RESUMO
Detailed geodetic imaging of earthquake ruptures enhances our understanding of earthquake physics and associated ground shaking. The 25 April 2015 moment magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Gorkha, Nepal was the first large continental megathrust rupture to have occurred beneath a high-rate (5-hertz) Global Positioning System (GPS) network. We used GPS and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data to model the earthquake rupture as a slip pulse ~20 kilometers in width, ~6 seconds in duration, and with a peak sliding velocity of 1.1 meters per second, which propagated toward the Kathmandu basin at ~3.3 kilometers per second over ~140 kilometers. The smooth slip onset, indicating a large (~5-meter) slip-weakening distance, caused moderate ground shaking at high frequencies (>1 hertz; peak ground acceleration, ~16% of Earth's gravity) and minimized damage to vernacular dwellings. Whole-basin resonance at a period of 4 to 5 seconds caused the collapse of tall structures, including cultural artifacts.
RESUMO
PIP: Available data suggest that the extent of HIV infection in Nepal is small, but growing. 124 cases of HIV infection were identified and reported in 1993, 201 in 1994. These are, however, only the cases which were identified and there are no doubt many more which remained undiagnosed in the country. Nepal also borders India, a country in which one million people may be infected with HIV by the year 2000. Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese men seek work in India as migrant laborers, while up to 100,000 Nepalese women work in India as prostitutes. Engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse where the prevalence of HIV infection among the general population is comparatively high naturally puts one at risk of contracting HIV. General Welfare Pratisthan (GWP), is a nongovernmental organization based in Kathmandu, Nepal, which has focused upon improving health, education, and the environment since its inception in 1991. The organization is wholly funded by General Paper Industry, a private, family-owned company which produces paper products and packaging materials from recycled paper and cloth materials. General Paper contributes a full 10% of its annual export value to GWP. The first of several AIDS programs launched by GWP is an HIV/AIDS information and condom distribution project at the police post on the Tribhuwan Highway at Thankot. GWP built a weather-proof building for the police and an adjacent post for the organization's outreach staff from which it can contact the thousands of Nepalese and Indians crossing the shared border daily. In particular, the intervention aims to reach the host of transient, poorly informed transport workers with an AIDS prevention message. Program successes have led to the recruitment of student volunteers from twenty-three college campuses in the Kathmandu Valley to serve as motivators at the post during the school holiday, free HIV/AIDS advertisements in at least fifty cinemas nationwide, a national essay competition for secondary school students, the development of a similar border operation in the city of Bhairahawa, and possible workplace-based AIDS prevention programs in local industries.^ieng
