Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118

International Association of Lowland Technology (IALT): ISSN 1344-9656

Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

Research Paper

The 2015 Nepal Gorkha Earthquake: An overview of the

damage, lessons learned and challenges

H. Hazarika 1, N.P. Bhandary 2, Y. Kajita 3, K. Kasama 4, K. Tsukahara 5 and R.K. Pokharel 6

ARTICLE INFORMATION ABSTRACT

This paper describes the damage brought by the 2015 Nepal

Article history: earthquake to urban infrastructures, modern and traditional
buildings as well as some word heritage sites in and around
Received: 23 July, 2016 Kathmandu city. The paper also focuses on a disaster brought
Received in revised form: 01 September, 2016 to a hydropower plant by the compound action of a previous
Accepted: 03 September, 2016 landslide and this time earthquake. Some of the possible
Publish on: 30 September, 2016 reasons for such damage were brought to light, and
challenges of the geotechnical community towards the
Keywords: retrofitting and recovery of the devastated structures were
discussed.
2015 Nepal earthquake
Amplification of motion
World heritages
Landslide
Compound disaster

1. Introduction Engineers (JSCE) and Japan Association for Earthquake

Engineering (JAEE).
The Nepal Gorkha earthquake (moment magnitude, The first author and the second author were a part of
Mw=7.8) struck at 11:56 NST on 25 April 2015 with the JGS team, and surveyed some areas in and around
epicenter at Barpak village of Gorkha district, which is the city of Kathmandu. Also, Kyushu University
located 77 km northwest of Kathmandu, the capital city of dispatched a survey team (consisting of the co-authors of
Nepal (Fig. 1). This was the largest earthquake in this papers) to Nepal in August 2015, in order to assess
Nepal’s history since 1934 Bihar–Nepal Earthquake. The the situation aftermath of the earthquake and help the
re-cent report by the Government of Nepal indicates that post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction of Nepal.
the recorded death toll has reached close to 9,000. This paper summarizes the damage brought by the
Immediately after the earthquake a Japanese expert devastating earthquake especially to urban
team from three professional societies was sent for quick infrastructures, the historical monuments, modern and
survey of the damage area. The professional societies traditional buildings as well as some word heritage sites
were: the Japanese Geotechnical Society (JGS), Asian in and around Kathmandu city. The paper also focuses
Technical Committee of ISSMGE on Geotechnical on a compound disaster brought to a hydropower plant
Natural Hazards (ATC3), Japan Society of Civil by a previous landslide and subsequently by the
earthquake. Finally, the paper also divulges possible

1
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, JAPAN, [email protected]
2
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, Matsuyama, JAPAN, [email protected]
3
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, JAPAN, [email protected]
4
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, JAPAN, [email protected]
5
Professor, Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, JAPAN, [email protected]
6
Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, JAPAN,
[email protected]
Note: Discussion on this paper is open until March 2017
106
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

reasons for such damage and geotechnical challenges

towards the retrofitting of structures and reconstructions
of the devastated areas.

