GHI's evaluation of what another quake like 1934's would do is numbing— More than half of the city's bridges would be heavily damaged. The entire water system, sewer system, telephone system, and electric power system would be disabled. Six in ten buildings would be seriously damaged. The city has seven fire engine brigades. The homeless would number somewhere around seven hundred thousand. Deaths would number somewhere around forty thousand. The dead in Nepal are usually cremated. Each cremation uses more than a ton of wood. Injuries would number in the hundreds of thousands. Kathmandu has about 2100 hospital beds in twelve hospitals. Half of these would be unavailable due to damage. Kathmandu has 700 doctors. The airport is almost surrounded by land subject to liquefaction. This would seriously hamper the arrival of outside aid. http://geology.about.com/library/weekly/aa011600a.htm