Natural Disasters:

The Gorkha Earthquake

Andrea Garcia
Mrs. Pena-Bui
Law II – 3rd
13 January 2021
• On April 25, 2015, a 7.8 earthquake, also known as a
geophysical natural disaster, occurred in central Nepal,
near Kathmandu, and triggered avalanches on Mt. Everest.
• The earthquake was so strong it was felt as far as India,
Bangladesh, Tibet, and Bhutan.
• 9,000 people were killed and 600,000 structures were
damaged.
• Before the disaster, Nepal
was a small country that was
best known to mountain
climbers trying to conquer
Mt. Everest.

• Within the cities and

countryside, buildings were
made of adobe (mud), brick
and concrete and were built
close together.

• On Mt. Everest, climbing

groups resided in tent
villages.
According to Mwangi (2016,) of
STRUCTURE Magazine:
• No earthquake preparations or
regulations were in place.
• Building construction followed the
Mandatory Rule of Thumb (MRT) put in
place by the Department of Urban
Development and Building Construction
• Most buildings are build by self-taught,
or on-the-job trained contractors due to
the shortage of structural engineers
• Though the MRT is required, it was
loosely followed and regulated
• MRT states no buildings over 3
stories, but most buildings exceed
this limit
• MRT states no rubble or bamboo
usage in construction, but most
countryside buildings are rubble
built with bamboo floors.
 Shrestha and Pathranarakul (2018)
found that:
• Immediately after the earthquake, Nepal’s
government asked for international
assistance
• The Nepali Army conducted ”Operation
Sankatmochan,” a rescue and relief
operation
• Due to being unprepared for an earthquake
of this magnitude, the government was not
able to do an initial needs assessment
• Due to communication and logistics
difficulties, rural areas had to wait days to
weeks for relief assistance and had to rely
on local government and non-government
organizations for help
• Recovery was extremely slow and many
suffered
• Due to the high number of deaths and slow process of rebuilding, Nepal
has suffered lasting impacts:
• Tourism, including Mt. Everest climbers, is down
• Some countryside villages have yet to be rebuilt
• The city of Katmandu is still being reconstructed
• Civil engineering companies, worldwide, have made construction
recommendations, but the government continues to build as before
• Most construction is still done in adobe and concrete
• It appears no lessons have been learned
 References
Mwangi, J.P. (2016, August). The 2015 Nepal earthquake. STRUCTURE Magazine.
https://www.structuremag.org/?p=10261#:~:text=Adobe%2C%20brick%20and%20reinf
orced%20concrete,but%20the%20quality%20varies%20greatly.

Rafferty, J. P. (2020, May 8). Nepal earthquake of 2015. Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nepal-earthquake-of-2015

Shrestha, B. and Pathranarakul, P. (2018, August 1). Nepal government’s emergency response
to the 2015 earthquake: A case study. file:///Users/e123171/Downloads/socsci-07-00127.pdf