Officials Were Right About 2nd Mt. Everest Earthquake| 7.3-M Earthquake in Nepal Today

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Today's earthquake occurred much closer to Mt. Everest than the previous large quake on April 25th.
Today’s earthquake occurred much closer to Mt. Everest than the previous large quake on April 25th.

Officials in China and the USA were right about a second large earthquake hitting Nepal during the Mt. Everest climbing season this year.  

Today, a 7.3-magnitude hit Nepal killing at least 40 people and injuring over 1,000.  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.  Luckily, no one was on Mt. Everest during today’s 7.3 earthquake in Nepal due to China’s foresight.  Climbers on the Nepal side gave up their summit attempts after Sherpa “Icefall Doctors” refused to create a new route through the Khumbu Icefall.

This image shows exactly where the avalanche camp from that killed 18 at Everest base camp on Saturday.
This image shows exactly where the avalanche camp from that killed 18 at Everest base camp on April 25th, 2015..

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.  The were right.

Many more buildings came down today in the 7.3 earthquake in Nepal.  photo:  rueters
Many more buildings came down today in the 7.3 earthquake in Nepal. photo: rueters

That April 25th, 2015 earthquake measured in at 7.8-magnitude and killed over 8,000 people in Nepal.

The US Geological Survey stated that there was a 54% chance of another large earthquake during the 2015 climbing season.

This would have been a rough place to during a large earthquake on Mt. Everest.
This would have been a rough place to during today’s large earthquake on Mt. Everest.

Just imagine if the climbers would have continued on the south side of Everest.  During the April 25th earthquake, rock, snow, and ice came down on Base Camp killing 18 and injuring over 60.  In addition to that devastation  the Khumbu icefall completely shifted and collapsed.  The same thing may have happened again or worse.  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.

The formidable Khumbu Icefall.
The formidable Khumbu Icefall would have been a horrible place to be in today’s 7.3 earthquake.

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