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History & Society · Seismic record

Earthquakes in Nepal नेपालका महाभूकम्पहरू

Nepal sits on the collision zone that raises the Himalaya — and pays for it in earthquakes. This page documents every major event in the recorded sequence, from the chronicle quake of 1255 that killed a king to the 2015 Gorkha disaster and the 2023 Jajarkot tragedy: an interactive timeline, an epicentre map, magnitude history, the science of why Nepal shakes, and the building codes each disaster left behind. Every figure is cited to the NSET catalogue, USGS, the official PDNA or peer-reviewed studies.

Deadliest (1934)

8,519 deaths

Mw 8.0–8.3 · Nepal's official count; +7,253 in Bihar, India

2015 Gorkha

Mw 7.8

≈8,800–8,964 deaths · ≈USD 7 bn damage (PDNA)

Plate convergence

≈18 mm/yr

India under Eurasia on the Main Himalayan Thrust

Western seismic gap

No M8 since ~1505

≈5 centuries of stored strain west of Pokhara

770 years of records

Magnitude history, 1255–present

Each circle is a documented major earthquake affecting Nepal. Magnitudes before the instrumental era (pre-1900) are estimates reconstructed from damage accounts — treat them as ranges, not precise values.

M6M6.5M7M7.5M8M8.5125514001600180019002000
Pre-1900 20th century 2000–presentHover or tap a point for details; magnitudes before 1900 are estimates.
Where they struck

Epicentre map

Epicentres of the major events, sized by magnitude. The 1934 and 1988 quakes struck the east; 2015 broke the centre; 1980 and 2023 hit the west — the region seismologists watch most closely today.

Pre-1900 (historical records)20th century2000–presentDashed = approximate epicentre · circle size ∝ magnitude
Interactive timeline

The full sequence — disasters and the rules they wrote

Filter by period or by the codes-and-policy thread: Nepal's building standards are, quite literally, written by its earthquakes.

  1. 7 June 1255Pre-1900

    1255 Kathmandu Valley earthquake — ~Mw 7.7 (est.)

    The first historically documented earthquake in Nepal. Medieval chronicles record that roughly one-third of the Kathmandu Valley's population perished, including King Abhaya Malla, who died of his injuries six days after the shock.

    Read the full story →

  2. 26 August 1833Bhadra 1890 BSPre-1900

    1833 Nepal earthquake — Mw 7.5–7.7 (est.)

    A rare case where foreshocks saved thousands of lives: two strong shocks during the evening drove residents outdoors before the mainshock struck around 11 pm, collapsing thousands of buildings onto largely empty rooms.

    Read the full story →

  3. 15 January 19342 Magh 1990 BS20th century

    1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake (Maha Bhukampa) — Mw 8.0–8.3

    Nepal's deadliest recorded earthquake. Striking on the afternoon of Magh 2, 1990 BS, it flattened large parts of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan and devastated eastern Nepal and Bihar. Its anniversary is now National Earthquake Safety Day.

    Read the full story →

  4. 29 July 198014 Shrawan 2037 BS20th century

    1980 Bajhang earthquake — ML 6.5

    A destructive shock in far-western Nepal centred on Bajhang, also hitting Baitadi, Bajura and Darchula — a reminder that the seismically quiet far west remains hazard-prone.

    Read the full story →

  5. 21 August 1988 (local time)5 Bhadra 2045 BS20th century

    1988 Udayapur earthquake — Mw 6.9

    The deadliest Nepali earthquake between 1934 and 2015. Striking before midnight near the Nepal–India border, it killed 721 people in Nepal across 22 eastern districts and prompted the country's first national building code.

    Read the full story →

  6. 1994Codes & policy

    Nepal's first seismic building code

    NBC 105:1994, drafted after the 1988 Udayapur disaster, introduces seismic design requirements for the first time.

  7. 1999Codes & policy

    National Earthquake Safety Day instituted

    Magh 2 — the 1934 anniversary — becomes an annual day of drills and awareness, at NSET's initiative.

