--- description: Nepal's back-to-back earthquakes deadliest in Himalayan nation's history title: Nepal Quakes Become Deadliest in Country’s History image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b1593f100fc0025/69884cf80b72e3d1b36e3b22/nepal-quake.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Nepal](/tag/nepal/) ## Nepal Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Nepal Earthquakes Are Now the Nation's Deadliest-Ever Disasters ## Video: Drone Footage of Kathmandu, Nepal [Watch (HLS stream): Drone Footage of Kathmandu, Nepal](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/25JAWeRc.m3u8) (2:17)  _Published 2015-04-30. Drone footage captured by CNN shows the level of destruction in earthquake-ravaged Kathmandu, Nepal._ by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 18, 2015 9:05 AM CUT  A Nepalese woman carrying her child walks past a destroyed building in Sankhu village in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 16, 2015. A Nepalese woman carrying her child walks past a destroyed building in Sankhu village in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 16, 2015.Anadolu Agency —Getty Images by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 18, 2015 9:05 AM CUT On Sunday, Nepal’s Home Ministry confirmed at least 8,583 deaths from the past month’s two major earthquakes and subsequent tremors, making the combined disaster the deadliest in the country’s history, reports Reuters. The last massive temblor to rock the landlocked Himalayan nation killed 8,519 people in 1934. On April 25, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake erupted approximately 85 miles east of the capital, Kathmandu, killing more than 8,000 people and destroying a half-million homes nationwide. Three weeks later the country was struck again by a 7.3-magnitude tremor near Mount Everest that killed more than 100 people and triggered fresh landslides. **MORE:** [6 Ways You Can Give to Nepal Earthquake Relief](http://time.com/3836242/nepal-earthquake-donations-disaster-relief/ "undefined") U.N. officials [report](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ochanepalearthquakesituationreportno.15%2815may2015%29.pdf "undefined") that millions of people remain in need of basic humanitarian assistance as the looming monsoon threatens to inundate the country’s fragile transportation network and hamper ongoing aid efforts. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/17/us-quake-nepal-idUSKBN0O20LL20150517?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm%5Fsource=twitter "undefined")\] ### James Nachtwey’s Dispatches From Nepal - Part 2  Bishnu Gurung sobs after her 3-year-old daughter, Rejina Gurung, was found buried in the rubble in the village of Gumda in Gorkha district, near the epicenter of last month's Nepal earthquake, on May 8, 2015\. The baby’s father is a guest worker in Malaysia. James Nachtwey for TIME  Bishnu Gurung weeps at the funeral of her 3-year-old daughter who was discovered buried in rubble in Gumda, a village in Nepal’s Gorkha district, May 8, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  Inhabitants salvage building materials from their destroyed homes in Gumda Village, near the epicenter of the earthquake in Gorkha district, where five people died and 14 are still missing in landslides, May 8, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  A villager salvages building supplies in Gumda, in the Gorkha district of Nepal, May 8, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  A boy who was injured in the mountain village of Dhunchet sits with his father after being evacuated by an Indian army helicopter, May 3, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  An injured boy and his father are evacuated by the Indian army from a remote Himalayan village, May 3, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  View from the window of a helicopter during relief operations to remote mountain villages in Nepal, May 2, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  The Indian army evacuates monks from the Hinang Gompa monastery in Lhi, a village in the Gorkha district, in the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas, May 2, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  Young Buddhist monks gaze out of a helicopter as they are evacuated by the Indian army from a monastery in the Himalayas, May 2, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  In Barpak, the epicenter of the earthquake, inhabitants sift through the wreckage looking for possessions from their destroyed houses, May 6, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  Villagers look through rubble in Barpak, Nepal, May 5, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  A villager stands among the ruins of the destroyed houses in Barpak, Nepal, May 6, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  Saainli Gurung weeps during the funeral of her son, Pur Bahadur Gurung, 26, who was found in the rubble in Barpak, Nepal, May 5, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  Dhan Raj Ghale, 30, dressed in mourning garb after the death of his mother, looks for possessions from his house in Barpak, Nepal, May 5, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  At the epicenter of the quake in Barpak, Nepal, where homes once stood, stones and wooden frames were all that remained. May 6, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  A man lifts debris from a flattened structure in Barpak, Nepal, May 6, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  A woman stands among the wreckage in Barpak, Nepal, May 6, 2015. James Nachtwey for TIME  A woman walks in the remote village of Gumda in Ghorka district, Nepal, May 8, 2015. 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