Shaken in the mountains

By DELHI AND KATHMANDU

SEISMOLOGISTS, politicians and ordinary residents of Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, have long feared a big earthquake striking the sprawling city. It lies within a bowl-shaped valley, and as the population has poured off the fields over the years (hurried along by a decade of civil war), Kathmandu has swollen. Shoddy concrete buildings, narrow alleys and few building standards—combined with prevalent corruption among inspectors—meant the city was at risk. Over 5m people cram in and around Kathmandu.

On April 25th a big (magnitude 7.9) earthquake hit, striking 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the west of the city. As far away as Delhi, India's capital, windows rattled and water sloshed in jugs, and the metro service was suspended. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, said his country would send rescue teams and assistance. A Nepalese minister, Minendra Rijal, spoke of enormous damage and called for help from international agencies. By April 26th officials had confirmed over 2,000 deaths. The last quake of such size to hit the region, in Sichuan in south-west China in 2008, killed 90,000.