ENGINEERING GEOLOGY PROJECT REPORT (CEF-341)

ON
CASE STUDY OF NEPAL EARTHQUAKE

Part of the degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
CIVIL ENGINEERING

Submitted to:
Ms. Dipika Keshri
Assistant Professor

Submitted by:
Sanjay Chhetri - 1000014642
Suyan Shrestha -1000015186
Pankaj Jaiswal - 1000015655
Aditya Raj -1000015447
Rehan Ansari -1000015651
School of Engineering &Technology(SoET)
DIT UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN
(State Private University through State Legislature Act No. 10 of 2013 of Uttarakhand and approved by UGC)

Mussoorie Diversion Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand - 248009, India.

2022

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 CANDIDATES DECLARATION

We hereby certify that the work, which is being presented in the Report, entitled Case Study on
Nepal Earthquake, in partial fulfillment of the requirement as part of the course of the Degree
of Bachelor of Technology and submitted to the DIT University is an authentic record of our
work carried out during the period 20th Sep 2022 to 17th November 2022 under the guidance of
Asst. Prof. Ms. Dipika Keshri.

Date:17/11/2022 Signature of candidates

Sanjay Chhetri 1000014642

Suyan Shrestha 1000015186

Pankaj Jaiswal 1000015655

Aditya Raj 1000015447

Rehan Ansari 1000015651

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Firstly, we would like to thank our teacher and guide professor Dipika Keshri ma’am who gave
us her valuable idea and suggestions when we were in need of her. We take this opportunity with
much pleasure to thank all the people who have helped us through the course of our journey
towards producing this project the prescribed time. Apart from the subject of our research, we
learned a lot from her, which we are sure will be useful in different stages of our life.

We are especially grateful to our colleagues for their assistance, criticisms, and useful insights.
We are immensely grateful to all involved in this project as without their inspiration and valuable
suggestions it would not have been possible to develop the project within the prescribed time.

ABSTRACT

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This is a project of Engineering Geology on the topic “Case Study of Nepal Earthquake”. The
Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake of magnitude 7.8, occurred at 11:56 NST on 25 April 2015 with
an epicenter 77 km northwest of Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. This case study
generally includes the impact, along a fault known as the Main Himalayan Thrust, the force
driving the rise of the Himalayas. The main geologic effects in this steep rugged region are
collapses, landslides, rockfalls, and ground fissures, many of which are reactivations of older
land slips. These did great damage to the buildings, roads, and bridges in the region. Most of the
effects are along four incised valleys which are controlled by N-trending rifts and contain rivers
that pass through the Himalaya Mountains and flow into Nepal; at least two of the larger
aftershocks occurred along the normal faults. And, the damage is not related to the faulting of N-
trending rifts but rather is distributed along the intensity of Nepal earthquake. Areas weakened
by the earthquake pose post-seismic hazards. Another main characteristic of damage is the
recurrence of the old landslide and rockfalls.
The specified objectives have been fulfilled by the utilization of maps and Google images.
Necessary maps, diagrams and reference links are attached accordingly.

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Case Study on Nepal Earthquake

Contents Page no
1.Introduction 6

2. The Epicenter 6

3. Causes 7-8

4. Infrastructure 9

5. Mystery of Nepal’s “Earthquake Gap” 10

6. Literature Survey 11

7. Reference Links 12

8. External Link 12

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1. Introduction

The Nepal earthquake of magnitude 7.8, with an epicenter 77 km northwest of

Kathmandu, occurring at an approximate depth of 15km, claimed the lives of 9000 people
and injured more than 23,000. It occurred at 11:56 Nepal Standard Time on 25 April, a
maximum Mercalli Intensity of IX (Violent) Gorkha earthquake appears to have been
stronger than the 1934 earthquake, possibly making it the largest earthquake recorded in
Nepal in almost a century. The earthquake occurred at the subduction interface between the
Indian plate and the Eurasian plate along the Himalayan arc. The earthquake rupture
propagated from west to east and a strong shaking was experienced in Kathmandu and
the surrounding areas.

2. The Epicenter

Epicenter was east of Gorkha District at Barpak, Gorkha, roughly 85 km (53 mi) northwest of
central Kathmandu, and its hypocenter was at a depth of approximately 8.2 km (5.1 mi).

