Earthquakes

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 for relief materials (https://borgenproject.org/earthquake-preparedness-in-nepal/). Finally, the website of the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center has resources, information on historical events, and “Did you feel it” intensity measurement. 
Even though Nepal is poor, it seems that the money they would spent to upgrade their buildings would be well worth it. Since earthquakes are so common and they have caused some massive damage, the money they spend on repairs would be saved and would likely exceed what it would cost them to do some preventative upgrades. 
Earthquake Depth

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590197421000069

Earthquake Effects

https://www.wsj.com/articles/5-maps-of-nepals-earthquake-zone-1430213467

Seismic Zoning Map

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Seismic-zoning-map-of-Nepal_fig4_354972543


Comments

  1. Ayub BSeptember 8, 2025 at 7:56 PM

    I didn't realize that Nepal has so many earthquakes. It is really interesting that they are so close to the fault that they experience so many. I find that the information you provided was interesting and exact.

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