it's needed, but there will be a lot of work rebuilding."
Thomas
Meyer, an engineer with the International Nepal Fellowship, added:
"This is a long-term emergency," AP reported. "This will need major
attention for the next five years. People have nothing left."
A U.N. situation report said 1.4 million people are in need of food, according to early indications.
"Of
these, 750,000 people live near the epicenter in poor quality housing,"
the report said. "Impact on agriculture-based livelihoods and food
security is expected to be extremely high."
Jamie McGoldrick, the
U.N. resident coordinator in Kathmandu, told reporters that 8 million
people had been affected by the quake, the AP reported.
The United
Nations Population Fund warned that hospitals in the Katmandu Valley
are overcrowded, while the Injured are being treated in the streets.
Women and girls are especially vulnerable, the fund said.
"The
Fund is particularly concerned about the fate of pregnant women who have
been affected by this tragedy, including those who might face
potentially life-threatening complications," said Babatunde Osotimehin,
UNFPA's executive director.
Emergency workers were being deployed
and dignity and reproductive health kits were on the way to the country,
the organization said. - USA Today.
Three fresh earthquakes of 4.2, 4 and 4.4 magnitude hit Nepal in the
middle of the night. The death toll from the April 25 temblor, the
country's worst in over 80 years, reached 8,019 while the number of
injured stands at 16,033, according to Nepal Police. (Express Photo)
May 10, 2015 - NEPAL - Three fresh tremors today jolted Nepal, triggering panic among the people already battered by the devastating earthquake and over 150 aftershocks as the death toll crossed 8,000.
Massive landslide and avalanche also forced suspension of rescue works in the popular trekking area of Langtang, where Nepal Army’s rescue team has taken out 90 dead bodies, including nine foreigners, so far.
According to some media reports, as many as 120 bodies have been pulled out and rescuers who were searching for bodies have moved to safe places.
Lieutenant Colonel Anup Jung Thapa said the rescue works was disrupted due to huge piles of frequent avalanche in and around the area.
Meanwhile, three tremors jolted the Himalayan nation today, bringing the total number of aftershocks with 4 or more magnitude on the Richter Scale to over 156.
A 4.2-magnitude tremor was recorded at 1.50 AM with its epicentre at Sindhupalchowk district, 100 km east of Kathmandu, one of the worst-affected districts.
Another 4-magnitude tremor was recorded at 2.44 AM with epicentre at Udaypur district.
The third tremor was of 4.4-magnitude which struck at 6.34 AM with epicentre at Sindhupalchowk/Tibet, according to the National Seismological Centre, Kathmandu.
No damage due to the tremors was reported so far. However, they sent a fresh wave of fear and panic among the people who have been forced to stay in open spaces for the past two weeks.
Also, the death toll from the April 25 temblor, the country’s worst in over 80 years, reached 8,019 while the number of injured stands at 16,033, according to Nepal Police. - Indian Express.
May 5, 2015 - NEPAL - The small village of Langtang, which was located along a popular
trekking route near the base of Mount Langtang, was completely buried by
ice and rocks shaken loose by devastating earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015. At least 200 people died in this disaster.
The village was located below a very steep ridge and above the ridge
there is a glacier towards the north-west and large snow field right
above the village, MountainHydrology writes.
"There has been a lot of snow fall this year and at the moment of the
earthquake there were considerable amounts of snow at higher altitudes.
From a preliminary investigation we think it is most likely that either a
snow avalanche from directly north of Langtang village or a debris/ice
avalanche from the north-west has caused this disaster."
While cloudy conditions
have hampered satellite observations of Nepal since the earthquake, the
Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured a clear view on
April 30, 2015.
A mixture of snow, ice, and debris - which originated in snowfields on
the slopes above Langtang - slid toward the Langtang River and buried
the village.
Walter Immerzeel and Philip Kraaijenbrink, members of a group of volunteer scientists (Mountain Hydrology) with expertise in remote sensing, were the first to identify and analyze the landslide using Landsat 8.
"The Langtang River was completely covered by the deposit that
buried Langtang Village, but there is no evidence yet of a lake forming
behind the blockage," the scientists noted.
