A seismologist from the University of Nevada, Reno and two of his graduate students have been on the ground in Nepal while that country is dealing with another deadly earthquake this week. Reno Public Radio's Michelle Bliss has the details.
UNR Professor Steve Wesnousky left Nepal just a few hours before the magnitude 7.3 quake struck on Tuesday. But two of his students were there for the jolt. University Spokesman Mike Wolterbeek has been checking in with them to learn more.
"They've described it as like being on an ocean with waves bouncing you around," Wolterbeek says. "The real big motion lasted about 20 or 30 seconds, but [overall] the motion lasted about two minutes."
Professor Wesnousky heads the university's Center for Neotectonic Studies and has been researching what's known as the Himalayan Frontal Thrust Fault near Kathmandu since 1999. Spokesman Mike Wolterbeek says that work is relevant back here on the West Coast:
"There's a similar fault like this in the Los Angeles basin, and so, we can learn a lot for what could happen there from this earthquake. That's why he sent his team out there."
Nepal is still reeling from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck back on April 25th, killing more than 8,000 people.