What Can Economics Tell Us About Deadly Earthquakes?

This past weekend Nepal experienced a massive earthquake centered about 50 miles from Nepal’s capital Katmandu. The Nepal earthquake was rated as 7.8 on the Richter scale, which was created in 1935 by Charles Richter at the California Institute of Technology. Each whole number increase means a 10 times increase in the seismograph that is measuring the ground’s movement. Each time the rating goes up by a whole number, such as from 6.0 to 7.0 thirty-one times more energy is released. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed many historic temples in Kathmandu and killed thousands of people. Continue reading