More from Siobhan Heanue, because she’s a journalist (for ABC, the Oz one) and she was looking at temples when the earthquake hit, so she’s tweeting these heartrending photos.
12 hours ago there was this
LIVE on #Periscope: Patan Durbar Square Kathmandu Nepal https://www.periscope.tv/w/Vxxh_zkyNDU5fDcwMDA0MjN-CfrLnC9NHLD72y5BqYsxHoOM8DxADi3oiGWyFeAi9w== …
Then an hour later
Huge earthquake in Kathmandu. I’m terrified.
Locals dragged her into a cafe, she said, but she was still afraid; aftershocks.
Then the first photo
Devastation in patan. Kathmandu earthquake.
Then more photos
Kathmandu patan district. Old royal square devastated.
Kathmandu quake aftermath. Clearing rubble to search for survivors.
She has lots more. Good luck to her.
The damage and death toll is going to be a lot like the 6.6 that hit Iran back in 2003. Buildings in both regions are primarily made of unreinforced stone, so the death toll could become much higher than the 1,500 first reported. Kathmandu’s population is only about 700,000, but Bam, Iran was only about 100,000 when its quake hit, and 26,000 were killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Bam_earthquake
Taiwan’s 6.3 last Monday was hardly even counts compared to a 7.8. Only one person died, and that was due to an electricity transformer shorting out.