  8. 18 September 20112000–present

    2011 Sikkim earthquake (felt in Nepal) — Mw 6.9

    Centred on the Nepal–Sikkim border in the Kanchenjunga region, this quake killed 11 people in Nepal — including three in Kathmandu when a wall of the British Embassy compound collapsed — and over a hundred across the region.

    Read the full story →

  9. 25 April 2015, 11:56 NST12 Baisakh 2072 BS2000–present

    2015 Gorkha earthquake — Mw 7.8

    Nepal's defining modern disaster. The Mw 7.8 mainshock of 25 April 2015 and its Mw 7.3 aftershock on 12 May killed almost 9,000 people, destroyed over 600,000 homes, levelled centuries-old monuments and triggered deadly avalanches in Langtang and on Everest.

    Read the full story →

  10. 12 May 2015, 12:50 NST29 Baisakh 2072 BS2000–present

    2015 Dolakha aftershock — Mw 7.3

    The largest aftershock of the Gorkha sequence, striking 17 days after the mainshock near the Nepal–China border. It killed at least 153 people in Nepal and re-collapsed many already-weakened buildings.

  11. 2020Codes & policy

    Building code overhauled

    NBC 105:2020 raises design ground accelerations by up to ~80% in Kathmandu and adopts a 475-year return-period standard, embedding the lessons of 2015.

  12. 3 November 2023, 23:47 NPT17 Kartik 2080 BS2000–present

    2023 Jajarkot earthquake — ML 6.4 (NSC) / Mw 5.7 (USGS)

    Nepal's deadliest earthquake since 2015 despite its moderate size. Striking near midnight in Karnali Province, it killed 153 people — most in fragile stone-and-mud homes — and sits at the eastern edge of the worrying western-Nepal seismic gap.

    Read the full story →

  13. 7 January 20252000–present

    2025 Dingri (Tibet) earthquake — felt across Nepal — Mw 7.1 (USGS) / M 6.8 (CENC)

    A major earthquake just across the border in Tibet's Dingri County, near the northern foot of Everest. China officially reported 126 deaths; in Nepal the shaking injured 13 people and caused minor damage in northern border districts.

The science

Why Nepal shakes

Four facts explain most of Nepal's seismic story — the plate boundary, the gap, the lakebed and the codes.

A plate boundary underfoot

The Indian plate is underthrusting the Eurasian plate along the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) beneath Nepal. GPS geodesy measures ≈18 mm of convergence per year being stored across the locked fault (Ader et al., 2012) — strain that is ultimately released in great earthquakes.

The western seismic gap

The ≈500–600 km segment of the MHT west of Pokhara has not ruptured in a great earthquake since the ≈Mw 8.2–8.8 event of 1505. Five centuries of accumulated slip (≈10 m) make western Nepal the most worrying seismic gap in the Himalaya, capable of a Mw 7.9–8.5+ rupture.

Kathmandu's lakebed amplification

The Kathmandu Valley is a former palaeolake. Up to ≈500 m of soft fluvio-lacustrine silt and clay amplify seismic waves and liquefy in strong shaking — a major reason the 1934 and 2015 earthquakes were so destructive in the Valley.

Building codes after disasters

The 1988 Udayapur quake produced Nepal's first building code (NBC 105:1994); the 2015 Gorkha quake produced the far stricter NBC 105:2020, which raised design ground accelerations by up to ~80% in Kathmandu and adopted a 475-year return-period standard. Magh 2 (≈15 January), anniversary of the 1934 quake, is National Earthquake Safety Day.

