A magnitude-5 tremor hits Nepal at 143 km depth as flood searches continue
India’s National Center for Seismology timed the shock at 21:38 IST on 8 September, at 29.022 N, 83.978 E. No damage was reported. NDRRMA’s flood tally the same day stood at 1,357 dead, 5,326 missing and 13,583 rescued.
Kathmandu2 min read
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A magnitude-5.0 earthquake struck Nepal at 21:38 IST on 8 September. India’s National Center for Seismology put the epicentre at 29.022 degrees north, 83.978 degrees east, at a depth of 143 kilometres. Tremors were felt in Kathmandu. There were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or serious damage.
Other agencies printed slightly different numbers for a shock in the same hour. The US Geological Survey listed a magnitude 4.9 event at 16:08 UTC, about 10 kilometres deep, 97 kilometres north-northeast of Chitre and 112 kilometres north of Pokhara. EMSC had earlier reported a 5.3 event in Tibet at 35 kilometres. Deep and shallow readings for Himalayan quakes often diverge in the first hours. The official Indian bulletin that most Indian and Nepali desks used on Tuesday night is the 5.0 at 143 kilometres.
A deep quake at that range usually shakes a wide area lightly and spares buildings. That is why the first reports from Kathmandu described a felt tremor and no collapse. The timing still matters. Nepal is in the third week of a flood disaster that began on 26 August when an ice-rock avalanche on the Nepal-Tibet border sent water and debris down the Bhotekoshi. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on 8 September that 1,357 people were dead, 5,326 were missing and 13,583 had been rescued. One hundred and two bodies had been identified and handed over. Losses were put at Rs 387.5 billion. Rasuwa and Nuwakot account for most of the missing, including hundreds of foreign visitors.
Rescue crews working unstable slopes do not need a large aftershock. They need the ground to stay where it is. A 5.0 at 143 kilometres is not the 2015 Gorkha event. It is a reminder that the same arc that drops ice into the Bhotekoshi also stores tectonic strain. Authorities said they were checking populated areas after the tremor. Flood camps, temporary bridges and hydropower sites already damaged in August are the places to watch for cracks.
Tuesday’s flood bulletin and Tuesday night’s earthquake sit on the same desk in Kathmandu. One is a running count of the dead and the missing. The other is a single-line seismogram. Together they describe a fortnight in which the mountain has moved twice, once as water and once as rock.
