An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the

Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic
waves. Earthquakes can range in size from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt to those
violent enough to toss people around and destroy whole cities. The seismicity, or seismic
activity, of an area is the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of
time. The word tremor is also used for non-earthquake seismic rumbling.

At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and displacing or disrupting
the ground. When the epicenter of a large earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be
displaced sufficiently to cause a tsunami. Earthquakes can also trigger landslides, and
occasionally volcanic activity.

In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event — whether
natural or caused by humans — that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by
rupture of geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine
blasts, and nuclear tests. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter.
The epicenter is the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.

Why Do Earthquakes Happen?

Earthquakes are usually caused when rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This
sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When two blocks
of rock or two plates are rubbing against each other, they stick a little. They don't just slide
smoothly; the rocks catch on each other. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not
moving. After a while, the rocks break because of all the pressure that's built up. When the rocks
break, the earthquake occurs. During the earthquake and afterward, the plates or blocks of rock
start moving, and they continue to move until they get stuck again. The spot underground where
the rock breaks is called the focus of the earthquake. The place right above the focus (on top of
the ground) is called the epicenter of the earthquake.

Earthquake-like seismic waves can also be caused by explosions underground. These explosions
may be set off to break rock while making tunnels for roads, railroads, subways, or mines. These
explosions, however, don't cause very strong seismic waves. You may not even feel them.
Sometimes seismic waves occur when the roof or walls of a mine collapse. These can sometimes
be felt by people near the mine. The largest underground explosions, from tests of nuclear
warheads (bombs), can create seismic waves very much like large earthquakes. This fact has
been exploited as a means to enforce the global nuclear test ban, because no nuclear warhead can
be detonated on earth without producing such seismic waves.

Protecting Yourself and Your Family

In the minutes, hours and days after an earthquake, your neighborhood and community may
experience ground shaking, damaged buildings, landslides and fires (and possibly tsunamis if
you are on the coast). The best way to avoid injuries, keep in touch with your loved ones and
recover swiftly from an earthquake is to prepare now for how you and your family will respond
when an earthquake strikes.

For help protecting your home and belongings during and after an earthquake, please see
Protecting Your Home and Belongings. For basic information about earthquakes and related
hazards, please see Earthquakes 101.

Getting started

Emergency management agencies in British Columbia, California, Oregon and Washington and
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and some county and other local agencies
provide earthquake resources to help you know what to do before, during and after an
earthquake. These actions include:

Before the earthquake

 Prepare to be on your own for at least three days with a disaster supply kit including
water, non-perishable food, first aid materials and copies of important family documents.
 Make a personal and family emergency response plan.
 Know how to turn off utilities.

Learn more

During the earthquake: Drop, cover and hold

 If you are inside when you feel the ground shake, drop down to the floor.
 Take cover under a sturdy piece of furniture or seek cover against an interior wall and
protect your head and neck with your arms. Avoid danger spots near windows, hanging
objects, mirrors, or tall furniture. Hold the position until the ground stops shaking and it
is safe to move.
 If you are outside, get into the open, away from buildings, power lines and trees. Be alert
for falling rock and other debris that could be loosened by the earthquake.

Learn more

After the earthquake

 Expect aftershocks. Some may be large enough to do additional damage to weakened

structures.
 If you are at the beach, move to higher ground as soon as the shaking stops to avoid a
possible tsunami.
 Check your telephone and utilities.
 Be aware of potential hazards including downed utility lines, fallen objects and damaged
chimneys.
 Listen to the radio for more information.
Measuring the Size of an Earthquake
Seismic waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that travel through the Earth; they are
recorded on instruments called seismographs. Seismographs record a zig-zag trace that shows the
varying amplitude of ground oscillations beneath the instrument. Sensitive seismographs, which
greatly magnify these ground motions, can detect strong earthquakes from sources anywhere in
the world. The time, location, and magnitude of an earthquake can be determined from the data
recorded by seismograph stations.

Modern seismographic systems precisely amplify and record ground motion (typically at periods
of between 0.1 and 100 seconds) as a function of time.

Earthquakes with magnitude of about 2.0 or less are usually called microearthquakes; they are
not commonly felt by people and are generally recorded only on local seismographs. Events with
magnitudes of about 4.5 or greater - there are several thousand such shocks annually - are strong
enough to be recorded by sensitive seismographs all over the world. Great earthquakes, such as
the 1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska, have magnitudes of 8.0 or higher. On the average,
one earthquake of such size occurs somewhere in the world each year.

