Officials in China and the USA were right about a secondย large earthquake hitting Nepal during the Mt. Everest climbing season this year. ย
Today, a 7.3-magnitude hit Nepal killing at least 40 people and injuring over 1,000. ย This new earthquake was centered 50 miles east of Katmandu not far from Mt. Everest and very likely would have spelled disaster for climbers on Mt. Everest. ย Luckily, no one was on Mt. Everest during today’s 7.3 earthquake in Nepal due to China’s foresight. ย Climbers on the Nepal side gave up their summit attempts after Sherpa “Icefall Doctors” refused to create a new route through the Khumbu Icefall.
Today’s 7.3 earthquake very well could have had an even larger impact on the Mt. Everest area due to this earthquake being 120 miles closer to Mt. Everest than the April 25th 7.8 earthquake.
After the April 25th earthquake that killed 18 climbers in Mt. Everest Base Camp and injured 60, China immediately closed all of Tibet including Everest from climbing in 2015 siting a 50% chance of another large earthquake occurring during the 2015 climbing season. ย The were right.
Thatย April 25th, 2015 earthquake measured in at 7.8-magnitude and killedย over 8,000 people in Nepal.
Theย US Geological Survey stated that there was a 54% chance of another large earthquake during the 2015 climbing season.
Just imagine if the climbers would have continued on the south side of Everest. ย During the April 25th earthquake, rock, snow, and ice came down on Base Camp killing 18 and injuring over 60. ย In addition to that devastationย ย the Khumbu icefall completely shifted and collapsed. ย The same thing may have happened again or worse. ย Many rocks and ice blocks may have been loosed from their perches from the April 25th earthquake and might have been very easily sent careening downhill during today’s earthquake.
