7.8 magnitude earthquake slams Nepal, some 600 dead, authorities say

[Valin]

CNN:

Manesh Shrestha, Don Melvin and Ben Brumfield,

Sat April 25, 2015

 

 

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN)[breaking news update at 7:16 a.m. ET]

 

 

The death toll in Nepal after a massive earthquake stands at 597, according to Laxmi Dhakal, a spokesperson for Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs.

 

There have been at least 15 aftershocks of 4.5 magnitude and higher in Nepal since a massive 7.8 earthquake struck the mountainous Asian nation around midday Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

Many people in Kathmandu are waiting in open spaces outside for fear of more powerful tremors, witnesses said.

 

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More At The Telegraph

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdmsYn8Wsv0

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE2cVEVoHnc

[Valin]

Devastating Nepal quake kills over 900, some in Everest avalanche
KATHMANDU | By Gopal Sharma and Ross Adkin

Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:36am EDT

 

(Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck Nepal and sent tremors through northern India on Saturday, killing hundreds of people, toppling a 19th-century tower in the capital Kathmandu and touching off a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest.

 

There were reports of devastation in outlying, isolated mountainous areas after the midday quake of magnitude 7.9, Nepal's worst in 81 years, centered 50 miles (80 km) east of the second city, Pokhara. A collapse in communications hampered relief efforts, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster across the impoverished Himalayan nation of 28 million people.

 

A police official said the death toll in Nepal alone had reached 876, more than half of them in the Kathmandu Valley. A further 34 fatalities were reported in northern India and one in Bangladesh.

 

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[Casino67]

From http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2563600

 

 

Massive 7.8 earthquake kills more than 1,400 in Nepal; capital hit hard
BY TARA COPP | APRIL 25, 2015 | 3:07 PM

 

Photo - Volunteers help with rescue work at the site of a building that collapsed after an earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday, April 25, 2015. A strong magnitude-7.9 earthquake shook Nepal's capital and the densely populated Kathmandu Valley before noon Saturday, causing extensive damage with toppled walls and collapsed buildings, officials said. (AP Photo/ Niranjan Shrestha)

an earthquake in...

 

The death toll quickly climbed to more than 1,400 Saturday in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Nepal that left much of the country's capital city of Kathmandu in ruins, caused avalanches on Mt. Everest 100 miles away and shook people and structures as far away as India, Tibet and Bangladesh.

 

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck about 50 miles outside Kathmandu Saturday, and by late Saturday, the death toll from the quake had topped 1,400, with heavy damage to the historic center of Kathmandu where buildings collapsed and crushed countless people inside them.

[Casino67]

https://twitter.com/hashtag/NepalQuake?src=hash

[Valin]

Google executive among hundreds dead from Nepal quake
The Associated Press
04/25/2015

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive who described himself as an adventurer, was among the hundreds who died in a massive earthquake that struck Nepal on Saturday.

 

Google confirmed his death. Lawrence You, the company's director of privacy, posted online that Fredinburg was in Nepal with three other Google employees hiking Mount Everest. The other three, he added, are safe.

 

Google would not give further details. According to the technology blog Re/Code, Fredinburg was an experienced climber who co-founded, in his spare time, Google Adventure. The project aims to "translate the Google Street View concept into extreme, exotic locations like the summit of Mount Everest or the Great Barrier Reef off Australia," according to Startup Grind, a global startup community.

 

Feinberg also helped start Save the Ice, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about global warming "through adventurous campaigns and events around the world," according to its website.

 

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[Valin]

 

It’s being reported that at least 17 hikers died because of the earthquake and avalanche on the mountain. The death toll has risen to 2,500 elsewhere in the country, and is expected to rise.

 

H/T Right Scoop

[Valin]

Hot Air

Allahpundit

April 27, 2015

 

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Update: A commenter weighs in.

 

 

 

Im involved in the rescue efforts up there. Some of those expeditions are clients of mine and weve been working with the heli evac company to get everyone down. To those who might be genuinely interested in whats going on and what happened, here ya go:

 

The first earthquake ended up breaking off a large block of ice (and when I meant large, I mean the size of house) between Pumori and Nuptse. The mountains make up the west ridge above the valley that those who climb the South Col route go up. The ice block fell right in the most dangerous part of the mountain: the Ice Fall between Camp 1 and Base Camp. Due to the steep slope, the glacier breaks up into huge seracs with lots of deep crevasses. It takes weeks to build a route through there each season.

 

The avalanche landed right in there, destroying the route, killing a few people who were in there. But the avalanche was so big, it carried right into Base Camp, which is huge, killing many that were just unfortunate enough to have camped closer to that area. In all the years of expeditions on Everest, no avalanche had EVER reached those points.

 

This avalanche was like a bomb, less like what you might think of normal avalanches with snow. There is house sized ice barrelling down at terminal velocity and exploding ice everywhere. Not to be too ghoulish, but the injuries and deaths are extremely gruesome.

 

So, there are over a 100 people caught above the ice fall. They cant get down because the route that goes through it was destroyed and it takes weeks to establish. The heli company that is working there has gotten about have the folks from 19- 20k ft down to safety. There have been some seriously heroic rescue attempts and lives saved with many risking their own safety as aftershocks and further avalanches risk more incidents.

 

Down in the some of the valleys, there are rescue efforts to help areas where entire villages have been wiped out by other avalanches and landslides.

 

The internet commenter is devilish breed. Enjoy the disaster porn. * Those saying that these people got what they deserved should just go jump in a lake. Jump in two lakes.

 

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* He is putting this in a much nicer way than I would.