2. Tectonics of Kathmandu Valley and mechanism

of earthquake

2.1 Past earthquakes in Nepal

The record of historical earthquakes in the Ne-pal

Himalaya dates back to the 13th century, but no clear
documentation of the damage that occurred is available
Fig. 1. Epicenter of the earthquake and distribution of
in the literature. Tabulated data on the historical
aftershocks.
earthquakes in Nepal and peripheral areas, as compiled
by NSET and GHI (1999), indicate that a large
been mostly generated at the subduction zone of the
earthquake occurs in the Nepal Himalaya roughly every
Indian plate underneath the Eurasian plate (Fig. 2). The
100 years. Since the last large earthquake in 1934 (i.e.,
depth of the 2015 Nepal Earth-quake has been estimated
Bihar–Nepal Earth-quake, M8.1), 81 years have passed
to be about 15 km, which makes it clear that this
and it was widely estimated that a large earthquake was
earthquake was generated exactly at the depth of
going to occur in the Nepal Himalaya within 100 years
subduction plane. The exact mechanism involved in the
from 1934. During the last 35 years, three heavily
generation of this earthquake is yet to be clearly known,
damaging earth-quakes and several dam-aging
but a general interpretation is that the strain energy
earthquakes have struck Nepal. The heavily damaging
stored in the rupture zone due to the northward gently
earth-quakes include the 1980 far western region
inclined thrust of the Indian plate was re-leased with
earthquake (M6.5, Darchula), the 1988 eastern Nepal
slipping of Eurasian plate-tip below the Main Boundary
earthquake (M6.5, Udayapur), and the 2011 earthquake
Thrust (MBT; Fig. 2).
(M6.9, Nepal–India border) while damaging earthquakes
Among the most dramatic and visible manifestations
of <M6.0 were recorded almost every year from 1993
of plate-tectonic forces are the lofty Himalayas, where the
until 2003. In addition, there is a long list of minor
two large landmasses of Indiaand Eurasia collide as a
earthquakes that occur almost every month in and
result of plate movement. Because the rock densities of
around the Nepal Himalaya. These earthquake data
both of these continental landmasses are roughly the
indicate that Nepal is situated in a highly earthquake-
similar one cannot easily subduct under the other. Thus,
prone plate tectonic zone of the Himalayas.
the Main Himalayan Thrust dips at a relatively low angle
(6°-14°) towards north (Mukhopadhyay, 2014).
2.2 Mechanism of the earthquake

The occurrence of earthquakes in the Himalayan

3. Damage to urban infrastructures
region is primarily due to the collision be-tween the Indian
plate and the Eurasian plate (sometimes also referred to
9.142 km segment of the Kathmandu-Bhaktapur
as the Tibetan plate in local or regional scale). As
Road section of the Araniko Highway was upgraded by
indicated in Fig. 2, the Indian plate moves northward and
expanding the previous two-lane road to four lanes
subducts underneath the Eurasian plate creating a zone
through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)
of plate-tip squeezing at the Himalayas. This plate
funded project. The road is also known as Nepal-Japan
movement has resulted in the formation of the Himalayan
friendship road. The Kathmandu-Bhaktapur Road is
Mountains, the uplift of which occurs at an estimated rate
designed to serve not only as a road to ensure smooth
of 2 cm per year (Bilham et al., 1995). Moreover, the
transportation of goods and people between Kathmandu
area-wide compression and uplift of the Himalayan region
and Bhaktapur, but also to link the Kathmandu Valley
has resulted in extensive distribution of regional and local
with the Eastern Terrain via the Araniko Highway and the
faults. Some of these faults generate major earthquakes,
Sindhuli Road. Furthermore, this road section also
such as the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake during which
improved the connection of the Kathmandu Valley with
nearly 88,000 people died. So far, however, the major
the north via the Araniko Highway, which is a vital
earthquakes in and around the Nepal Himalaya have
physical infrastructure for Nepal in terms of connectivity
 107
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

Fig. 2. Mechanism of the earthquake.