The Richter Scale

Although similar seismographs had existed since the 1890's, it was only in 1935 that Charles F.
Richter, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, introduced the concept of
earthquake magnitude. His original definition held only for California earthquakes occurring
within 600 km of a particular type of seismograph (the Woods-Anderson torsion instrument). His
basic idea was quite simple: by knowing the distance from a seismograph to an earthquake and
observing the maximum signal amplitude recorded on the seismograph, an empirical quantitative
ranking of the earthquake's inherent size or strength could be made. Most California earthquakes
occur within the top 16 km of the crust; to a first approximation, corrections for variations in
earthquake focal depth were, therefore, unnecessary.

The Richter magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of
waves recorded by seismographs. Adjustments are included for the variation in the distance
between the various seismographs and the epicenter of the earthquakes. On the Richter Scale,
magnitude is expressed in whole numbers and decimal fractions. For example, a magnitude 5.3
might be computed for a moderate earthquake, and a strong earthquake might be rated as
magnitude 6.3. Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in
magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each
whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more
energy than the amount associated with the preceding whole number value.

The Richter Scale is not commonly used anymore, except for small earthquakes recorded locally,
for which ML and Mblg are the only magnitudes that can be measured. For all other earthquakes,
the moment magnitude scale is a more accurate measure of the earthquake size. More on that
later.
Determining the Depth of an Earthquake

Earthquakes can occur anywhere between the Earth's surface and about 700 kilometers below the
surface. For scientific purposes, this earthquake depth range of 0 - 700 km is divided into three
zones: shallow, intermediate, and deep.

Shallow earthquakes are between 0 and 70 km deep; intermediate earthquakes, 70 - 300 km

deep; and deep earthquakes, 300 - 700 km deep. In general, the term "deep-focus earthquakes" is
applied to earthquakes deeper than 70 km. All earthquakes deeper than 70 km are localized
within great slabs of shallow lithosphere that are sinking into the Earth's mantle.

The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the

Gorkha earthquake)[5][8] killed nearly 9,000 people and injured nearly 22,000. It occurred at
11:56 Nepal Standard Time on 25 April, with a magnitude of 7.8Mw[1] or 8.1Ms[9] and a
maximum Mercalli Intensity of VIII (Severe). Its epicenter was east of Gorkha District at
Barpak, Gorkha, and its hypocenter was at a depth of approximately 8.2 km (5.1 mi).[1] It was the
worst natural disaster to strike Nepal since the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake.[10][11][12] The ground
motion recorded in the 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 life.[13]

The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing 21,[14] making 25 April 2015
the deadliest day on the mountain in history.[15] The earthquake triggered another huge avalanche
in the Langtang valley, where 250 people were reported missing.[16][17]

Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese were made homeless with entire villages flattened,[16][18][19]
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.[20][21]

Aftershocks
Main article: List of aftershocks after the 2015 Nepal earthquake
Aftershocks of 2015 Nepal earthquake

A series of aftershocks began immediately after the mainshock, at intervals of 15–30 minutes,
with one aftershock reaching 6.6Mw within 34 minutes of the initial quake. A major aftershock of
magnitude 6.9 Mw occurred on 26 April 2015 in the same region at 12:54 NST (07:08 UTC),
with an epicenter located about 17 km (11 mi) south of Kodari, Nepal.[44][45] The aftershock
caused fresh avalanches on Mount Everest and was felt in many places in northern India
including Kolkata, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, and Assam.[46] The aftershock caused a landslide on the
Koshi Highway which blocked the section of the road between Bhedetar and Mulghat.[47]

Casualties
Nepal

The earthquake killed more than 8,800 people in Nepal[6][85][86] and injured nearly three times as
many. The rural death toll may have been minimized by the fact that most villagers were
outdoors working when the quake hit.[87] As of 15 May, 6,271 people, including 1,700 from the
12 May aftershock, were still receiving treatment for their injuries.[55] Nearly 3.5 million people
were left homeless.[59]

The example of this earthquake shows that loss calculations for hypothetical likely future
earthquakes can be reasonably reliable. In 2005, the expected numbers of fatalities due to a
hypothetical scenario earthquake near Kathmandu for M8.1 was published.[88] The fatalities at
that time were estimated between 21,000 and 42,000. A M7.8 earthquake happened on 25 April
2015 near Kathmandu. It killed only about 10,000 people because it was Saturday and the
children were not in the collapsing school buildings.[citation needed] The original estimate was correct
within a factor of 2.5 and would have been exactly correct, had it not been for the lucky break
children got due to Saturday being a holiday.

