World News]: Kathmandu, Jan 15 : Should a quake measuring 8 on the Richter scale hit quake-prone Nepal, it would kill more than 40,000 people and leave 100,000 to 200,000 injured. The National Publicity Committee for Earthquake Safety Day has warned that a fresh quake would raze 60 percent of the buildings, rendering 60,000 to 90,000 people homeless. Nepal ranks 11th among the list of the most earthquake- prone countries with its past history predicting a major tremor every 70 to 75 years. Seven years ago, on this day, Nepal observed the First Earthquake Safety Day to remember the nearly 11,000 people who died in an earthquake in 1934 and to initiate measures to minimise losses should a killer jolt strike again. With the population of capital city Kathmandu growing by 6.5 percent annually and nearly 6,000 new houses being built every year, if an earthquake similar to the one in 1934 strikes the damage would be far more extensive. The National Seismological Centre of Kathmandu, established in 1979 by the government in collaboration with the Laboratoire de G?ophysique, France, paints an apocalyptic vision should a quake recur. According to the centre, western and central Nepal, including Kathmandu Valley and popular tourist destination Pokhara, are the most likely to have an earthquake. While the quake would trigger landslides in the mountains, in the plains, the soil, which already has high water content, will become like quicksand, toppling buildings. The international and domestic airports will be out of order, access roads to the valley will be cut off and water supply, electricity and telephone lines will remain cut off for days to weeks. There will be a major risk of fire, caused by explosions due to gas, petrol or leaks of chemical products. While first aid from outside will take three to four days at least, epidemics are likely to break out due to bad sanitary conditions and decomposing of victims' corpses. The nine-year-old insurgency will add to the woes. The army, preoccupied with combating the communist guerrillas, will find itself stretched to prevent pillaging, maintain law and order and coordinate first aid. Since Nepal has a large number of tourists the year round, the Hotel Association of Nepal had drawn up an elaborate earthquake safety action plan for hotels, in collaboration with the National Seismological Centre and Department of Mines and Geology. It had proposed establishing an Earthquake Emergency Committee headed by executives of large hotels or managers of guesthouses to liaise with embassies, the army, hospitals and medical personnel, and United Nations offices in case a quake occurred. However, the plan seems to be gathering dust with tourists unaware of any such contingency. --Indo-Asian News Service