Spare a thought for the people of Nepal after that 7.9 quake

[kentuck]

5. Tornados and earthquakes...what's going on?

Check out the photos in this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/world/asia/nepal-earthquake-katmandu.html?_r=0#

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NEW DELHI — An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu. People in the capital described scenes of panic and collapsed buildings, and the United States Geological Survey predicted severe damage to villages near the quake’s epicenter, about 50 miles from Katmandu.

A spokesperson for Nepal’s home ministry, Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, said the preliminary death toll stood at 356, and that thousands of people had been injured. Trekkers reported a major avalanche on Mount Everest, with some teams reported missing. In addition, 13 deaths had been reported in India by midafternoon.

Residents of Katmandu ran into the streets and other open spaces as buildings fell, throwing up clouds of dust, and wide cracks opened on paved streets and the walls of city buildings. Overflowing hospitals were treating injured patients on the street, and Nepal’s leading television station, its studios crushed, was brodcasting from the pavement outside.

By midafternoon the United States Geological Survey had counted 12 aftershocks, one of which measured at a magnitude of 6.6.

Kanak Mani Dixit, a Nepali political commentator, said he was having lunch with his parents when the quake struck. The rolling was so intense and long-lasting that he had trouble getting to his feet, he said. He helped his father and an elderly neighbor to safety in the garden outside and then had to carry his elderly mother.

“And I had time to do all that while the quake was still going on,” Mr. Dixit said. “It was like being on a boat in heavy seas.”

....more at link