This may indicate that the water has found its way through the debris,
snow, and ice which is significant because rivers damned with landslide
debris can back up and lead to destructive downstream floods if the
natural dam fails.
PDF version of this map is available on MountainHydrology as well as KMZ file for interactive data analysis.
A video uploaded by YouTube user Shaky on May 4, 2015 shows the start of the avalanche. Its description says:
"We were somewhere between Godatabela and Langtang. After the quake
large boulders destroyed the forest on the opposite side of the river.
Then rocks started rolling on our side and finally the huge avalanche
and landslide that destroyed Langtang village created a cloud of snow
and mud that came over us and covered everything."
May 3, 2015 - NEPAL REGION - The deadly quake in Nepal not only devastated the country killing
thousands but also changed its landscape.
Mount Everest shrank a little
bit after the disaster, satellite data shows.
According to Europe's Sentinel-1A radar satellite, which passed over the affected area on Wednesday, a day after the 7.8-magnitude quake, Earth's highest mountain is now 2.8 centimeters smaller than it used to be,reports LiveScience.
The lowering is explained by a relief of strain in the Earth's crust, it
said citing UNAVCO, a nonprofit geoscience research consortium.
At the same time a region about 120 kilometers long and 50 kilometers wide near Nepal's capital Kathmandu lifted about 1 meter, which partially explains the extensive damage the city suffered.
The uplift peaked just 17 kilometers from the city.
The satellite data is still raw and will be analyzed by teams of
scientists over the next few weeks.
Roger Bilham, a professor in
geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the
Huffington Post that the shrinking of Mount Everest is probably just
about one or two millimeters.
The April 25 quake struck 83 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu
at a depth of 15 kilometers.
As of Sunday, rescue authorities say there
is no hope of recovering anyone alive from under the rubble.
April 29, 2015 - MOUNT EVEREST, HIMALAYAS - The massive earthquake that struck Nepal Saturday likely caused permanent changes in the Earth's surface and may have made Everest a little taller - or shorter, scientists say.
A team of geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is working
on the problem now, but they need to retrieve data from a GPS station
near Everest within the next 11 days, warns Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist who studies earthquakes with the USGS in Pasadena, California.
After that, new data will start recording over information about the
quake, erasing the most detailed information on how much the station
swayed back and forth and up and down. As a result, the geologists are
scrambling to raise the funds to book helicopter time or to piggyback
the mission on scheduled humanitarian efforts. (Learn more about the science of the Nepal quake.)
In the meantime, Hudnut and colleagues have been analyzing
satellite and seismology data on Saturday's estimated magnitude 7.8
earthquake, to better understand what happened and determine how likely
future quakes may be. Preliminary models, which will need to be refined,
suggest that Mount Everest and its surrounding area may have shifted by
a few centimeters both vertically and horizontally, says Hudnut.
That jives with an estimate from James Jackson,
a geologist at Cambridge University in England. At Everest, "the
vertical motion is expected to be less than 10 centimeters [four inches]
and the horizontal the same," Jackson said via email.
Another spot moved two centimeters to the north, one centimeter to the
east, and nothing in the vertical, Jackson added. That location, in
Tibet 124 miles (200 kilometers) east of the earthquake's epicenter, may
be similar to what Everest experienced, he noted.
Zeroing In
For a closer look, Hudnut hopes to retrieve data from a station called
SYBC in a valley less than 17 miles (30 kilometers) from Everest's peak.
Since the station is no longer transmitting data, thanks to the quake,
scientists will have to fly there and download it directly. Further
information could eventually be provided if climbers can survey the top
of the mountain with high-quality GPS units.
"We're not just looking to see whether Everest went up or down, but
we're looking to understand what the whole Earth did and the science
behind the earthquake," says Hudnut. "For example, we want to know if
the quake put additional stress on other faults in the area, which could
lead to future earthquakes."
Hudnut adds that the city of Kathmandu, which was closer to the
epicenter than Everest and was heavily damaged by the temblor, may have
seen movement of as much as a meter (three feet). Jackson says movement
of the rocks along the fault near the city might have been as much as
nine feet, or three meters.
