Nepal Earthquake - some words...

On Saturday morning, I woke around 7 and checked my twitter feed, and read that there had been a major earthquake in Nepal, which had caused some damage to buildings in Kathmandu. I knew that Rachel from the RSGS had been in Kathmandu the day before, but a tweet told me she had left the day before... I relaxed for a minute, before realising that Pokhara, where she had been heading next was actually closer to the epicentre.
As the New York Times said in their useful summary article, this was the worst earthquake for decades, and was a shallow quake in an area which was vulnerable through poor infrastructure. The earthquake set off avalanches on Everest which affected climbers at Base Camp (and other camps) and also landslides which threatened even those who were out in the open and trekking in other areas.
As I wrote an e-mail to RSGS, Rachel tweeted that she was safe...

Over the last 24 hours and beyond, Twitter has proved once again to be an incredibly valuable tool, but also one that is fallible and needs to be used with care, as rumours and misinformation can spread through RTs. Plenty of tweets have passed through my feed, and have led me to new and useful feeds which provide the local perspective, as well as the logistical side to the relief efforts that will now start.


A few useful Twitter feeds
@ICRC
@sardogsnepal
@kathmandupost
@EwFproject
@Siobhanheanue

This story will no doubt continue to develop, and there may be some updates to this post which will be added in red below.

It's already emerged that a good friend of my nephew is missing in the area close to Kanchenjunga and there are no doubt lots of connections in any school community.
Al Monteith was quick off the mark with a lesson outline that he placed on Dropbox. I'm sure a lot of schools will be covering this disaster today.

I don't intend to post loads of links here - the story can be investigated by students easily at the moment. The impact will be felt for decades to come, as centuries old landmarks which were part of the nation's soul have been destroyed. Stupas and other buildings have been reduced to rubble.

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To finish with the latest BBC news report and some historical background as I press 'Publish'.

UPDATE
Graeme Eyre Slideshare - nice work young Sir....



Nepal Earthquake from Graeme Eyre

Drone footage from 'The Guardian'



A FLIPBOARD magazine that I curated...


View my Flipboard Magazine.

And an ESRI Story Map And a new resource from Matt Podbury, which is excellent...

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