6.8 Richter Earthquake

On the 18th of September at 6.25 PM, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurred on the border between Taplejung (Nepal) & Sikkim (India) (National Seismological Centre Nepal). The total death toll in Nepal has reached eight, with 24 persons seriously injured and 77 with minor injuries, the Home Ministry says. Around 156 houses have been severely damaged all over the country, while 124 houses are partially damaged (My Republica).

The earthquake was the heaviest since the 8.3 Richter scale in Bhojpur in 1934, which killed a total of 8,519 people, damaged 126,355 houses and destroyed 80,893 buildings. As the epicenter was on the border, however, it can not be called the second biggest hit to Nepal, according to Technical Officer at the National Seismological Center Umesh Prasad Gautam, so the second biggest earthquake to hit Nepal remains the one on August 21, 1988, which killed 721 and damaged over 64,000 buildings (My Republica).

In terms of damage, this earthquake has indeed been mild. The Himalayan Times sums up the damage at 1 AM this morning:

• Two killed, dozens of houses destroyed in Dharan
• More than 10 injured, over 50 houses hit in Sankhuwasabha
• 29 police units of eight eastern districts affected
• More than 100 houses destroyed in Panchthar
•  More than 12 houses destroyed in Dhankuta
•  Landslip in Taplejung
• 30 houses damaged in Terhathum
• Eight houses destroyed in Solukhumbu
• More than 12 houses damaged in Nuwakot
• Nine houses damaged in Kavre
• Electricity and phone services halted in the east

An injured patient at Bir Hospital.
(Photo: Bikash Karki, My Republica)

It is once again a reminder that Nepal, and the Kathmandu valley in particular, is located on a seismically very active area, and that the Nepalese people and buildings remain painfully underprepared.

A 2002 WHO study showed that the 5 Major hospitals of the Kathmandu valley would suffer greatly from a major earthquake (8+ Richter) and leave the area in dire need. Though the hospitals have stepped up since then and the staff of the hospitals, at least, is better prepared for the inevitable (and overdue) disaster, much still needs to be done, as is shown in the IRIN article of April 2011. 

It is to this purpose that Green Village Ventures has purchased some acres of land outside of Kathmandu. GVV is currently in the designing phase of a Disaster Resistant Center, which would house the existing HOPE College and a hospital. The facilities will be constructed to be as green and self-sufficient as possible, reducing (if not eliminating) the dependency on outside sources of electricity, water and medicine. As was shown yesterday, even after a "minor" earthquake there are major disturbances in communication lines and electricity supply, so it is of vital importance to the functioning of a hospital to be sufficiently independent, allowing it to keep functioning when it is most needed…