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This repository hosts detailed information about the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal.
Available information in the folders:
- Impact
- Recording stations
- Ruptrues
- OpenQuake_gmfs
The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,964 people and injured 21,952 more. It occurred at 11:56 Nepal Standard Time on Saturday, 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8Mw or 8.1Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (Extreme). Its epicenter was east of Gorkha District at Barpak, Gorkha, roughly 85 km (53 mi) northwest of central Kathmandu, and its hypocenter was at a depth of approximately 8.2 km (5.1 mi). It was the worst natural disaster to strike Nepal since the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake. The ground motion recorded in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, was of low frequency, which, along with its occurrence at an hour where many people in rural areas were working outdoors, decreased the loss of property and human lives.The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing 22, the deadliest incident on the mountain on record. The earthquake triggered another huge avalanche in the Langtang valley, where 250 people were reported missing.Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese were made homeless with entire villages flattened, across many districts of the country. Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Kathmandu Durbar Square, the Patan Durbar Square, the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, the Changu Narayan Temple, the Boudhanath stupa and the Swayambhunath stupa. Geophysicists and other experts had warned for decades that Nepal was vulnerable to a deadly earthquake, particularly because of its geology, urbanization, and architecture. Dharahara, also called Bhimsen Tower, a nine-storey 61.88-metre (203.0 ft) tall tower, was destroyed. It was a part of the architecture of Kathmandu recognized by UNESCO. Wikipedia
The estimation of the ground shaking has The folder OpenQuake_gmfs stores the required input files to generate the ground motion fields considering different rupture solutions and conditioning the ground shaking to the recording stations for the event, when available. The figures below present an example of the results, showing the median ground motion fields with and without conditioning the ground shaking for the rupture and ground motion model that indicates the lowest nominal bias.
The information collected for the consequences of the event and the corresponding references is available in the Impact folder. When available, information at different geographical levels is provided considering the building damage, economic losses and human impact.
A summary of the main consequences of the event is available in the earthquake_information.csv file:
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Year | 2015 |
| Country | Nepal, India, China, Bangladesh |
| Region | Gorkha, Kathmandu |
| Event_Name | Gorkha_2015 |
| Local_Date | 25/04/2015 |
| Local_Time | 11:56:25 |
| Longitude | 84.7314 |
| Latitude | 28.2305 |
| Depth_(km) | 8.22 |
| Mw | 7.8 |
| Max_Intensity_(MMI) | IX |
| Fault_mechanism | Thrust/reverse |
| Tectonic_region_type | Subduction interface |
| Fatalities | 8659-9094 |
| Injured | 17932-24000 |
| Displaced_Population | 95100-649815 |
| Affected_Population | 27723-5621790 |
| Affected_Units | 8000000 |
| Damaged_Units | 256697-288856 |
| Collapsed_Units | 498852-604930 |
| Economic_Losses | 6000-7000 M USD |
| Insured_Losses | 100 M USD |
| Induced_Effects | Avalanches on Mount Everest, landslides |
| USGS page | https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us20002926/executive |
| Wikipedia page | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2015_Nepal_earthquake |
We would like to acknowledge the many contributors to the Earthquake Consequence Database.