Nepal Earthquake: Experts knew big quake was due

Nepal’s devastating earthquake was the disaster experts knew was coming.

Mon, 27 Apr, 2015 - 01:00

Just a week ago, about 50 earthquake and social scientists from around the world came to the capital Kathmandu, to work out how to get the congested, over- developed, shoddily built area to prepare better for the big one, a repeat of the 1934 quake that levelled the city.

They knew they were racing against the clock, but they didn’t know when what they feared would strike.

“It was sort of a nightmare waiting to happen,” said seismologist James Jackson, head of the earth sciences department at the Cambridge University. “Physically and geologically what happened is exactly what we thought would happen.”

But he didn’t expect the massive quake that struck on Saturday to happen so soon.