Wreckage of Camp Pendleton Helicopter Found in Nepal

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "After waiting, grief: All dead in helo crash: One Marine Corps pilot is a Fallbrook man, leaves behind pregnant wife."

Families were trying to hold out hope, but too late. At ABC 10 San Diego, "Families hold out hope after wreckage of missing Marine copter found in Nepal."

Hope Fades on Finding More #NepalEarthquake Survivors

Sad.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Hope of finding more Nepal quake survivors fades as toll tops 5,200":

Hope of finding survivors in rubble was fading fast Wednesday as the death toll from last weekend’s earthquake in Nepal surpassed 5,200. But after days of complaints about the shortage of aid, a somewhat stronger presence of foreign search-and-rescue teams and assistance convoys was evident in the capital and outlying districts.

A logjam of airplane traffic and passengers began to clear at Katmandu’s airport, where authorities said they had picked up 1.5 tons of trash from the overrun facility. Banks, restaurants and even souvenir shops began to reopen in the capital.

Thousands of people, though, continued to look for ways out of the Katmandu Valley, hitching rides on crowded buses and taxis. Many were returning home to remote villages to assess the effects of the disaster. State-run Radio Nepal said 200,000 people had already left the valley as of late Tuesday and another 200,000 may leave in the coming days.

That exodus could crimp the ability of private businesses and government offices to function. Government authorities ordered civil servants to return to work Thursday, though schools and many other institutions remained closed indefinitely.

Indian, Russian, French, Chinese and Nepalese search-and-rescue teams were working across the capital, trying to find survivors amid collapsed buildings. But four days after the magnitude 7.8 quake, chances of finding anyone alive were slim.

As the sun began to set, Deepak Damai stood on the edge of the Sobhavagbati Bridge in Katmandu, clutching a photo of his 5-year-old son and explaining his agony to a reporter from an Indian TV station. The boy and his mother were in their apartment on the third floor of a seven-story building that collapsed during Saturday’s quake.

Damai, who had been working in Dubai at the time, flew home Monday to search for his wife and son. He watched with despair as Nepalese rescue workers drilled through the layers of concrete, pulling out four bodies. “Those people also lived on the third floor,” he said, his lip trembling.

Rescue workers had dug out 27 bodies so far and still had three more levels to drill through. A police officer said they expected to find a large number of bodies on the lowest level, which had housed an athletic club.

About half a mile away, Indian, Russian and Nepalese teams were using dogs and listening devices to try to locate survivors from three collapsed buildings, including a church where 50 people had been worshiping at the time of the quake.

Subrate Charkrabortui, an Indian physician on the scene, was downbeat. One body had been pulled out Wednesday, he said.

“We could do much more if we had better equipment," he said. "But it is difficult to airlift all the heavy equipment necessary to lift buildings like this.”

More.

Filmmaker Who Survived #NepalEarthquake Recounts Terrifying Moments at Mount Everest

At Telegraph UK, "Survivor recounts terrifying moments of Mount Everest avalanche."

Also at LAT, "Nepal's government ill-equipped to handle earthquake disaster."

Nepal's Seismic Time Bomb

At LAT, "Katmandu's poorly constructed buildings worsen quake outcome":

An exploding urban population that led to taller and often poorly constructed buildings, along with an unusually hazardous combination of geological conditions, had for years prompted warnings from scientists that the Katmandu Valley of Nepal was a seismic time bomb waiting to go off.

Saturday morning, it did.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake and a magnitude 6.6 aftershock toppled buildings, set off a destructive avalanche on Mt. Everest and killed at least 1,805 people Saturday afternoon. That number is projected to rise as high as 10,000.

Brian Tucker, president of GeoHazards International, a California-based nonprofit that works with vulnerable communities to reduce the risks of natural disasters, spent much of the 1990s in Nepal. He was assessing what would happen if there was a reoccurrence of the magnitude 8.2 earthquake that struck the area in 1934 and left more than 10,000 dead in the Katmandu Valley. The analysis projected 40,000 deaths if a similar temblor occurred.

