Here’s How Much the Nepal Earthquake Moved Mount Everest
Here’s How Much the Nepal Earthquake Moved Mount Everest
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A view of Mount Everest towering over the Nupse, from the village of Tembuche in the Khumbu region of northeastern Nepal on April 20, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty Images
The earthquake that struck Nepal was powerful enough to move a mountain, Chinese authorities said Monday.
Mount Everest shifted three centimeters southwest after the 7.8-magnitude quake on April 25, according to data from a satellite set up in 2005 by China’s National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, its state-run news organization Xinhua reports. That’s a significant movement for Mount Everest, which the agency said has moved only 4 cm. annually on average between 2005 and 2015 due to crustal movements.
Authorities said the geophysical impact of the devastating quake, which left more than 8,500 people dead, did not change the height of the world’s tallest peak, at some 29,000 feet.
See Photos From a Survivor of the Mount Everest Avalanche
A cloud of snow and debris triggered by an earthquake flies towards Everest Base Camp, moments before parts of the camp were flattened, in the Himalayas, Nepal, on April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesThe avalanche, triggered by an earthquake outside Kathmandu, Nepal, flattened parts of Everest Base Camp on April, 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesRescuers help a porter onto a makeshift stretcher after he was injured by the avalanche on Mount Everest, triggered by an earthquake outside Kathmandu, Nepal.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesRescuers assist an injured person at Everest Base Camp after an avalanche was triggered by an earthquake outside Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesRescuers look for survivors after the avalanche that was triggered by an earthquake outside Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesRescuers tend to an injured sherpa after the avalanche that was triggered by an earthquake outside Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesRescuers carry an injured sherpa after the avalanche that was triggered by an earthquake outside Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesA person injured in Saturday's avalanche is carried by rescue members to be airlifted by a rescue helicopter at Everest Base Camp on April 26, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesAn injured person is loaded onto a rescue helicopter at Everest Base Camp on April 26, 2015.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty ImagesPrayer flags frame a rescue helicopter as it ferries the injured from Everest Base Camp on April 26, 2015, one day after an avalanche triggered by an earthquake outside Kathmandu, Nepal.Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty Images
