[Seismologists have long feared a big earthquake in western Nepal, where there is pent-up pressure between tectonic plates grinding up against one another. Though there have been a series of earthquakes in the region over the last century, none resulted in a full release of seismic energy, said Ganesh K. Bhattarai, a Nepali expert on earthquakes now living in Denmark.]
By Ellen Barry And Gardiner Harris
NEW DELHI — An earthquake with an
estimated magnitude of 7.8 shook Nepal on
Saturday near its capital, Katmandu, flattening sections of the city’s historic
center and trapping sightseers in a 200-foot tower that crumbled into a pile of
bricks.
A spokesman for Nepal’s
Home Ministry, Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, said that the preliminary death toll stood
at 888, nearly all in the valley around Katmandu, and that thousands of people
had been injured. Trekkers reported a major avalanche on Mount Everest, where
two people were reported dead, according to tourism officials. In addition, 34
deaths had been reported in India.
The earthquake struck
just before noon, and residents of Katmandu ran into the streets and other open
spaces as buildings fell, throwing up clouds of dust, and wide cracks opened on
paved streets and the walls of city buildings. Overflowing hospitals were
treating injured patients on the streets, and Nepal’s leading television
station, its studios crushed, was broadcasting from the pavement outside.
By midafternoon the United States Geological
Survey had counted 12 aftershocks, one of which measured at a
magnitude of 6.6.
Kanak Mani Dixit, a
Nepalese political commentator, said he had been having lunch with his parents
when the quake struck. The rolling was so intense and long-lasting that he had
trouble getting to his feet, he said. He helped his father and an elderly
neighbor to safety in the garden outside and then had to carry his elderly
mother.
“And I had time to do all
that while the quake was still going on,” Mr. Dixit said. “It was like being on
a boat in heavy seas.”
The nine-story Dharahara
Tower, which was built in 1832 as a watchtower on the orders of the queen,
collapsed, Mr. Dixit said. Witnesses there said more than 200 people had bought
tickets to climb up to a viewing platform on the eighth story, and that several
dozen were likely to have been on the platform when the earthquake hit. “Scores
probably died in this place,” Mr. Dixit said.
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By
The New York Times; satellite image by NASA/U.S.G.S. Landsat via
Google Earth
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Joydeb Chakravarty,
managing director of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in Nepal, said
he had been grocery shopping when the quake struck. “And suddenly, everything
started collapsing around us,” Mr. Chakravarty said. “The shelves all came
down, the food items all crashed down. We were barely able to get out the
emergency exit.”
Seismologists have long
feared a big earthquake in western Nepal, where there is pent-up pressure
between tectonic plates grinding up against one another. Though there have been
a series of earthquakes in the region over the last century, none resulted in a
full release of seismic energy, said Ganesh K. Bhattarai, a Nepali expert on
earthquakes now living in Denmark.
Many worried that there
would be vast loss of life in urban areas, where multistory concrete buildings
have been hurriedly erected in recent years. But Saturday’s earthquake may
prove less devastating than feared, because it struck when schools were not in
session. Building collapses in Katmandu appeared largely confined to brick
structures in the city’s historic area, rather than concrete high-rise
buildings.
Photographs posted on
social media showed people digging in the debris of
collapsed structures. Kashish Das Shrestha, a photographer, said people were
trapped in the rubble and could be heard crying out as rescuers tried to make
their way into buildings.
“Everywhere there are
people on the streets, people crying, people stuck in rubble, people trying to
help,” Mr. Shrestha said.
He described severe
damage to parts of the palace complex in Vasanthapura Square, the site of
palaces and temples that date to the 11th century. The old section of the city
is a warren of narrow lanes and historic structures. “Oh my God, the entire
Vasanthapura is in rubble,” Mr. Shrestha said.
Hospitals in Katmandu
were reporting the arrival of patients with broken limbs.
For hours after the
earthquake, many residents sat in the road, afraid to go back indoors. Many
said they would spend the night outside, despite the cold.
The earthquake set off
avalanches on Mount Everest, where several hundred trekkers were attempting an
ascent, according to climbers there. Via Twitter, Alex Gavan, a hiker at base
camp, described “huge earthquake then huge avalanche,” and “running for life
from my tent.” Nima Namgyal Sherpa, a tour guide at base camp, described one
avalanche as “huge” and said it had caused many injuries.
“Many camps have been
destroyed by the shake and wind from the avalanche,” Mr. Sherpa, the base camp
manager for Asian Treks, wrote in a post on Facebook.
“All the doctors here are doing our best to treat and save lives.”
Two people died on Mount
Everest after the earthquake, and eight more were badly injured, said Tulasi
Prasad Gautam, an official in the state tourism department.
Tremors from the quake
were felt across northern India, rattling bookcases and light fixtures as far
away as Delhi. Electricity was switched off for safety reasons in the state of
Bihar, where three deaths were reported in one district, Rajiv Pratap Rudy,
India’s minister of skill development, told reporters in New Delhi. Two other
deaths were reported in a second nearby district.
Historically, the region
has been the site of the largest earthquakes in the Himalayas. A 2005
earthquake in Kashmir and a 1905 earthquake in Kangra resulted in a death toll
of more than 100,000 people, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Nida Najar and Hari Kumar
contributed reporting from New Delhi; Bhadra Sharma from Katmandu, Nepal; and
Chris Buckley from Hong Kong.