to China and India (JICA, 2007). A part of the road was huge settlement of the access road in the Kathmandu
damaged due to the earthquake. This section side was observed (Fig. 8a). An apartment building close
summarizes the damage of the road and the surrounding to this sinking road was found to be settled and tilted as
infrastructures during the earthquake as well as the seen in Fig. 8(b).
geological and geotechnical information available close In location 4, two types of retaining walls exist: One is
to the area. the reinforced retaining wall and the other is the gravity
retaining wall. As seen from Fig. 9(a), in the joint
3.1 Damages to the road and surrounding infrastructures between the two walls, damage was observed. Also, in
some parts of the gravity retaining wall, cracks were
Our survey focused only on the damage of the road observed along the same line in which ground fissuring of
located near the Lokanthali area (Fig. 3), covering a the access road was observed Fig. 9(b). Ground
length of about 400 m. The state of the road before and fissuring extended up to the residential areas along the
after the earthquake (Fig. 4) is shown in NPC (2015a) road. Two residential buildings located along this fissure
Post disaster needs assessment, A: Key findings. were found to be heavily damaged (Fig. 10). According
Kathmandu, Nepal: Government of Nepal, National to the owner the building with exposed brick structure,
Planning Commission. whom the authors happened to meet, the building settled
The various locations of the surveyed area were are by about more than 1 m towards the road and tilted.
shown in Fig. 5. In the Kathmandu side, heaving and Many ground fissuring were also observed in the
subsidence of the road, slope failures in the main road surrounding of the two buildings.
and in the access road, ground fissuring, retaining wall
damage and damage to the residential buildings close to
the access road were observed. Similarly, in the
Bhaktapur side, heaving and subsidence of the main
road, slope failures in the access road and ground
fissuring were observed.
Slope failure in location 3 is shown in Fig. 6. As seen
in the figure the traffic police box was tilted by about 12
degree due to slope failures and settlement of the road.
In the Bhaktapur side (location no. 7) subsidence of the
main road was observed (Fig. 7a). Also, slope failure
Fig. 3. Kathmandu-Bhaktapur road (URL Source:
took place in the access road (Fig. 7b). In location 5, http://www.earth.google.com).
108
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster
 109
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

N
BH1 BH3
BH2

Centre line of the Bridge

Kathmandu
35.20 m
Existing Manahara Bridge

First RCC Column

of bridge railing
110
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

Ground fissuring was also observed in many locations honeymoon couples. Fig. 14 shows the states of the
around the residential area surrounding the access roads. tower before and after the earthquake.
Fig. 11(a) shows one of those having a maximum width
of 20 cm. Ground fissuring in 30° azimuth towards the 4.2 Damage at Patan durbar square
east was observed. Such ground cracking was observed
not only in the road embankment but also continued Patan, famous as the oldest city in Kathmandu valley,
within a wide area both towards the left and right side of is also known as the city of fine arts. Another name of
the road embankment. The angle of ground fissuring is Patan, is Lalitpur. The exquisite artworks and
almost the same in both sides of road embankment and architectural buildings, scattered in and around Patan
of was 400 m in length towards the south west (Fig. 11b). Durbar square, are from 16th century and onwards. In
1979 they were listed in the world heritage monument. It
3.2 Damage to the road and surrounding infrastructures is probably one of the oldest Buddhist Cities in the world.
The city is situated on a plateau across Bagmati River. In
No detailed geotechnical information about the soil Patan, the Char Narayan Mandir, the statue of Yog
characteristics in the Lokanthali area is available. The Narendra Malla, a pati inside Patan Durbar Square, the
closest information available is from the three borehole Taleju Temple, the Hari Shankar, Uma Maheshwar
locations near 84m long Manahara bridge (Fig. 12) which Temple and the Machhindranath Temple in Bungamati
is located less than 1 km from Lokanthali (JICA, 2007). were destroyed during the earthquake.
Figure 13 shows the geological profile of the borehole no. Figure 15 is a 2010 photo of the intact temples.
3 (location close to Lokanthali). Several of the tiered temples appear to have collapsed.
From Fig. 13 it is clear that the area is mostly Fig. 16 shows the Harishankar temple, built in 1706 and
dominated by very thick layer of compressive clay. one of the most outstanding temples in Patan before and
Settlement of this clay deposits and possible amplification after the earthquake.
of motion may have resulted in such localized damage in
this part of the Kathmandu-Bhaktapur road. However, 4.3 Damage at Bhaktapur durbar square
detailed borehole information adjacent to the site and
other geotechnical survey results are necessary to arrive In Bhaktapur durbar square, several monuments,
at a definite conclusion. including the Fasi Deva temple, the Chardham temple
and the 17th century Vatsala Durga Temple, were fully or
partially destroyed. Figure 17 shows the famous Hindu
4. Damage to historical sites temple (Vatsala Durga temple) before the earthquake.
Built in 1672, this beautiful stone building was a favorite
Nepal is nonetheless home to eight UNESCO World for many people to sit out on and watch the sunset in
Heritage cultural sites. That includes three royal cities Bhaktapur durbar square. It is no more than rubble now
and several Hindu and Buddhist sites within the (Fig. 18). Few other temples (Fig. 19) in the square were
Kathmandu Valley, as well as Lumbini, the legendary also seriously damaged including a school building which
birthplace of the Buddha, all of which are in the area completely collapsed (Fig. 20).
affected by the earthquake. Many of those centuries-old
buildings and monuments were destroyed in the 4.4 Damage to Changu Narayan temple
Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Kathmandu
Durbar Square, the Patan Durbar Square, the Bhaktapur One of the oldest Hindu temples in Nepal, Changu
Durbar Square, the Changu Narayan temple and the Narayan is believed to have been built in the 5th century
Swayambhunath temple. In the following subsections few A.D. Located on a hilltop east of Kathmandu, the two-
examples of damage inflicted on those historical buildings tiered pagoda (Fig. 21) is considered one of Nepal’s most
and monuments, word heritage sites and historic town unique architectural monuments. Constructed on a single
are discussed. slab of stone, the Changu Narayan temple had withstood
the large earthquake of 1934 Bihar-Nepal Earthquake.
4.1 Damage at Kathmandu durbar square This time earthquake inflicted some damage to this main
temple as seen from the scaffolding of the temple after
Several pagodas on Kathmandu Durbar Square, a the earthquake (Fig. 22). Two of the four temples on the
UNESCO World Heritage Site, collapsed. The Dharahara premises of Changu Narayan square have been reduced
tower in that square, built in 1832, completely collapsed to rubble by the earthquake (Fig. 23 shows one of them).
leading to death of at least 180 people including
 111
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

