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05.15.16 Kathmandu, Nepal
The earthquake began a few minutes before noon on April 25, 2015, nine miles beneath the town of Lamjung, Nepal, and lasted approximately 50 seconds. The earthquake was initially reported at 7.5 on the Richter scale by the United States Geological Survey before it was quickly upgraded to 7.8 (the Chinese government later claimed it was as high as 8.1). The quake's epicenter was eventually determined to have occurred at a distance of 48 miles to the northwest of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Over 8000 lives were lost and entire villages were leveled. Kathmandu's historic and cultural landmarks took extensive damage and the rapidly propagating shock-waves triggered massive avalanches across the Himalayan mountains. 22 people died in Everest Base Camp.
According to the USGS, the earthquake was caused by a sudden release of built-up stress along the major fault line where the Indo-Australian Plate, carrying India, is slowly diving underneath the Eurasian Plate; the process that over millions of years has created the highest mountains on the planet - the Himalayas. Kathmandu, and her 1,000,000 residents, were displaced 10 feet to the south in a matter of seconds. Earthquakes of this magnitude push mountains higher and are powerful enough to alter the earth's rotation, causing small, but measurable changes to the length of the day. A year later, the city continues to recover and has opened her arms to travelers in hopes of breathing new life into its devastated economy. Today we saw the resilience of the Nepalese firsthand. They endured one of nature's most punishing acts of violence and are going on with their lives as if things were normal. At first glance, the city itself seemed normal too, but signs of the quake exist on every city block if you pay attention. Piles of rubble and empty lots where buildings once stood are a constant reminder of the unfathomable power and uncaring randomness of mother nature.
But the same monster that caused so much chaos has been working on something long before people were around to notice the process. She's been methodically sculpting a landscape unrivaled anywhere else on Earth - something Kimberly and I get to witness over the next two and a half weeks.
We didn't have much time to explore the city today, but if all goes well, we will have a couple of days to tour Kathmandu after our trek to Everest Base Camp is complete. Our guide service arranged our accommodations at the Hotel Pilgrims in the Thamel District, which caters to tourists - and it is perfectly adequate, but not quite as nice as the Leela Palace in Delhi. By "perfectly adequate," I mean, it is understaffed, has sporadic electricity, on and off internet, and no chauffeured BMWs to shuttle us around. And by "not quite as nice," I mean it's not a fair fight. But it does have a bed and a shower and that's pretty good considering what happened here a year ago. I imagine it will seem pretty luxurious compared to what we will experience while trekking over the next 17 days.
We had a briefing with our team this afternoon and went over last minute details before retiring to our "room" to repack our gear. We met three trekkers from London, Brisbane and San Francisco who will be trekking along side us. As I write this, two guys from LA just showed up. We look forward to getting to know them and to meeting others as well. Kimberly and I are excited and nervous about starting our adventure that has taken over a year to plan. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will board a small Tara-Air turboprop at 6:15 a.m. Nepal time with our backpacks full of gear, and fly to the most dangerous airport in the world. I'll talk more about that tomorrow, or maybe the next day - we'll see.
Archives:
05.16.16 Lukla/Phakding
05.17.16 Namche Bazaar
05.21.16 Gokyo Lakes
05.25.16 Gorkashep
05.26.16 Everest Base Camp!
05.29.16 Kala Patthar/Tengboche/Namche
05.30.16 Lukla
06.01.16 Kathmandu: Final Thoughts
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