Why do earthquakes in Nepal have great destructive power?

The intensity and nature of earthquakes and terrain conditions are the factors that make earthquakes in Nepal cause a lot of human and property damage.

Earthquake in Nepal

According to The Guardian, a number of factors combined to make the earthquake in Nepal become a major event. First, this is the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes in the region in the last 80 years.

Rubble after the earthquake in Nepal.(Photo: Reuters)

Second, this is a shallow earthquake, occurring at the point of the ground only 11 km. According to David Rothery, professor of planetary geology at the Open University, UK, this has serious consequences. " The shallow earthquake makes the surface shake worse than the deep earthquake , " he explained. "I saw pictures of old, broken buildings destroyed in Kathmandu. I was concerned that landslides could occur in this mountainous area, destroying or damaging many remote and remote villages." .

However, most of the earthquake-affected areas are on solid rock ground, Rothery said. This has limited the level of vibration, except in the North Indian region near the Nepalese border, where sand and mud on the surface shake more than solid rock elsewhere.

The shift of Indian tectonic plates to the north over tens of millions of years.(Graphic: wikipedia.)

The main cause of the earthquake is the Indian tectonic plates moving north, into Central Asia at a rate of 5 cm a year. This results in a break in the earth's crust and impact on the Himalayas. This phenomenon happened several times in the region, including the 8.2-degree Ritchter earthquake in 1934 in Bihar; 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Kangra in 1905; and the 7.6-magnitude seismic in Kashmir in 2005. The following two were the most deadly earthquakes in the Himalayas to date, killing more than 100,000 people and making millions homeless.

Hundreds of people died after the worst earthquake in 80 years in Nepal (YouTube)