[sgiitk]

I hear that the Nepal communists have started cribbing about 'Indian Interference'. I hope Koirala can keep them in check.

[DCEite]

Another big one just now, i think it's 7.4 as per latest reports.

[saket77]

Unfortunate time to wake up this thread again. Strong tremors measuring 7.1 on RS again jolts Nepal. Experienced strong tremors here in Ranchi too. Hoping against hope that the damage is not high anywhere but that is against hope as I said.

[Gannu_1]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...eneral_summary

Yep, 7.4 on the Richter scale.

[planet_rocker]

The quake and aftershocks were felt in most parts of the country.
MBA friends on Whatsapp group reported that they felt the tremors in Delhi, Pune and here in Kolkata.

Don't panic. Keep your purse and phone handy and leave the house / office in a structured manner.

God Bless

[Thad E Ginathom]

It's good to ask, What would you grab? Doesn't have to be an earthquake, could be fire, flood, etc, etc.

Wallet, purse, passport, car keys, the HDD with my system backup on it, are my top five. A change of clothes would be nice.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

It's good to ask, What would you grab? Doesn't have to be an earthquake, could be fire, flood, etc, etc.

Wallet, purse, passport, car keys, the HDD with my system backup on it, are my top five. A change of clothes would be nice.

The wife?
She'll be annoyed if you save your precious HDD and left her to fend for herself.

[saket77]

Well, it is worth pondering over the fact that there were at least 2 epicenters of the earth-quake; which essentially means 2 different earthquakes at the same time in Afghanistan & Nepal. What could it possibly mean? Surely nothing encouraging.

[Sheel]

Things aren't very good IMO. Weather is strange, either very hot or thunderstorms & rains accompanied by earthquake. Sure, we can't run away from the earth.

[poised2drive]

All the earthquake hotspots sit on the boundaries of tectonic plate [ plate boundaries ] .... Just like Japan sits on the frontier zone of 3 plates[Eurasian, Philippines and Pacific plates], Nepal [ and the whole Himalayas and its mountainous chains extending up Northwest through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran ... and SW China on other side ] are on the Eurasian-Indian plate border and hence these tremendous cataclysmic events !

[sgiitk]

It is indeed surprising that a 7.3 follows a 7.8 after three weeks. This time the quakes are all over Nepal, Afghanistan, Japan, etc. Must be some major relaxation of the plates.

What is good is that India put the NDRF on alert but did not send them in. Given all the noise in the media this is wise.

The epicentre looks like Namche Bazaar or Chomolungma fame. I am wondering how many choppers in the world (apart from the IAF ones) are capable of operating at that and higher altitudes esp carrying a significant payload.

[bbhavan]

The tragic point is that mostly Earthquake affects poor people living in third world countries (read -developing) which are in the seismically active regions.
The economic situations in those areas decide the type of housing schemes. Bulk of the causalities arising from an Earthquake are from the damage to their shelters,houses etc. These can be controlled by constructing Earthquake resisting buildings.We cannot build 100% seismic proof buildings, but the overall collapse of the structures can be prevented by following the design specifications for such seismic loads. We can already see the effect of such design and construction in the seismically high active zones like California state and Japan etc. Such design and construction will remain only as a dream for most of the people living in poor countries. They have to resort to load bearing walls like what we are seeing in Nepal, and also witnessed in Kutch,Latur etc. They are vulnerable to any amount of ground shaking and the ignorant and innocent people have no other option than to suffer. Even load bearing structures can also be built to resist some amount of ground shaking, but such knowledge and assistance will take years to reach these masses. In major cities in India, the construction of high rise buildings are taking place with such specifications to an extent, in the recent years. Eg. Mumbai. However, I doubt the same about other smaller cities. Design and construction of earthquake resistant buildings generally costs more than the regular structures and the overall economic conditions force people to skip that.

[saket77]

Felt powerful jolts about 15 mins ago at 4:40 AM. I fear for considerable damage in the epicentre region. The quake was followed by another jolt.

[shuvc]

Right saket - was at Manipur. Around 6.8.

[Sheel]

Horrible things happening. Mother Nature appears real angry these days :(