Figure 3: The India tectonic plate moving north at about 45mm a year is
pushing under the Eurasian plate beneath the Himalayas. Source: Geologyin

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 Figure 2- Fault line across Nepal. Source:Slideshare

3. Causes of Nepal Earthquake

• Natural earthquakes generally occur due to two major reasons: volcanic activities and
tectonic shifts.
• Nepal does not have any volcanoes, but it lies just above the fault line of tectonic plates
that cause recurring earthquakes, making earthquake safety a key concern of the country.
• According to the USGS, the earthquake was caused by a sudden thrust, or release of
built-up stress, along the major fault line where the Indian Plate, carrying India, is slowly
diving underneath the Eurasian Plate, carrying much of Europe and Asia.

These earthquakes are also responsible for the Himalayan range that spread across northern
Nepal and beyond. Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain above sea level, is also the
outcome of the tectonic shifts over thousands of years

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Figure 3: The India tectonic plate moving north at about 45mm a year is
pushing under the Eurasian plate beneath the Himalayas. Source: Geologyin

Figure 4:-Indian plate and Eurasian plate converging in fault line of Nepal.
Source: Slideshare

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4. Infrastructure

 Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage sites in the

Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Changu Narayan Temple and the Dharahara
Tower.
 Thousands of houses were destroyed across many districts of the country.

Fig. Harishankhar Temple before and after the earthquake

Fig. Damage of Buildings

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5. Mystery of Nepal's “Earthquake

Like a slow-motion car crash, the Indian subcontinent is colliding with Eurasia. This impact,
along a fault known as the Main Himalayan Thrust, is the force driving the rise of the Himalayas.

Nepal is no stranger to such temblors—but in the western part of the country, no significant
earthquakes have been recorded since 1505. Such a “seismic gap” could be bad news: if the
region’s faults are not releasing their pent-up stress every so often, one or more very large and
potentially catastrophic earthquakes could result. “With more than 500 years of waiting, the
stored energy due to the convergence of India [and Eurasia] could be considerable.

Fig. 5 The western Nepal pat of Main Himalayan Thrust

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6. Literature Survey:

 Swathi Shantharaju, Katta Venkataramana :- The author used the data from
Census Data, DRR sitrep 2015 data ,13th World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering Vancouver,B.C., Canada August 1-6, 2004, Paper No. 1730 data
and the result obtained from the data is that Destruction of large number of
buildings and infrastructure in urban and rural areas, and triggered numerous
landslides in the mountain areas, blocking roads, and hampering rescue and
recovery activities and Poor sesmic performance caused damaged or collapse and
structural failures caused many fatalities. Historical monuments as well as
religious structures suffered tremendous damage induced by this earthquake. The
majority of the damaged buildings were stone or brick masonry structures with no
seismic detailing underwent serious damages, whereas the most of RC buildings
were undamaged.

 H. Hazarika 1, N.P. Bhandary ,Y. Kajita K. Kasama , K. Tsukahara and R.K.

Pokharel :- The author used the data from Acceleration, velocity and
displacement profiles of the earthquake data(USGS) , Spectral
distribution(USGS) , Cross section of Kathmandu valley along N-S (Sakai, 2001),
final-slip distribution (Kubo et al., 2016) and the result he obtained from that data
is that Damage brought by the 2015 Nepal earthquake to urban infrastructures,
modern and traditional buildings as well as some word heritage sites in and
around Kathmandu city. And Disaster brought to a hydropower plant by the
compound action of a previous landslide and this time earthquake.

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7. Reference Links

1. Epicenter (Fig.1) :-https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Gorkha-

Earthquake-2015-Epicenter- location_fig1_308417542

(Fig. 2) :- Earthquake Analysis (slideshare.net)

2. Causes (fig 3) :- https://www.geologyin.com/2015/04/what-caused-

nepal-earthquake.html
(fig 4):-https://www.coolgeography.co.uk/Alevel/AQA/Year
%2013/Plate%20Tectonics/Extra_case_studies/
NepalEarthquake_2015.htm

3. Mystery of Nepal's “Earthquake Gap”:-

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/geologists-solve-mystery-of-
nepals-earthquake-gap/

8. External Links

https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81397884?
s=i&trkid=13747225&vlang=en&clip=81644442

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