The 2015 Gorkha earthquake was Nepal's deadliest natural disaster since 1934, killing nearly 9,000 people and destroying UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Key Facts
- Death toll
- 8,962 people
- Injured
- 21,952 people
- Magnitude
- 7.8–7.9 Mw (Ms 8.1)
- Depth of hypocenter
- 8.2 km
- Distance from Kathmandu
- 85 km
- Major aftershock magnitude
- 7.3 Mw on 12 May 2015
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Nepal sits on a seismically active zone where the Indian tectonic plate subducts beneath the Eurasian plate. Geophysicists had warned for decades that the country's geology, rapid urbanization, and traditional architecture made it highly vulnerable to a major earthquake. The region had not experienced a comparable event since the 1934 Nepal–India earthquake.
At 11:56 Nepal Standard Time on 25 April 2015, a magnitude 7.8–7.9 earthquake struck with its epicenter at Barpak, Gorkha, approximately 85 km northwest of Kathmandu. The shallow hypocenter at 8.2 km depth caused widespread destruction. The quake triggered a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest and another in the Langtang valley, and was followed by frequent aftershocks including a 6.7 magnitude tremor the next day.
Nearly 9,000 people were killed and over 21,000 injured across Nepal, India, China, and Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless, and centuries-old structures at multiple UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley were destroyed. A major 7.3 magnitude aftershock on 12 May 2015 killed over 200 more people, compounding the humanitarian and reconstruction crisis.
Human Cost
Each dot represents approximately 10,000 deaths. Total estimated: 8,962 (earthquake)