Others who have studied quake risks in the area more recently predicted a death toll of 100,000 or more from a large earthquake, including Roger Bilham, a professor of geology at the University of Colorado who studies Himalayan seismic activity. Just days ago, Bilham spoke to seismologists gathered in Pasadena about the risks of a major quake elsewhere in the Himalayan range. Bilham said the area west of Katmandu has been overdue for a temblor of around magnitude 8.

"Unfortunately, now it's happened, and it's a tragedy beyond belief," he said.

The area has a history of frequent seismic activity, although events as large as the one that occurred Saturday happen about once every 80 years, said Ole Kaven, a research geophysicist with U.S. Geological Survey.

Unlike the earthquakes that typically strike California, with two plates sliding past each other horizontally, the earthquake in Nepal was caused by a thrust fault, in which two plates collide. The fault also is shallow, meaning that the shaking occurs near the surface, rather than deep in the earth.

U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones said faults like the one that caused this earthquake are most often found under water and can produce devastating tsunamis. But the Himalayan region is different.

"This is the one place where we have a lot of people living on top of a megathrust," she said...

More.

Also at WSJ, "How the Nepal Earthquake Happened."

Fascinating explanation of the Nepal earthquake http://t.co/4kO40qGPDR pic.twitter.com/dvMbdYdRbz

— LaurenceWitherington (@LaurenceWSJ) April 27, 2015

Vile Leftist Rania Khalek: Did Israel Learn from #NepalEarthquake 'how to kill better'?

Never a dull moment with the Israel-hating left.

And notice how there's never any pushback from Democrats and progressives. These poeple, Khalek and her disgusting pal Max Blumenthal, are the voice of the party.

At Twitchy, "‘Vile slander’: Rania Khalek wonders if Israel is helping Nepal to ‘learn from the earthquake how to kill better’."

Idea for a game. "Who buried these people in the rubble: Israel or an earthquake?" #NepalEarthquake #gaza #hasbara pic.twitter.com/rvjNxlY6eX

— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) April 26, 2015

Nepal Warns Earthquake Death Toll Could Reach 10,000 — #NepalEarthquake

At London's Daily Mail, "Faces of the missing: Nepalese officials warn death toll of devastating quake could hit 10,000 as scores of American families are among the thousands searching for those still unaccounted for."

Plus, huge coverage at the Los Angeles Times, "Massive quake hits Nepal."

Caroline Heldman reports that her mountain climbing sister has been found safe:

My sister @Heldman is alive, are well as her fellow trekkers! They are trapped above an avalanche in the #Langtang region. #NepalEarthquake

— Caroline Heldman (@carolineheldman) April 26, 2015

PLEASE SHARE: My sister Kat Heldman is missing at Mt. Gangchempo in Nepal. Anyone there seen her? #NepalEarthquake pic.twitter.com/ElTu7ol8Ps

— Caroline Heldman (@carolineheldman) April 25, 2015

Thank God.

Nepal Earthquake: Hundreds Dead, Many Feared Trapped

At the BBC, "Nepal earthquake: Hundreds die, many feared trapped."

Plus, "Nepal earthquake 'felt across entire region'", and "Moment Nepal earthquake hit."

More at Memeorandum, "Nepal Earthquake Kills Hundreds and Levels Buildings in Capital."

U.S. Climber Survives 70-Foot Fall Into Mountain Crevasse in Himalayas

The dude was all busted up.

At London's Daily Mail, "The moment climber found himself trapped inside Himalayan crevasse: Terrifying video shows US professor seriously injured in 70-foot fall."

And CBS News: "American rescued after surviving fall in Himalayas."

Sherpas and Mount Everest

At WSJ, "Death at 19,000 Feet: Sherpas, Fate and the Dangerous Business of Everest."