Still, that doesn't mean the city was simply shifted by that much,
cautions Jackson, because the Earth's crust deforms in complex, uneven
ways. It may mean that parts of the ground underneath the city, or near
it, moved relative to each other.
Time to Change Maps?
Asked if a new height for Everest will mean a change to National
Geographic's many map products, society Geographer Juan Valdés says he
is watching the science closely.
National Geographic doesn't rely on a single scientific agency for its
data, he says, but rather reviews data compiled by as many sources as
possible. In the case of Everest, that means data from agencies in
China, Nepal, Europe, and beyond.
Quakes and other geological events have changed National Geographic's
maps before, Valdés notes, from movements in the ground caused by
earthquakes to new islands created by volcanoes.
The movement experienced in Kathmandu is unlikely to show up in the
resolution of the society's maps, says Valdés, but it remains to be seen
for Everest's height.
The last time Valdés recalled a significant change in a mountain height
was in January 2014, when glacial melt in New Zealand had reduced the
height of Mt. Cook from the previously measured 12,316 feet (3,754
meters) to 12,218 feet (3,724 meters), a difference of 98 feet (30
meters).
The fact that the world's tallest mountains can move at all "proves how dynamic the planet truly is," says Valdés. - National Geographic.
April 28, 2015 - MOUNT EVEREST, HIMALAYAS - It is hard enough to survive a massive earthquake in Nepal and for that
to be followed by a horrific avalanche at Mount Everest. However, some
climbers managed to capture the moment they were hit by a sea of ice and
snow crashing into them on camera.
A terrifying video posted on YouTube by German climber Jost Kobusch
shows people at the Everest Base Camp stumbling in confusion as powerful
the 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on Saturday.
[WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE]
WATCH: Mount Everest base camp hit by avalanche.
Kobusch can be heard saying "the ground is shaking," while
laughing nervously at the start of the clip. The visibility was so poor,
he was hardly able to see the slopes of the Himalayan Mountains.
Climbers nearby begin scrambling, yelling and trying to warn others of
the imminent avalanche. Caught off guard, people try to find some cover,
but the wall of snow was quick and brutal.
Cursing profoundly, the German hides in front of a tent with no proper
protection. Seconds later, the climbers are buried by a wave of snow.
One can hear Kobusch and another man trying to catch their breath, as
the climber goes into a state of shock.
In
this photograph taken on April 25, 2015, rescuers use a makeshift
stretcher to carry an injured person after an avalanche triggered by an
earthquake flattened parts of Everest Base Camp.
The
men in the video were lucky to survive, but the massive avalanche ended
up killing some 20 people at the camp and injuring dozens of others.
Rescue missions were launched, with the critically injured evacuated by
helicopters. However, other rescue operations were hampered by bad
weather, aftershocks and the fact that some 100 climbers were cut off
from the Base Camp due to the collapsed Icefall route.
A new 6.7-magnitude aftershock hit Nepal at 07:09 GMT on Sunday, which unleashed another series of avalanches in the Himalayas.
An avalanche came close to hitting the base camp at Mount Everest as well, but luckily, fell just short.
Kobusch was not the only climber who ended up filming the terrifying
passage that unfolded. RT's video agency Ruptly obtained the helmet
camera footage of Belgian climber Jelle Veyt, who also was at the Base
Camp, located at an altitude of 5,364 metres (17,598 ft), when the
avalanche smashed through it. AFP photographer Roberto Schmidt managed
to grab a photo of the enormous wall of snow headed towards the camp,
before running for his life
WATCH: Mount Everest climbers survey avalanche destruction at base camp.
Over 3,300 people have been killed following the earthquake on
Saturday, while more than 6,200 have been injured. Many hundreds are
still unaccounted for.
International organizations and countries have been sending aid to
Nepal. On Sunday, Russian, American and Canadian aircraft flew out with
rescue teams onboard. Sweden has pledged $1.5 million in aid, with
Canada vowing to send $5 million. - RT.
