Gorkha earthquake (2015)
Also called: Nepal earthquake 2015 · Topic: Interior of the Earth: Earthquakes, Volcanoes and the Layered Earth · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Gorkha earthquake struck central Nepal on 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of Mw 7.8. It killed about 9,000 people and set off avalanches on Mount Everest. It was caused by thrust movement, where one block of rock is pushed up over another. This happened on the Main Himalayan Thrust, the big fault where the Indian plate slides under the Eurasian plate. It shows why the whole Himalayan arc carries high earthquake risk.
Example
The Gorkha district of central Nepal, west of Kathmandu, gave the quake its name. Avalanches it triggered swept through Everest Base Camp in the Khumbu region of Nepal.
Don't confuse with
- Strike-slip earthquakes (Turkey 2023, Myanmar 2025): in these, the blocks slide past each other sideways. In the Gorkha quake, one block was pushed up over the other.
Related concepts
- Alpine-Himalayan belt
- Seismic gap
- Assam-Tibet earthquake (1950)
- Turkey-Syria earthquake (2023)
- Myanmar earthquake (2025)