While the earthquakes which struck Nepal earlier this year were by no means harmless, a new study indicates that the consequences of the natural disaster could have been far worse. According to BBC, the main Magnitude 7.8 tremor, which occurred in the Himalayas and buckled the Earth’s surface in April of this year, left in its aftermath far less destruction than it potentially could have.
That isn’t to say the catastrophe was without destruction: more than 8,500 people were killed during the earthquakes themselves and in their deadly after effects.
The shifting of the Earth caused the high Himalayas to slump down while lifting up the adjacent Kathmandu basin. As a result of the earth quake, the whole region was shifted 2 meters to the South.
Immediately following the quakes, scientists analyzing the event expected tens of thousands of landslides to have been triggered by the massive, Earth-shifting tremors. Researchers meticulously scouring satellite footage of the region found that the true number of landslides, while troubling, came in far under the projections — only 4,312 actually occurred.
The study emphasizes that, although the projections for the situation were far more grim than the reality, the effects of the quake were still quite devastating. Entire villages were buried beneath masses of snow and debris which accumulated in landslides.
It also sheds light on Nepal’s rocky history with earthquakes. According to the study’s companion paper featured in Science magazine, an earthquake around Magnitude 8 caused such uproarious damage that the resulting landslides totally transformed the landscape around 1,000 years ago.