Location: Manhara Khola BOREHOLE No. - BH3

COORDINATES: N

CONTENT

GRAPHIC
DENSITY
FIELD AND LABOTARY

SPT/CPT

RUN (m)
E

WATER

(G/cm3)

DEPTH
DATA AND TEST
GROUND ELEVATION: M

DRY
REPORTED ELSEWHERE

SYS
(%)

(m)
‘N’
DESCRIPTION OF STRATA
0 Moist and damp area of compressive soil.
1 Very compressive soil.
Boulders and gravels
9 2
45.12 1.26
3
43.44 C=10.43kN/m2
Lead gray, stiff to very stiff
4 compressive silty clay
27
5
40.89 30
6
14
7
1.03 15
8
58.33 C=15.64kN/m2 13 Grey to dark gray, stiff
9 compressive silty clay
10
60.58 13
11
0.79 13
12
86.37 C=41.40kN/m2 27
13
27
14
86.37 30
15
16
Grey to dark gray, very stiff compressive
0.79
17 clay with very les amount of silt
84.75 C=60.77kN/m2 30
18
29
19
28
20
30
21
Ground Observation: 1.00m
Project: Basic design study on the project for improvement of
SUMMARY BORING LOG
Kathmandu-Bhaktapur Road in Nepal
CLINT/OWNER: Nippon Koei-(JICA) Starting date: 13/12/2006 Completed date: 16/12/2006
Consulting Engineers: ITECO Nepal in association with ICGS Job No. 3351 Sheet No. 1
Fig. 13. Soil profile at borehole no. 3 (JICA, 2007).
112
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

