The 2015 Gorkha Nepal Earthquake: Insights from Earthquake Damage Survey

Goda, Katsuichiro; Kamiya, Takashi; Pokhrel, Rama Mohan; Chiaro, Gabriele; Katagiri, Toshihiko; Sharma, Keshab; Wilkinson, Sean

doi:10.3389/fbuil.2015.00008

Cited by 189 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The epicenter is 77 km northwest of Kathmandu. Based on the information from the United Nations, about eight million people have been affected by the strong earthquake in Nepal, which is more than a quarter of the Nepal's population (Goda et al 2015;Dahal and Timilsina 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of topographic and geological features on building damage caused by 2015.4.25 Mw7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal: a preliminary investigation report

Wang

Miyajima

Dahal

et al. 2016

Geoenviron Disasters

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Background: The 2015.4.25 Gorkha earthquake affected about eight million people in Nepal. Most injuries and loss of life were due to building collapse and damage. This work aims to investigate the topographical and geological effects on the severe damage caused by this earthquake. Findings: In one-week field investigation in the earthquake-affected areas, several severely damaged areas with different topographic and geological features were surveyed, as well as the site of Kaligandaki River landslide dam failure. Some general tendency related to the building damage and landslide dam failure was obtained. Conclusions: Through the field investigation, it was found that geological and geomorphological characteristics of a site, combined with the structure feature of the building, such as the short column effect, amplified the seismic vibration and caused severe building collapse and damages, i.e., 1) For buildings on flat area consisting of lacustrine deposit or diluvial deposit, resonance effect might be the main reason, while for the buildings on the top of hills or narrow ridges, topographic effect and sometimes, short column effect should take the main responsibility; 2) For buildings located on the gentle slopes or landslides, the settlement in the infill side caused by the strong seismic vibration can be the main reason; 3) Besides of the building failure on lacustrine deposit, failure patterns in three types of topographic and geological features, i.e., narrow ridges formed by landslides, diluvial deposits and alluvial fans, and landslides, were proposed as the possible mechanism of the building damage caused by the earthquake. For landslide dam failure, it was found that landslide dam could easily breach or collapse, when the landslide-dam-deposits were fine.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of topographic and geological features on building damage caused by 2015.4.25 Mw7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal: a preliminary investigation report

Wang

Miyajima

Dahal

et al. 2016

Geoenviron Disasters

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“…Very often, seismic ground motions recorded during major earthquakes by seismic networks surprise seismologists and ask about the physical reasons behind them. On the other hand, same reasons are always claimed to explain observations as for Kathmandu (Goda et al, 2015): the most vulnerable buildings suffer more damage, the poorest suburbs without engineering design are the most damaged areas, and design defects are at the origin of most of damaged buildings. However, when the Mw 7.8 earthquake was announced, based on knowledge of the Dixit et al (1998) scenario, the scientific community expected a disaster at a similar scale as that of the Haiti earthquake of 2010.…”

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confidence: 93%

On the Value of Earthquake Scenario: The Kathmandu Recent Lesson

Guéguen

Yépes

Riedel

2016

Front. Built Environ.

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“…Although there were many reports of severe damage to older historical structures (e.g., Goda et al 2015), we focused on the modern houses and shops for consistency. In transit to the various towns, we also recorded the percentage of totally collapsed buildings with a visual inspection from the vehicle.…”

Section: Damage Survey Of Masonry Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building damage survey and microtremor measurements for the source region of the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake

Yamada

Hayashida

Mori

et al. 2016

Earth Planets Space

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We performed a damage survey of buildings and carried out microtremor observations in the source region of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Our survey area spans the Kathmandu valley and areas to the east and north of the valley. Damage of buildings in the Kathmandu valley was localized, and the percentage of the totally collapsed buildings was less than 5 %. East of the Kathmandu valley, especially in Sindhupalchok district, damage of buildings was more severe. In the center of Chautara and Bahrabise, towns in Sindhupalchok district, the percentage of the totally collapsed houses exceeded 40 %. North of the Kathmandu valley, the damage was moderate, and 20-30 % of the buildings were totally collapsed in Dhunche. Based on the past studies and our microtremor observations near the strong motion station, the H/V spectrum in Kathmandu has a peak at around 0.3 Hz, which reflects the velocity contrast of the deep sedimentary basin. The H/V spectra in Bahrabise, Chautara, and Dhunche do not show clear peaks, which suggests that the sites have stiff soil conditions. Therefore, the more severe damage outside the Kathmandu valley compared with the relatively light damage levels in the valley is probably due to the source characteristics of the earthquake and/or the seismic performance of buildings, rather than the local site conditions.

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The 2015 Gorkha Nepal Earthquake: Insights from Earthquake Damage Survey

Cited by 189 publications

References 29 publications

Effects of topographic and geological features on building damage caused by 2015.4.25 Mw7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal: a preliminary investigation report

Effects of topographic and geological features on building damage caused by 2015.4.25 Mw7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal: a preliminary investigation report

On the Value of Earthquake Scenario: The Kathmandu Recent Lesson

Building damage survey and microtremor measurements for the source region of the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake

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