Reference table

Every major earthquake at a glance

EventDateMagnitudeDeaths (Nepal)Epicentre
2025 Dingri (Tibet) earthquake — felt across Nepal7 January 2025Mw 7.1 (USGS) / M 6.8 (CENC)126 deaths in Tibet (official); 13 injured in Nepal, no deathsDingri County, Tibet, China (~225 km ENE of Kathmandu)
2023 Jajarkot earthquake3 November 2023, 23:47 NPT17 Kartik 2080 BSML 6.4 (NSC) / Mw 5.7 (USGS)153 (101 in Jajarkot, 52 in West Rukum)Ramidanda, Jajarkot District, Karnali Province
2015 Dolakha aftershock12 May 2015, 12:50 NST29 Baisakh 2072 BSMw 7.3≥153 in Nepal; 62 in India, 2 in Bangladesh, 1 in ChinaNear Kodari / Dolakha, NE of Kathmandu
2015 Gorkha earthquake25 April 2015, 11:56 NST12 Baisakh 2072 BSMw 7.88,790–8,964 in Nepal (MoHA/Nepal Police; counts vary by cut-off date)Barpak, Gorkha District (~77 km NW of Kathmandu)
2011 Sikkim earthquake (felt in Nepal)18 September 2011Mw 6.911 in Nepal; ≈111 across all countriesNepal–Sikkim border region (Kanchenjunga area)
1988 Udayapur earthquake21 August 1988 (local time)5 Bhadra 2045 BSMw 6.9721 in Nepal; ≈1,003 with Bihar, IndiaUdayapur District, eastern Nepal
1980 Bajhang earthquake29 July 198014 Shrawan 2037 BSML 6.5125 (NSET catalogue)Bajhang District, far-western Nepalapproximate
1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake (Maha Bhukampa)15 January 19342 Magh 1990 BSMw 8.0–8.38,519 in Nepal (official 1935 count); 7,253 in Bihar, IndiaEastern Nepal, ~9.5 km south of Mt Everest
1833 Nepal earthquake26 August 1833Bhadra 1890 BSMw 7.5–7.7 (est.)<500 (foreshocks drove people outdoors)North or northeast of Kathmandu (approximate)approximate
1255 Kathmandu Valley earthquake7 June 1255~Mw 7.7 (est.)≈⅓ of the Valley's population (exact toll not reliably documented)Kathmandu Valley (approximate)approximate
Common questions

Nepal earthquake FAQ

What was the biggest earthquake in Nepal's history?

The 15 January 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake (2 Magh 1990 BS) is the largest reliably documented: modern estimates put it at Mw 8.0–8.3. It killed 8,519 people in Nepal and 7,253 in Bihar, India, and destroyed over 80,000 buildings.

How many people died in the 2015 Nepal earthquake?

Official counts for the 25 April 2015 Gorkha earthquake and its aftershocks range from 8,790 (Nepal Police) to 8,964 (Ministry of Home Affairs, including the Mw 7.3 aftershock of 12 May). About 22,000 people were injured and roughly 3.5 million were left homeless.

Why does Nepal have so many earthquakes?

Nepal sits on the boundary where the Indian plate underthrusts the Eurasian plate along the Main Himalayan Thrust, converging at about 18 mm per year. The locked fault stores this strain and releases it in large earthquakes — the same collision that built the Himalaya.

Is a big earthquake expected in western Nepal?

Seismologists consider western Nepal the most dangerous seismic gap in the Himalaya: the fault segment west of Pokhara has not ruptured in a great earthquake since about 1505, storing roughly five centuries of strain capable of a Mw 8+ event. The 2023 Jajarkot quake occurred at this gap's eastern edge.

When is National Earthquake Safety Day in Nepal?

Magh 2 in the Bikram Sambat calendar (around 15–16 January), the anniversary of the 1934 earthquake. Nepal has observed it since 1999 with drills and awareness campaigns.

Keep exploring

Political history →The 2015 constitution was finalised in the earthquake's shadow.UNESCO heritage →How the Valley's monuments fell in 2015 — and rose again by 2024.Climate impacts →Glacial-lake floods: the Himalaya's other ground-shaking hazard.

Sources & data note

Magnitudes, dates and casualty figures are compiled from the NSET national catalogue, USGS event pages, the 2015 Post-Disaster Needs Assessment and peer-reviewed reassessments. Where credible sources disagree (1934 magnitude, 2015 death toll), the range is shown and the disagreement is stated — no single 'tidy' number is invented. Historical epicentres (1255, 1833) are approximate, reconstructed from damage descriptions.