4.5 Damage to Swyambhunath temple 5. Damage to modern buildings

Comprising temples, shrines and the iconic stup Not only the historical monuments and old brick
which bears the painted on eyes of the Buddha the 150 masonry buildings, but many recently built and
year old Swayambhunath (also known a monkey temple) comparatively well-engineered buildings including
is not only a revered location for locals, but also one of multistory business complexes and apartment buildings
the most-visited tourist destinations in the capital (Fig. were also heavily damage. In recent years, especially
24). Swayambhunath temple complex in the Kathmandu during the last one decade, Kathmandu valley has had a
Valley suffered heavy damage due to the earthquake. sharp rise in the number of multistory business
Few structures within the temple complex suffered complexes and apartment buildings, mainly constructed
damage (Fig. 25). of reinforced concrete framed structure with brick
masonry infill. Most modern residential and commercial
4.6 Damage to historic town of Sankhu buildings also follow the similar construction practice, but
a large number of these buildings have been constructed
Sankhu is the ancient town, with predominant Newari without adequately incorporating the seismic design
culture, located in the north-eastern corner of Kathmandu criteria. Even within the Kathmandu valley, which is the
Valley in about 17 km from the capital city Kathmandu. most densely populated urban settlement of the nation,
Sankhu is probably the worst affected historical town, most peripheral areas enjoyed waiver of the
where 80 to 90 % of the buildings were completely col- administrative process of construction permit up until a
lapsed. couple of years ago. Moreover, in many occasions,
Figure 26 shows the view of the buildings in the town manipulation of the design data and use of substandard
before the earthquake. Figure 27 shows the state of the material quality have also added to poor seismic capacity
same buildings after the earthquake. Total collapse of of the buildings.
many structures in the city were observed here and there The trend of damage to reinforced concrete buildings
(Fig. 28). during this earthquake can be categorized into two main
patterns: 1) column breakage and severe structural tilting
 113
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

or complete collapse in comparatively short buildings (i.e. the other hand, out of more than 50 tall buildings in
3-6 story), as in Fig. 29 and 2) massive shaking and Kathmandu and Patan, more than 40 were found to have
heavy damage to non-structural elements, such as brick sustained medium to heavy damage, mainly in non-
masonry partition walls, in comparatively tall buildings structural parts (Fig. 30).
(i.e., >10 story), as in Fig. 30. Leaving aside a few cases Kathmandu valley is filled with soft sediment deposit
of complete collapse in other locations, damage to short composed primarily of lacustrine material that goes as
buildings was concentrated in some pocket areas, such deep as 500 meters in the center. Borehole logs of
as Gongbu, Swayambhu, Sitapaila, and Kapan (Fig. 31). different times are also evident that a larger part of the
However, most such buildings in central core were not sediment deposit is composed of organic clayey material.
affected much except for a few cracks in the walls. On Despite the fact that the bearing capacity of this clayey
114
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

