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California Task Force 2 Deploys to Nepal Earthquake– International Red Cross Already Assisting Victims
Arcadia Weekly Apr 30, 2015
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Nepal’s earthquake April 25, 2015. -Photo Courtesy Udayan Mishra
By Terry Miller
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on 25 April. Authorities report over 5,000 people have been killed and many buildings have collapsed in the capital, Kathmandu. As search and rescue efforts continue, hospitals in the capital continue to function but are stretched to the limit. Powerful aftershocks continue to be felt, so further damage is a risk, increasing the climate of fear amongst the local population.
Major relief organizations, including the Red Cross, have already arrived on scene and describe the indescribable destruction this massive quake caused.
While details of the impact continue to come in, the Nepal Red Cross, which has extensive experience in responding to natural disasters, is providing first aid, search and rescue, blood to medical facilities in the capital and support to first responders. Reports vary, but well over 3,000 people have been killed in Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh, and at the Nepal-China border, with some 5,800 more injured. Many are feared trapped under rubble and the number of casualties is expected to rise. Some eight million people have been affected by the quake. At least 15 aftershocks, ranging from magnitude 5 to 6.7, caused further damage to buildings and increased the risk of collapse. Tremors were felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, Lhasa in Tibet, and in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
More than six million people live within 60 miles of the epicenter, located some 50 miles northwest of the densely populated capital Katmandu which itself has a population of 2.5 million. Buildings and infrastructure have been damaged and destroyed. Electricity and telephone connectivity is intermittent and mobile services are experiencing heavy congestion. Hospitals continue to function but are stretched to the limits.
Accessibility and transportation are challenging in Nepal in the best of times. Before the earthquake, many rural communities where the Nepal Red Cross worked were only accessible by foot. The main international airport in Kathmandu is a very basic facility, and planes often have to wait long hours in queue to land. With the destruction, this situation is even more dire and getting supplies and transporting them within country is going to be a major challenge.
The Nepal Red Cross is headquartered in Kathmandu and has branches in all 75 districts, more than 1,300 sub-branches, 1.1 million members, and 100,000 active volunteers. The American Red Cross has been working with the NRCS since 1999, with its first long term project, focused on earthquake preparedness in Kathmandu, dating back to 2003.
The 57–member USA-2 (CA-TF2) Medium Urban Search and Rescue team deployed Sunday April 26, to assist the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) with rescue and recovery efforts in Nepal. They arrived Monday.
USA-2 (CA-TF2) has partnerships with Federal Emergency Management Agency for domestic response and the United States Agency for International Development/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance during international missions. As a part of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, USA-2 (CA-TF2) maintains constant operational readiness for international deployments and as a local resource for residents of Los Angeles County and the Southern California area.
Upon request of the Government of Nepal, the United States has deployed a USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), including the Los Angeles County Fire Department Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR). The USAR component of the DART is what is called a “Medium team,” with 57 specialized personnel and all necessary equipment to make live rescues from collapsed structures and confined spaces.
According to Caltech and USGS: “Seismicity in the Himalaya dominantly results from the continental collision of the India and Eurasia plates, which are converging at a relative rate of 40-50 mm/yr. Northward underthrusting of India beneath Eurasia generates numerous earthquakes and consequently makes this area one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth. The surface expression of the plate boundary is marked by the foothills of the north-south trending Sulaiman Range in the west, the Indo-Burmese Arc in the east and the east-west trending Himalaya Front in the north of India.
“The India-Eurasia plate boundary is a diffuse boundary, which in the region near the north of India, lies within the limits of the Indus-Tsangpo (also called the Yarlung-Zangbo) Suture to the north and the Main Frontal Thrust to the south. The Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone is located roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin. The narrow (<200km) Himalaya Front includes numerous east-west trending, parallel structures. This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by movement on thrust faults. Examples of significant earthquakes, in this densely populated region, caused by reverse slip movement include the 1934 M8.1 Bihar, the 1905 M7.5 Kangra and the 2005 M7.6 Kashmir earthquakes. The latter two resulted in the highest death tolls for Himalaya earthquakes seen to date, together killing over 100,000 people and leaving millions homeless. The largest instrumentally recorded Himalaya earthquake occurred on 15th August 1950 in Assam, eastern India. This M8.6 right-lateral, strike-slip, earthquake was widely felt over a broad area of central Asia, causing extensive damage to villages in the epicentral region.”
