Natural Hazards of Nepal

Nepal doesn’t have a coast and didn’t deal with erosion too much, so I researched its neighbor, Bangladesh.    Bangladesh beaches used to house many beach morning glory plants which protected from soil erosion, but they are quickly disappearing.   Bangladesh is home to the longest beach on earth - the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf sea beach in the Bay of Bengal. In the span of 35 years, from 1989-2024, 1085 hectares of land have degraded at a rate of 31 hectares per year & 284 hectares have accreted at a rate of 8 hectares per year. [Accretion: deposition of sediment; opposite of erosion; occurs when there are calm waters because deposition > removal; degradation: erosion] This has been caused by storm surge, cyclones, waves, current, changes in sea level and climate, beach composition, human interaction, and a large range in elevation between high and low tides.  Tropical cyclones cause tidal bores or tidal waves. These occur when the sea level is very high, at the pla...

Thunderstorms in Nepal are common before, as well as during, its monsoon season, so between March and May, but can last through September. These storms, as we learned, typically occur in the late afternoon to evening because of daytime heating of the earth. Specifically, these occur in the lowlands of Terai, where the thunderstorms typically pass overnight and leave my morning time, and in the Himalayas as the warm humidity rises into the cooler air above. Specifically before monsoon season, these thunderstorms can bring with them hail , particularly at higher altitudes. These cause lots of damage to homes and crops property and agricultural damage.  Thunderstorm with hail  http://www.familyhomestaykathmandu.com/weather-in-nepal.html https://bluegreenatlas.com/climate/nepal_climate.html Preparation for thunder and lightning should include measures like trimming tall or unstable trees that could fall; investing in lightning protection systems (though I am not sure many people w...

 Landslides are very common across the globe. In July of this year, 71 fatal landslides occurred worldwide, killing approximately 214 people. They are often, but not always, attached to other hazards such as flooding and earthquakes. They can occur simply because of the existence of gravity. They also do not need any transporting medium (eg water), they can simply be rocks sliding down a cliff. This hazard includes falling - rockfalls; sliding - slumps, soil slips, rock slides; and flowing - debris flows, earth flows, avalanches. These often occur in conjunction with one another; for example it could start as a slump and become an earth flow.  Just a week ago, Nepal experienced heavy rainfall that led to flooding and landslides, ultimately killing at least 44 people and destroying entire villages. It also caused highway closures and flight cancellations. It occurred at a terrible time as it was during a festival so many people were traveling.  https://www.theweek.in/new...

 Nepal has no volcanoes , active or dormant. This is because the Himalayas are formed by convergent collision, not subduction or a divergent boundary. Therefore, the only way volcanoes could be formed is by heat which is less common, and so there are very few volcanoes in the whole Himalayan region. The nearest volcanoes to Nepal are in western China and Myanmar. China has likely extinct volcanoes and the others are either dormant or have “normal” amount of activity. At least 4 have been active in the past few hundred years. The last time there was an eruption was in 1951 which was the Kunlun volcano, a pyroclastic cinder cone, so one of the safer ones. The most prominent volcano in Myanmar is dormant or has “normal activity” - hasn’t erupted since at least the 1600s. ( Source ) Since these nearby volcanoes are cinder cones, the likelihood of Nepal being affected by the ash is relatively low. They do not have any specific protections in place for volcanoes.  China does have ma...

Nepal has approximately 68 earthquakes per year, however there have been 15 in the last month. These past ones have ranged from M2.7 - M4.6, though, overall, 92.7% are M4 ( https://earthquakelist.org/nepal/ ). Earthquakes greater than M7 only occur approximately every 80 or so years. Their earthquakes are mostly shallow - less than 40km deep (*see first image) - meaning that they experience a lot of shaking ( https://www.worlddata.info/asia/nepal/earthquakes.php ).  Nepal is a poor country so many of their buildings are not able to withstand incredible shaking. However, as a subset of their Kathmandu Valley Earthquake Risk Management Project, they have made sure that their schools and hospitals are retrofitted and able to withstand. Schools also have drills for their students and an Earthquake Safety Day as part of the School Earthquake Safety Program. Additionally, USAID trained locals to build resilient buildings, deep wells for clean water in case of emergency, and warehouses fo...

Nepal is located directly on top of the boundary between two plates - the Indo-Australian and Eurasian. This is a convergent boundary where collision occurs. Collision means that the rock is going to move upward which is what formed the Himalayas and, subsequently, the Tibetan Plateau. This also means that Nepal has significant seismic activity and is prone to earthquakes and flooding.  Earthquakes  lead to landslides which often dam rivers and lead to flooding, something that is further exacerbated by their monsoon season. They experienced a huge earthquake - magnitude 7.8 - in 2015 that devastated the country and took thousands of lives. Knowing what type of plate boundary they are on should help them to prepare for the natural hazards they are likely to face. However, Nepal is a relatively poor country which means they don’t really have the money to retrofit their buildings such as we do in California.  There are multiple thrust systems beneath this boundary. If these ...