Rescue and relief

Nepalese Army, Pakistan Air Force, United States Air Force work together to download relief supplies in
Nepal.
About 90% of soldiers from the Nepalese Army were sent to the stricken areas in the aftermath
of the earthquake under Operation Sankat Mochan, with volunteers mobilized from other parts of
the country.[128] Rainfall and aftershocks were factors complicating the rescue efforts, with
potential secondary effects like additional landslides and further building collapses being
concerns. Impassable roads and damaged communications infrastructure posed substantial
challenges to rescue efforts.[129] Survivors were found up to a week after the earthquake.[130][131][132]

International aid
See also: 2015–2017 Nepal humanitarian crisis

UNICEF appealed for donations, as close to 1.7 million children had been driven out into the
open, and were in desperate need of drinking water, psychological counsel, temporary shelters,
sanitation and protection from disease outbreak. It distributed water, tents, hygiene kits, water
purification tablets and buckets.[157] Numerous other organizations provided similar support.[158]

India was the first to respond within hours, being Nepal's immediate neighbour,[159] with
Operation Maitri which provided rescue and relief by its armed forces. It also evacuated its own
and other countries' stranded nationals. India has been the largest aid donor to Nepal following
the earthquake with a billion dollar support apart from other non-monetary reliefs extended. [148]
The United States, China and other nations have provided helicopters as requested by the
Nepalese government.[160][161]

On 26 April 2015, international aid agencies and governments mobilized rescue workers and aid
for the earthquake. They faced challenges in both getting assistance to Nepal and ferrying people
to remote areas as the country had few helicopters.[162][163] Relief efforts were also hampered by
Nepalese government insistence on routing aid through the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund
and its National Emergency Operation Center. After concerns were raised, it was clarified that
"Non-profits" or NGOs already in the country could continue receiving aid directly and bypass
the official fund.[162][164] Aid mismatch and supply of "leftovers" by donors,[165] aid diversion in
Nepal,[166] mistrust over control of the distribution of funds and supplies,[167][168][169] congestion and
customs delays at Kathmandu's airport and border check posts were also reported.[170][171] On 3
May 2015, restrictions were placed on heavy aircraft flying in aid supplies after new cracks were
noticed on the runway at the Tribhuvan airport (KTM), Nepal's only wide-body jet airport.[172][173]
[174]

Aid by india
In $1 billion by Material aid in Operation Maitri: Rescue aid:
dia the government
• 8 tons of baby food • 16 National Disaster Response
• Over 100 tons of medical supplies Force teams, over 1,000 personnel,
• 75,000 vials of insulin search-&-rescue dogs
• Over 200 tons of water • Hundreds of retired Indian
 Gorkha soldiers of the Indian Army
• Hundreds of Indian Army and
Indian Air Force personnel
• Military task forces headquartered
in Kathmandu and Barpak
• Relief sorties by Ilyushin Il-76, C-
130J Hercules, C-17 Globemaster,
Antonov An-32 aircraft
• Civilian aircraft
• Helicopters – Mi-17, Cheetah,
HAL Dhruv ALH
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs)
• 18 member medical team
• 100,000 bottles of water every day • 3 field hospitals
from the Indian Railways • 2 mobile teams of specialist
• Hundreds of tons of food and dry doctors
rations • 41 member medical team from the
• 43 tons of relief material state of Rajasthan
• 10 tons of blankets • Indian Air Force rapid action
• Several tons of stretchers, tents medical team
• A reverse osmosis (RO) plant • 45 bed hospital at Lagankhel
• Oxygen regenerators & cylinders • Light vehicles
• 345 tons of relief material, dry • Earth moving equipment
food and essential medicines from • 18 Indian Army Engineer Task
the state governments of Bihar and Forces (Indian Army Corps of
Uttar Pradesh Engineers)
• Indian Oil Corporation team
• PowerGrid Corporation of India
engineers
• 36+ vehicles – ambulances and
water tankers – from the Sashastra
Seema Bal
• 39 member Indian Army team
deployed at the Everest Base Camp
to search for, rescue and assist
climbers

Evacuation of over 20,000 Indian

citizens and hundreds of foreign
nationals by air and road