Abstract
ABSTRACTSpatio-temporal variations of seismicity within 300 km of the main Nepal earthquake of 25 April 2015 showed seismic quiescence since 2007. Decadal changes in b-value using the Gutenberg–Richter relation showed a well-marked decrease during the period January 2005–April 2015 preceding the main earthquake. Stress drop of this earthquake in the inter plate region was found to be 3.4 MPa which is much lower than the intra plate Bhuj earthquake, 2001. The un-ruptured portion of the seismic gap in western Nepal lies between longitude 82.5°E and 84.5°E, whose 200 km length (if assumed to rupture entirely in one earthquake) coupled with locked zone of about 100 km from GPS data, may generate an earthquake of magnitude about 8 although no historical data for a major earthquake is as yet available.
Highlights
Nepal earthquake of great intensity (Mw: 7.8) occurred on 25 April 2015 in Pokhara district of central Nepal and took a toll of more than 8500 human lives in Nepal, besides injuries to about 20,000 persons (NSET Nepal 2015)
Broadband digital data of Indian stations has been used to obtain source parameters and stress drop for this earthquake and compare them with the results reported for other earthquakes in interplate and intraplate regions (Singh et al 2006)
The rupture length of 1505 earthquake in western Nepal shown by Cannon and Murphy (2014) extends for about 400 km which is inconsistent with its magnitude which was constrained to 8À8.2 (Ambraseys & Douglas 2004; Srivastava, Verma et al 2013)
Summary
Nepal earthquake of great intensity (Mw: 7.8) occurred on 25 April 2015 in Pokhara district of central Nepal and took a toll of more than 8500 human lives in Nepal, besides injuries to about 20,000 persons (NSET Nepal 2015). Loss of lives occurred in India and Tibet and damage extended to Bhutan and Bangladesh. Maximum deaths were reported from Kathmandu valley, which suffered extensive damage from many earthquakes in the past as well. Heritage sights in the Kathmandu valley like Kathmandu Durbar Square and the Bhaktapur Durbar Square were flattened during the recent earthquake (ICIMOD 2015; Martin et al 2015). The earthquake triggered avalanche on Mount Everest killing at least 19 persons and yet another avalanche in Langtang valley where about 250 people were reported missing
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