The Journal of Science did a recent study on the power behind the spring 2015 avalanche that hit Langtang, Nepal, concluding that village was impacted with the equivalent of a detonation of 7.6 kilotons of TNT. The April 25th avalanche was triggered by an earth with a magnitude of 7.8 at its epicenter. 350 people were killed in popular Nepalese hiking destination Langtang, many of whom were foreign tourist. The study conducted by 64 scientist determined a mass of ice and snow six and a half feet thick fell off a cliff and “became airborne,” plummeting to the ground, possibly as far as 4,000 feet, at a final speed of about 200 feet per second. The slide produced air blasts that exceed 200 mph that flattened a small forest 1,300 feet up a slope on the opposing side of the valley. Joseph M. Shea, a glacier hydrologist at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, had this to say when he spoke with the NY Times,“It would have been horrifying for the people there. The wind would have been the first thing that basically hit them.”
