Devastating 7.8 Earthquake Hits Nepal
On April 25, 2015, a 7.8 earthquake hit the Asian country of Nepal just about fifty miles Northwest of the country’s capital, Kathmandu. This natural devastation destroyed thousands of villages rendering an astonishing 90% of some districts’ clinics and schools unusable and many ancient monuments and respected cultural buildings have become part of the nationwide rubble. This earthquake ventured outside of the Nepalese borders into Tibet and northern India, including the Himalayas.
The death toll has exceeded 6,000 people with a total of confirmed 6,260 fatalities, 14,000 injured people, and thousands are still missing. Hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless with no tents for shelter, food, or water. To show the destitution these people are facing, a Nepalese woman, Nabina Shrestha, 40, shares her concerns, “My children clothes are buried inside. It’s been six days, they haven’t got chance to change their clothes… It seems the drinking water is also contaminated, as it has become yellow, but we are forced to drink that.”
Why are these people facing this devastation? How could this ever occur to a country like Nepal? The earthquake occurred along one of the earth’s biggest “geological collision zones.” “There is a crustal plate under India that slams into and then sharply dives beneath the crust of central Asia.” This angle raises four to five centimeters and the Himalayas are so high because of this angle. Over time, “geological stress” builds up along this mountain range and releases itself in earthquakes. This is what happened to Nepal and is now causing severe anxiety among the Nepalese.
If it could not get worse, “Nepal can expect more than thirty aftershocks over the magnitude of five over the next month alone, and they have already experienced a 6.6 magnitude aftershock.”
There are pictures of the aftermath here to view to see what desolation this nation is experiencing with more to come as the death toll continues to rise each and every day. Families are ripped apart, hunger is raging throughout the nation, and the Nepalese people just want things to get better. Many relief and rescue mission teams have willingly traveled to Nepal and are helping to clear the rubble and aid the citizens of Nepal. The British army has arrived in the capital to help with recovery, the British and Chinese governments are sending helicopters, and the United Nations has launched an appeal for $415 million.
So, what can you and I do if you’re not planning on going over to Nepal anytime soon? There are many ways in which you can donate to support the work being done in Nepal. ABC News has several links in which you are able to donate to different organizations to help. Keep coming back to The Medallion for updates on Nepal as they rebuild themselves from the ground up.
