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Shreeja Sainju
Professor Sanchez
Eng 1301-04 Composition I
09 June 2015
ENTERTAINING A GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN WESTERN NEPAL: HISTORIC
INACTIVITY AND GEODETIC TESTS FOR THE PRESENT STATE OF STRAIN
Earthquake is a sudden and violent shaking of ground which may sometimes cause great
destruction as a result of movements within the earths crust. Geodetic tests are the mathematical
tests that deals with measurement of shape and area of large tracts of the country and the exact
geological position. This article gives the historical account of earthquakes in Nepal between
1800 and 1950. The effects of the earthquake and ways to examine the possibility of releasing
elastic energy in series of moderate earthquakes or as a aseismic slip.
The method employed to estimate seismic hazard in Nepal depends on identifying active faults,
assigning probable recurrence intervals for earthquakes of a given magnitude on the faults. The
great earthquake that accommodate most of the Himalaya convergence are not well represented
by surface faulting. Sesmic networks along the Himalaya are currently inadequate to understand
the details of sesmic release or the geometries of future slip.
Earthquakes in 1803 and 1833 have been sometimes invoked as possible great earthquakes. In
1833, 4040 buildings were destroyed in Kathmandu and 404 killed and other hundreds of
fatalities. Two large foreshocks and 39 aftershocks were noted in the following 3 months. Data
from a leveling line between India and Tibet passing through Kathmandu indicate minor region

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of uplift, one south of Himalayan foot hills and among other a broad region of uplift near
tibetian border. Geodetic test is effective in assessing whether or not a elastic energy associated
with plate convergence in the past 150 years has been released by slow earthquake. Sesmic
resistant building codes are applied to limit the height of construction in Kathmandu to about
15m, yet reinforcing rods protrude skyward above current roof.
GPS method are 10-100 times more accurate and 10-100 times faster than the original surveys.
The methodologies of GPS field work and processing are now well established and an initial
start has been made on the important measurement by several group in India. Despite the
simplicity and accuracy of GPS geodesy, none of the epicenter regions and surrounding of
historic great earthquake have been measured with GPS method.
Geodetic re-measurements of historic deformative should be completed to determine the extent
of historic ruptures and new networks installed for monitoring future slip. The importance of the
research studies is that individually or together they constitute available tests for those that refuse
to belive in possibilities of future great earthquake.