sediment is extremely weak, most buildings in 6.3 The compound disaster

Kathmandu valley have been constructed on isolated or
raft footing foundation. Some of the tall buildings were However, there is big blow to the works by the
found to have been tilted, which is due to poor bearing earthquake of April 25, 2015. The power house was
capacity of the foundation soil. damaged at various places by the earthquake as seen in
Figs. 35 (a-d). The earthquake also induced shallow
landslides on the upstream and right bank of the power
6. Compound disaster in Sunkoshi area station as shown in Figs. 36 (a and b).
The landslide related loss to the power plant amounts
6.1 Jure landslide to 148 million Nepali Rupees. The earthquake damage
was estimated to be 34 million Nepali Rupees. Total
A massive landslide occurred at around 02.30am, damages from this compound disaster stand at 203
local time on August 2, 2014 at Jure village in million Rupees.
Sindhupalchowk district of Nepal. The landslide killed 156
people, injuring 27 and displacing 436 people.
The massive landslide blocked Sunkoshi River 7. Possible reasons of the damage and lessons
creating a high dam across the river (Fig. 32). A river learned
gauging station of the Department of Hydrology and
Meteorology (DHM) at Pachuwarghat downstream of the The acceleration, velocity, displacement profiles (Fig.
landslide dam showed a rapid decline in water flow three 37) and spectral distribution (Fig. 38) of the earthquake
hours after the landslide, after which the flow of water reveal that the maximum acceleration (about 182 Gal) is
completely stopped for approximately 12 hours. An inflow not that high. However, the velocity, which is a barometer
of about 160 m3/sec of water quickly created a large lake for generated earthquake energy, is rather high. Also, the
behind the dam. Within 13 hours the newly formed lake , spectral distribution of acceleration reveals that it was a
which rapidly grew to a volume of an estimated 7 million long-period motion.
cubic meters, extended about 3 km upstream, completely Most of the damage can be contributed to the non-
submerging the 2.6 MW Sanima hydropower station (Fig. engineered structures (combination of sunburnt brick and
33). clay mortar), which have negligible resistance to
The landslide-dammed lake also has created havoc earthquake type loading. Also, damage were mostly
amongst the local residents and people living in the localized, which indicate the possibilities of resonance
downstream and upstream riverside areas. The landslide due to ground motion amplification in Kathmandu valley,
completely obstructed the Araniko Highway, and it was which basically compose of soft alluvial deposits in old
not possible to pass through the landslide further to the rivers and lakes (Fig. 39). The Kathmandu valley
north, disrupting the transportation network to China, and comprises of thick semi-consolidated fluvio-lacustrine
braking the national daily revenue of about 30 million Quaternary sediments on the top of basement rocks.
Nepali Rupees. Piya (2004) reports that the maximum thickness of the
valley sediments reaches up to 550 m at the central part
6.2 Damage to Sanima Sunkoshi Power Plant due to of the valley. The shear wave velocity of the soft
landslide sedimentary deposits ranges between 167 m/s and 297
m/s, and ground amplification may be ranging between
The landslide at Jure has swept away two gates of 1.9 and 7.9 according to Chamlagain and Gautam (2015).
the Sunkoshi power house headworks. The power house Due to complicated geology of the Kathmandu valley two
was also submerged after damage to the project's levels of resonance are expected (Paudyal et al., 2012).
penstock. The powerhouse and the camp house lied at The attenuation of acceleration distribution is shown
the sediment deposition zone. The lake inundated most in Fig. 40. It was observed that the damage in most of
of the equipment/materials in powerhouse and camp Kathmandu City, closest to the epicenter, was minor,
house. Figures 34 (a)-(b) show the state of the damage however, the eastern part of Kathmandu was extensively
before and after the landslide. damaged even though it was further from the epicenter.
Private development firm (Sanima Hydropower The extensively damaged areas were located in the
Plant) undertook the repair and reconstruction works of north-east of the Kathmandu valley. Figure 40 is a map
the dam and it was ready for commissioning on May 1, projection of the final-slip distribution, using fully
2015. Bayesian multiple-time-window source inversion (Kubo et
 115
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

al., 2016). It reveals that the rupture process extended to to hospital buildings and life-line infrastructures
the east side of Kathmandu City. including power line, water pipes, communication
network, and roads. The only international airport in
Nepal was reported to be totally undamaged.
8. Conclusions and recommendations d. Immediate geotechnical and geological
investigations of the soils in the vicinity of historical
The following conclusions and recommendations monuments are required.
could be made based on this preliminary survey of the e. Reconstruction and retrofitting measures to be
earthquake damage of the structures. adopted considering acceleration amplification in
a. The damage to newly built building structures was future earthquakes.
concentrated at particular pocket areas and more f. It is very important to take into the account the effect
specifically in newly developed sub-urban areas of of soil stratum (surface and lower layers) and the
the Kathmandu city core. velocity distribution profiles based on geotechnical
b. Most old brick masonry buildings were heavily data base.
damaged throughout the valley, and the destruction g. New approaches in the geotechnical design and
was particularly found to be concentrated in retrofitting of foundations, which are cost-effective
Bhaktapur city core and Sankhu area of Kathmandu. and locally available, require immediate attention.
c. One typical characteristic of the damage pattern h. Use of information technology and local participation
found this time was that, comparatively little damage towards disaster mitigation also need attention.
116
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

Fig. 37. Acceleration, velocity and displacement profiles of the earthquake (Source: USGS).

