Nepal's Disaster

On Saturday the 25th of April, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal and caused damage throughout the region affecting Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and China as well. Over 4,000 people have been confirmed dead and an even higher death toll is expected.

Nepal is a small country of 27.8 million and relies mainly on tourism for its economy. The government is asking foreign governments for medicines, tents, and specialized medical teams. Currently 90% of the Nepalese Military is out in search and rescue operations. Many governments have already sent teams and more are expected. Nepal is being very active and is willing to risk a lose of perceived sovereignty in exchange for increased trust by it's people for providing a more effective response to the disaster,

The disaster did not strike Nepal unexpectedly, for being a mountainous region, earthquakes are not uncommon; however, the Nepalese infrastructure was not ready enough to take the natural event. This left Nepal quite vulnerable. The capital managed to hold together very well with only the historic districts suffering heavy damage; however, those living outside the major cities of Nepal suffered the collapse of, by sum accounts, around 70-80% of their towns infrastructure. I am sure that after this disaster the modernization and upgrading of infrastructure will become a major focus for the government. If this is done, the vulnerability of the country as a whole to natural disasters will drastically decrease for earthquakes are the most likely disaster the country faces.

As stated earlier, Nepal suffers earthquakes relatively frequently and this means that it's hazard for disaster is very high! The combination of old un-upgraded infrastructure and the high frequency of earthquakes made this disaster one that was very likely to happen sooner or later.

Alongside the damage done to towns and cities in the area, the earthquake cause an avalanche on Mount Everest which killed at least 18. The avalanche has cause a massive displacement of snow and increases the chances of avalanches happening in the future. Payment for climbing Mount Everest accounts for 3-4% of Nepal's GDP. For a country which relies heavily on tourism, the fact that the earthquake has also make Mount Everest less safe may take a toll on their economy for years to come.