Fig. 38. Spectral distribution (Source: USGS).

i. Rebuilding the historical sites this time around, retrofitting of the historical monuments in the
especially the older ones, will be no easy task. In the Kathmandu valley, it is very important to collect infor-
 117
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

Sundarijal Itaiti
Gokarna airport Harisiddhi Chapagaun
1500
1340~1386 m
G 1320~1340 m Manahara Khola 1340 m
1400
T 1305~1310 m 1300~1310 m T
P P
1300

Kathmandu Basin Group 1200

Patan Fm
1100
Thimi Fm
1000
Gokarna Fm
Itaiti Fm 900
Kalimati Fm
800
Lukundol Fm (Basal Lignite Member)
700
Bagmati Fm (Tarebhir Fm) 0 5 km m

Fig. 39. Schematic geological cross section of Kathmandu valley along N-S (Sakai, 2001).

Fig. 40. Map projection of the final-slip distribution (Kubo et al., 2016).

mation regarding the foundations of those structures. Kumar Dahal, Tribhuvan University for his tremendous
That is definitely going to be a challenging task for help and cooperation during their survey.
geotechnical engineers and researchers in the years
to come.
References
Acknowledgements
Bilham, R., Bodin, P. and Jackson, M., 1995. Entertaining
The financial support provided by Kyushu University a great earthquake in western Nepal: Historic
under the special grant of the president, Kyushu inactivity and geodetic tests for the present state of
University towards the survey is greatly appreciated. The strain. Journal of Nepal Geological Society, 11 (1):
authors also gratefully acknowledge Assoc. Prof. Ranjan 73-78.
118
H. Hazarika et al. / Lowland Technology International 2016; 18 (2): 105-118
Special Issue on: Nepal Earthquake & Disaster

Bilham, R., Larson, K., Freymuller, R. and Members, P.I., NASA. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHaz-
1997. GPS measurements of present-day ards/view.php?id=84406, retrieved on September 15,
convergence across the Nepal Himalaya. Nature, 2016.
386: 61-64. NSET and GHI, 1999. Earthquake scenario, product of
Chamlagain, D. and Gautam, D., 2015. Seismic hazard in the Kathmandu valley earthquake risk. management
the Himalayan intermontane basins: An example from project, National Society for Earthquake Technology-
Kathmandu Valley Nepal. Mountain Hazards and Nepal (NSET-Nepal) and GeoHazards International
Disaster Risk Reduction: 73-103. (GHI).
JICA (Japan International cooperation Agency), 2002. Paudyal, Y.R., Yatabe, R., Bhandary, N.P. and Dahal,
The study of earthquake disaster mitigation in R.K., 2012. A study of local amplification effect of soil
Kathmandu valley, Kingdom of Nepal. Final Report, I, layers on ground motion in the Kathmandu valley
II, III, IV. using micro tremor analysis. Earthquake Engineering
JICA (Japan International cooperation Agency), 2007. and Engineering Vibration, 11 (2): 257-268.
Planning for improvement of Kathmandu-Bhaktapur Piya, B.K., 2004. Generation of a geological database for
road in the Kingdom of Nepal, Report on the the liquefaction hazard assessment in Kathmandu
preliminary design and investigation. valley. MSc Thesis, International Institute for Geo-
Kubo, H., Dhakal, Y.P., Suzuki, W., Kunugi, T., Aoi, S. Information Science and Earth Observation,
and Fujiwara, H., 2016. Estimation of the source Enschede, the Netherlands.
process of the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake and Sakai, H., 2001. Stratigraphic division sedimentary facies
simulation of long-period ground motions in the of the Kathmandu basin group, Central Nepal. J. of
Kathmandu basin using a one-dimensional basin Nepal Geol. Soc., Special Issue, 25: 19-22.
structure model. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40623- Sakai, H., Sakai, H., Yahagi, W., Fuji, R., Hayashi, T. and
016-0393-5. Upreti, B.N., 2006. Pleistocene rapid uplift of the
Mukhopadhyay, B., 2011. Clusters of moderate size Himalayan frontal ranges recorded in the Kathmandu
earthquakes along main central thrust (MCT) in and Siwalik basins. Palaeogeography,
Himalaya. Intl. J. Geosciences, 2011, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 241 (1): 16-27.
doi:10.4236/ijg.2011.23034 Published online August
2011, 2: 318-325.